Welcome to my Insect Photoblog. Here you can find various macro photography shots of the insects in my garden at home in Brisbane, Australia as well as from around the local area and further abroad. Bugs, grasshoppers, flies, beetles, dragonflies, butterflies, cockroaches, phasmids and more. The odd spider may also manage to sneak its way into this blog, perhaps I should call it the Invertebrate Photoblog instead. Use the search box below right to search for your favourite insect.
Photoblogs: Plants - Native Plants - Insects - Native Animals - Scenery
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Sunday, 8 January 2012
Tectocoris diophthalmus Nymphs Feeding On Hibiscus heterophyllus
Common Names: Harlequin Bugs, Cotton Harlequin Bugs, Hibiscus Harlequin Bugs
Species: Tectocoris diophthalmusFamily: SCUTELLERIDAE
Nymphs of the Hibiscus Harlequin Bugs (Tectocoris diophthalmus) until adulthood often hang around in clusters sucking fluids from the leaves of Malvaceae family members. They also sometimes have a taste for Brachychitons, Grevilleas and young Bottlebrushes. True bugs in the family Scutelleridae superficially resemble beetles, this is because they are often colourfull and their forewings are fused into a hard shell, and although the forewings of beetles are separate, both give an armoured appearance. These nymphs are chowing down on Hibiscus heterophyllus, a species of native Hibiscus. They have not yet developed the fused-forewing cover (scutellum) for which this family gets its name.