What’s eating Shieldbugs?

On our local patch we can expect to record four different species of Shield or Squash bug on most days when it is not pouring with rain.  These four are:-

Dock Bugs (Coreus marginatus) are usually seen in tens of individuals with all five instar and adult stages throughout the year.

Dock Bug and Green Shieldbug instars

Green Shieldbugs (Palomena prasina) similarly found in tens and all stages of their life cycle.

Green Shieldbug and Dock Bug adults

Sloe Shieldbugs (Dolycoris baccarum) are less common.  We are lucky to see one or two of these at a time and usually only in the adult stage.

Sloe Shieldbug

Gorse Shieldbugs (Piezodorus lituratus) are again only usually seen in ones or twos and generally the adult stage and only on one particular Gorse bush.  That is, we used to see them on most days until the end of July.  My records show then in all months from January through to the 28th of July - then nothing.

Gorse Shieldbu

In a different part of the parish, on Gorse bushes on top of the Atlantic cliffs I am usually rewarded with a sighting or two every week when I walk my Butterfly Transect.  But, nothing on their usual Gorse shrub on our daily walks until the 26th of September when there was one.

So where had they been I asked myself?

On Lundy I have come across the occasional Gorse Shieldbug carapace caught up in a spider’s web.  And, there are certainly Garden Orb spiders and Labyrinth spiders in amongst the Shieldbugs’ favourite bush.  Perhaps the spiders had been culling them.

However, during September one and sometimes two Common Lizards had taken up residence in that particular Gorse Bush.  On warm sunny days they could be found basking in the sun as we carefully walked by.

Common Lizards

I am aware that lizards predate slugs, but have they developed a taste for Gorse Shieldbugs causing them to move out or to move deeper into the shelter of the Gorse.

So, a good selection of Shieldbugs to be found on my local exercise walk. There was a unique sighting of the predatory Spiked Shieldbug (Picromerus bidens) devouring a caterpillar in 2013, which first piqued my interest.

Spiked Shieldbug and caterpillar

Stop press, just yesterday 8th October two Hazel Shieldbugs (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale), new for the site!

Hawthorn Shieldbug

Blogs I follow

https://downgatebatman.blogspot.com/

https://maryatkinsonwildonline.blogspot.com/