Gonocerus acuteangulatus

Gonocerus acuteangulatus is a herbivorous species of true bug in the family Coreidae. [1] It is commonly known as the box bug in the UK as it once only occurred in Box Hill in Surrey where it fed on box trees.[2]

Gonocerus acuteangulatus
An adult box bug
Not evaluated (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hemiptera
Infraorder:
Pentatomomorpha
Family:
Coreidae
Genus:
Gonocerus
Species:
G. acuteangulatus
Binomial name
Gonocerus acuteangulatus
(Goeze, 1778)

Taxonomy

This species was formally described by the German zoologist Johann Goeze in 1778, under the name Cimex acuteangulatus.[3]

Distribution

This species commonly occurs throughout the Mediterranean region and extends to Central Asia and parts of northwestern Europe. [4][5]

Habitat
Takes off on eyelet.

These heat-loving bugs inhabit mainly dry and warm, south-exposed environments, bushes and forest edges with shrubs that bear berries and small trees of various families, especially Buxaceae and Rhamnaceae, as well as Rosa canina and Crataegus species (Rosaceae) or Lonicera xylosteum (Caprifoliaceae).[1]

Description

Gonocerus acuteangulatus is a medium-sized insect, between 11 and 14 mm long as an adult. These bugs are speckled reddish-brown with a slightly expanded abdomen. The nymphs have a green abdomen. [6] This species is rather similar to Coreus marginatus, but it shows a narrower abdomen and has sharper lateral margins of the pronotum (hence the Latin species name acuteangulatus).

Biology

Adults can be found all year. They mainly feed on the juice of the ripe fruits of the host plants. This species is a harmful pest of the hazel and pistachio. It can also be a vector of the fungus Nematospora coryli, an agent of stigmatomycosis. [7][8]

  • Mating
  • Nymph with exuvia.
  • Late instarnymph

Bibliography
  • Ekkehard Wachmann, Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Wanzen. Band 3: Pentatomomorpha I: Aradoidea (Rindenwanzen), Lygaeoidea (Bodenwanzen u. a.), Pyrrhocoroidea (Feuerwanzen) und Coreoidea (Randwanzen u. a.). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2007, ISBN 978-3-937783-29-1.
  • Ekkehard Wachmann, Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Wanzen. Band 5: Supplementband. Dipsocoromorpha, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha, Leptopodomorpha, Cimicomorpha und Pentatomomorpha. Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2012, ISBN 978-3-937783-58-1.

References
  1. Livermore L.J.R., Lemaître V.A., Dolling W.R. e Webb M.D. Coreoidea Species File Online
  2. Hawkins, Roger (2003). Shieldbugs of Surrey. Surrey Wildlife Trust.
  3. Goeze, Johann (1778). Entomologische Beyträge zu des Ritter Linné zwölften Ausgabe des Natursystems (in German). 2. Leipzig: Weidmanns Erben & Reich.
  4. Fauna europaea
  5. Moulet, Pierre (1995). Faune de France: Hémiptères Coreoidea (Coreidae, Rhopalidae, Alydidae) Pyrrhocoridae, Stenocephalidae: Euro-Méditerranéens (in French). 81. Paris: Fédération Française des Sociétés de Sciences Naturelles.
  6. Tristan Bantock & Joseph Botting. "British Bugs". Retrieved 17 December 2013.
  7. Antonio Servadei; Sergio Zangheri; Luigi Masutti. Entomologia generale ed applicata. Padova, CEDAM, 1972, 320-321. (in Italian)
  8. Ermenegildo Tremblay. Entomologia applicata. Volume II Parte I. 1a ed. Napoli, Liguori Editore, 1981, 61-63. ISBN 978-88-207-1025-5. (in Italian)


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