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True bugs (Order: Hemiptera)

A photograph of an adult Squash Bug (_Coreus marginatus_).

The two regions of the forewing of Heteopteran bugs can be seen in this adult Squash Bug (Coreus marginatus).

Including shieldbugs, plant bugs, bed bugs, pondskaters, cicadas, water bugs, aphids and scale insects.

The Hemiptera are called 'true' bugs because everyone - entomologists included - tend to call all insects 'bugs'. That is a loose term, whereas the true bugs are just those contained within the insect order Hemiptera.

This group of insects is very large, with around 75,000 species worldwide. Around 1,700 of these can be found in the British Isles. Many of them are very different from each other, but all of them have piercing mouthparts with which they can suck the juices from plants or animals - usually plants. Their mouthparts are contained in a beak (or rostrum) which is usually held underneath the body when not in use.

As plant feeders, some bugs - such as the aphids, for example - are serious agricultural pests, not just because they damage crops but because they can transmit viral diseases too. However, most bugs are not pests.

The true bugs often have long antennae divided into a small number of segments, and the front wings can be somewhat hardened. Some bugs resemble beetles, but beetles have wing covers that do not overlap, unlike the bugs.

Bugs undergo incomplete metamorphosis - their life cycle stages include the egg, adult-like nymphs, and winged adults.

True bug diversity

The various true bugs have been categorised into two main groups, or sub-orders: the Heteroptera (from the Greek, meaning 'different wings') and the Homoptera ('uniform wings').

The forewings of the heteropteran bug are clearly divided into two regions, a tough and leathery basal area and a membranous tip, and the hind wings are membranous; all four wings are folded flat over their backs when not needed for flying.

The homopteran bug, on the other hand, has forewings that are either toughened or membraneous, but not both, and all four wings are held tent-like over the body when the insect is at rest.

The two suborders are also covered in more detail:

Obtaining true bugs

The Hemiptera can be easily captured using beating trays, sweeping nets and detailed examination of vegetation. Water bugs can also be caught in small nets.

Resources

Books

Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles
By T.R.E. Southwood and D. Leston.
Frederick Warne, 1959.
Out of print but available used from entomological booksellers.

Essential reading from the Amateur Entomologists' Society

Related links: True Bugs (Order: Hemiptera)

Back to Insect Orders.