Unusual Hemipteran Phenomenon: Leaf Footed Bugs and Shield Bugs Swarm ship in Mauritania

bugman

January 7th, 2010 at 12:04 pm

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Shield bugs
January 7, 2010
A while back I was working on a ship in Mauritania. These shield bugs arrived on board in a squall 30 miles off the coast. 80% of the vessels deck areas were covered in them. What are they, and what would cause them to be in a squall so far from land in such numbers??
Great site, Alan
Off coast of Mauritania

hemipteran swarm ship mauritania alan 300x225 Unusual Hemipteran Phenomenon: Leaf Footed Bugs and Shield Bugs Swarm ship in Mauritania

Swarm of Hemipterans

Hi Alan,
What a bizarre occurrence. We wish you provided a close up photograph of an individual insect. First, the majority of the insects seem to be the same species, but there are some bright green individuals that look more like beetles, possibly Leaf Beetles in the family Chrysomelidae or Jewel Beetles in the family Buprestidae.

Swarm of Hemipterans and a beetle

The swarm itself does not appear to be Shield Bugs, but they are True Bugs, possibly some plant feeding species in the superfamily Lygaeoidae. We wonder if one of our readers can explain this unusual phenomenon. We are guessing it was a population explosion that somehow got swept out to sea.

hemipteran swarm ship mauritania alan cu 300x225 Unusual Hemipteran Phenomenon: Leaf Footed Bugs and Shield Bugs Swarm ship in Mauritania

Swarm of Hemipterans

Correction courtesy of Eric Eaton
Hi, Daniel:
The brown bugs on the ship are something in the family Coreidae (leaf-footed bugs, squash bugs). The green “beetle” is actually another true bug, a shield bug in the genus Callidea or Calliphara. It is easier to tell from the distant image than the close-up! The awkward angle of the close-up does make it appear to be a buprestid, I agree.
Wish I could be of more help. The coreids should be easy for a European entomologist to identify, but I’ll keep looking, see if I can come up with something.
Eric

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From Unknown Jewel Beetle from Off the Coast of Mauritania | What's That Bug? on 09 Jan 2010 at 2:55 pm ¶
[...] Mauritania issued a stamp in 1970 with a Jewel Beetle, but it is not your species. We are also linking to your previous letter with the unusual phenomenon of Hemipterans swarming your [...]