Troilus luridus (Fabricius, 1787)
Synonyms
Cimex luridus Fabricius, 1775
Cimex serrulatus Miiller, 1776
Cimex dentatus Schrank, 1781
Cimex beryllinus Gmelin, 1788
Cimex elector Fabricius, 1794
Pentatoma lurida Latreille, 1804
Arma lurida Hahn, 1832
Asopus luridus Burmeister, 1835
Pentatoma sublurida Westwood, 1837
Asopus luridus Flor, 1860
Podisus luridus Mulsant & Rey, 1866
Podisus luridus: Stll, 1868
Troilus luridus var. angusta Reuter, 1881
Podisusluridus var. angustus Schouteden, 1907
Arma luridus var. angustus: Kirkaldy, 1909
Arma elector Nuamah, 1982
Taxonomic position
Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae
Diagnosis
- Head apically truncate; clypeus shorter than mandibular plates
- Anterior half of anterolateral margins of pronotum serrate; posterior half slightly elevated and contiguous to humeri
- Humeri broadand obtusely angulate.
- Scutellum longer than broad
- Connexvium broad and exposed
- Basal abdominal segment bearing short spine
Biology
About 200 barrel shaped eggs are laid in 20 batches around small twigs in late May and Early June. First instars are phytophagous, second instar onwards are predacious. They over-winter as adults and emerges in July onwards and completes one generation per year (Nagy, 1951).
Host plants/Prey
Hyphantria cunea (Nagy, 1951) and other lepidopteran pests of deciduous and coniferous tree (Beckett, 2021).
Distribution
Austria, Belgium, Burma, China, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Java, Korea, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, Siberia, Sweden, Switzerland (Thomas, 1994).
Comments
Commonly called as bronze shield bug
Selected References
Beckett, O. (2021) The Irish Naturalist, https://irishnaturalist.com/shieldbugs/bronze-shieldbug-troilus-luridus/
Distant, W. L. (1902). Rhynchota Vol.I, Heteroptera. In: Blanford, W. T. (Ed). The Fauna of British India Including Ceylon and Burma. Taylor and Francis, London. 307+438 pp.
Roca-Cusachs, M., Kim, J., Park, J., & Jung, S. (2019). Taxonomic review of the predatory stink bugs of the Korean Peninsula (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae), with a key to the Korean species and a discussion of their usefulness as biological control agents. Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aspen.2019.09.006
Thomas, D. B. (1994). Taxonomic synopsis of old the world Asopine genera (Heteroptera: Pentstomidae). Insecta Mundi., 8(3-4), 145-212.
Timms. S., Cann, A., Calow, G. et al. (2021) NatureSpot, Leicestershire & Rutland Environmental Records Centre, https://www.naturespot.org.uk/species/bronze-shieldbug
