Illustrations of wild animals [insect 5 Hemiptera]

半翅目 HEMIPTERA

Most people tend to call anything with lots of legs a “bug.” However, to an entomologist, a “bug” is one of the 35,000 or so species of the order Hemiptera.

Hemiptera means “half wing” and refers to the fact that part of the first pair of wings is toughened and hard, while the rest of the first pair and the second pair are membranous. Hemipterans also have modified piercing and sucking mouthparts; some suck plant juices and are plant pests, while others can bite painfully.

A possibly paraphyletic group of insects known as the Homoptera is sometimes included within the Hemiptera, even though they lack the toughened areas on the first pair of wings.

Some entomologists group both Hemiptera and Homoptera within the group Heteroptera; others use the name Heteroptera for what we have called the Hemiptera and use Hemiptera for the Heteroptera.

↑Quoted from University of California Museum Paleontology>arthropoda>uniramia>hemiptera

Hemiptera(/heteroptera)
Suborder Heteroptera (/hemiptera)

True Bugs

The name Heteroptera, derived from the Greek “hetero-“em> meaning different and “ptera” meaning wings, refers to the fact that the texture of the front wings is different near the base (leathery) than at the apex (membranous).

Classification & Distribution

Hemimetabola
- incomplete development (egg, nymph, adult)
Orthopteroid
- closely related to Thysanoptera and Psocoptera
Distribution: Abundant worldwide. Found in most terrestrial and freshwater habitats.

North America
Worldwide

Number of Families
40

73

Number of Species
3587

>50,000
Life History & Ecology

Members of the suborder Heteroptera are known as “true bugs”.

They have very distinctive front wings, called hemelytra, in which the basal half is leathery and the apical half is membranous. At rest, these wings cross over one another to lie flat along the insect’s back.

These insects also have elongate, piercing-sucking mouthparts which arise from the ventral (hypognathous) or anterior (prognathous) part of the head capsule.

The mandibles and maxillae are long and thread-like, interlocking with one another to form a flexible feeding tube (proboscis) that is no more than 0.1 mm in diameter yet contains both a food channel and a salivary channel. These stylets are enclosed within a protective sheath (the labium) that shortens or retracts during feeding.

The Heteroptera include a diverse assemblage of insects that have become adapted to a broad range of habitats — terrestrial, aquatic and semi-aquatic.

Terrestrial species are often associated with plants. They feed in vascular tissues or on the nutrients stored within seeds. Other species live as scavengers in the soil or underground in caves or ant nests. Still others are predators on a variety of small arthropods. A few species even feed on the blood of vertebrates.

Bed bugs, and other members of the family Cimicidae, live exclusively as ectoparasites on birds and mammals (including humans). Aquatic Heteroptera can be found on the surface of both fresh and salt water, near shorelines, or beneath the water surface in nearly all freshwater habitats. With only a few exceptions, these insects are predators of other aquatic organisms.

	North America	Worldwide
Number of Families	40	73
Number of Species	3587	>50,000

Physical Features

Adults:

Antennae slender with 4-5 segments
Proboscis 3-4 segmented, arising from front of head and curving below body when not in use
Pronotum usually large, trapezoidal or rounded
Triangular scutellum present behind pronotum
Front wings with basal half leathery and apical half membranous (hemelytra). Wings lie flat on the back at rest, forming an “X”.
Tarsi 2- or 3-segmented

Immatures:

Structurally similar to adults
Always lacking wings

Major Families

The three largest families of Heteroptera are:
- - Miridae (Plant Bugs) — Most species feed on plants, but some are predaceous. This family includes numerous pests such as the tarnished plant bug (Lygus lineolaris).
  - Lygaeidae (Seed Bugs) — Most species are seed feeders, a few are predatory. This family includes the chinch bug, Blissus leucopterus a pest of small grains, and the bigeyed bug, Geocoris bullatis, a beneficial predator.
  - Pentatomidae (Stink Bugs) — Shield-shaped body with large, triangular scutellum. Most species are herbivores, some are predators. All have scent glands which can produce an unpleasant odor.
Other families of terrestrial herbivores include:
- - Tingidae (lace bugs)
  - Coreidae (squash bugs and leaffooted bugs)
  - Alydidae (broadheaded bugs)
  - Rhopalidae (scentless plant bugs)
  - Berytidae (stilt bugs)
Other families of terrestrial predators include:
- - Reduviidae (assassin bugs)
  - Phymatidae (ambush bugs)
  - Nabidae (damsel bugs)
  - Anthocoridae (minute pirate bugs)
The major families of aquatic predators include:
- - Corixidae (water boatmen)
  - Gerridae (water striders)
  - Nepidae (water scorpions)
  - Belostomatidae (giant water bugs)
  - Naucoridae (creeping water bugs)
  - Notonectidae (backswimmers)
Bug Bytes
- Two families of Heteroptera are ectoparasites. The Cimicidae (bed bugs) live on birds and mammals (including humans). The Polyctenidae (bat bugs) live on bats.
- Water striders in the genus Halobates (family Gerridae) are the only insects that are truly marine. They live on the surface of the Pacific Ocean.
- Unlike other insects, male bedbugs do not place their sperm directly in the female’s reproductive tract. Instead, they puncture her abdomen and inject the sperm into her body cavity. The sperm swim to the ovaries where they fertilize the eggs. This unusual type of reproductive behavior is appropriately known as “traumatic insemination”.
- Some members of the family Largidae resemble ants. They live as social parasites in ant nests, mimicking the ants’ behavior to get food