File:
<anthocor.htm> [For educational
purposes only] Glossary <Principal Natural Enemy Groups > <Citations> <Home> |
HEMIPTERA,
Anthocoridae (Amyot & Serville 1843) -- <Images> & <Juveniles> Description
& Statistics
Barber (1936) gave an early account of the behavior of Orius (=
Triphleps) insidiosus Say in North America. In corn this species was a predator of
Thysanoptera, Homoptera and to some extent Hemiptera, Lepidoptera and
Acarina. It was considered the most
important natural enemy of the corn earworm, Heliothis obsoleta
F., in certain areas of the United States.
Records from Virginia showed that the proportion of eggs destroyed
ranged from 14-54% during the season.
Young larvae were also attacked, though to a lesser extent (Clausen
1940/1962).
Pirate bugs average about 1.5 mm to 5 mm long. Their body is oval to
triangular and somewhat flattened, sometimes with a black and white patterned
back.
Pirate bugs feed on other small insects, spider mites and insect eggs.
They cut a hole into their prey, pump saliva into it and drink the contents.
This makes them beneficial as biological control agents. Orius insidiosus,
the "insidious flower bug", for example, feeds on the eggs of the
corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea). Especially O. insidiosus is
often released in greenhouses against mites and thrips. These small insects can bite
humans, with surprising pain for such a small insect. However, they do not
feed on human blood or inject venom or saliva. In some people the bite swells
up, in others there is no reaction Orius insidiosus was also the most
effective natural enemy of a number of species of thrips attacking truck
crops and fruit trees, and this was also true in relation to the European red
mite and other mites on various crops.
McGregor & McDonnough (1917) performing feeding experiments, found
that a nymph consumed an average of ca. 33 mites daily and adults a slightly
lesser number. Mite eggs were
attacked only when the young and adults became scarce. Extensive feeding was noted on the winter
eggs of the European red mite during late summer. Several species of Acanthocoris were found to feed on
aphids in Britain; A. nemoralis F. had the unusual habit of
attacking leaf mining larvae of the lepidopteran genus Lithocolletis
(Butler 1923). This cosmopolitan
family had around 302 known species as of 2011. Diagnostic characters of these "minute pirate bugs"
of "flower bugs" include a forewing usually with a well-defined
embolium, a clavus, and a membrane with few or no veins and no closed
cells. The rostrum and tarsi have 3
segments; ocelli are present; and antennae have 4 segments. Most species are black with white markings
and are small (2-5 mm.).
Most Anthocoridae are predaceous, a few species are phytophagous, and
one species is known to be a facultative, though regular, bloodsucker of
humans, horses and cattle. Most
anthocorids feed on small insects and insect eggs, mostly Thysanoptera and
Homoptera, and sometimes on Hemiptera, Lepidoptera, Acarina, and
Coleoptera. The more common species
live around flowers, but some also occur under loose bark, in leaf litter,
and in decaying fungi and animal wastes.
Some species apparently are cosmopolitan on account of their being
transported via stored products such as rice and copra, among which they find
coleopterous larvae and other insect pests and mites. One species was introduced from the
Philippines via Hawaii into California for biological control of the Cuban
laurel thrips. References: Please refer
to <biology.ref.htm>, [Additional
references may be found at MELVYL Library ] China, W. E. &* N. C. E. Miller. 1959.
Checklist and keys to the families and subfamilies of the
Hemiptera-Heteroptera. Bull. Brit.
Mus. Nat. Hist. Ent. 8(1): 1-45. Miller, N. C. E. 1971.
The Biology of the Heteroptera.
E. W. Classey Ltd., Hampton Middlesex, England. 206 p. Southwood, T. R. E. & D.
Leston. 1959. Land and Water Bugs of the British
Isles. London Publ. 436 p. |