Beautiful iridescent green and yellow bug

Bruce Williams · #1 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 07:49 PM

Stony Stratford, Bucks. Early evening, 30th August. On old wooden fence near large pond.

This bug was a real eye-catcher but quite difficult to photograph because it just wouldn't stay still. Help with identification appreciated:

Bruce

Pudding4brains · #2 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 08:17 PM

Hi Bruce,

Great shot - I always have a hard time properly catching any iridescence of any critter on photo - well done!

I'm afraid I can't help much with the ID - your guess is as good as mine, which would in this case be "late instar Troilus luridus larva ... maybe" ...

Arp

Jason Green · #3 (**permalink**) 06-09-2008, 10:00 PM

I would guess, maybe slightly educated, a mid-instar Juniper or Birch sheldbug.

It's probably more likely it will go unsolved given how unique it seems!

aeshna5 · #4 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 05:39 AM

Arp was spot on- it's a standard late instar nymph of Troilus luridus (we can see where that name came from!); much gaudier than the adult shieldbug! Note also the orange segment in the antennae- this is a good feature of adult + nymph.

poschiavanus · #5 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 07:36 AM

When you have a unknown shield bug nymph don't forget to check the life stage illustrations

poschiavanus

Bruce Williams · #6 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 11:01 AM

Thank you all for your help and comments on this one. I have done a fair bit of interesting Googling on Arp and Jason's suggested id's and agree that it's a late instar nymph of Troilus luridus . I was amazed at how variable in colour this species would seem to be - so yes Aeshna, the specific name luridus does seem particularly appropriate in this case

.

Anyway what I did find was images of earlier instars of this species and I remembered taking this pic of one at exactly the same place on the same fence about a month ago (unidentified till now).

poschiavanus - Thanks for the great link and advice.

Bruce

aeshna5 · #7 (**permalink**) 07-09-2008, 12:06 PM

I hadn't seen these before- they are very useful. I'm familiar with the adults, but sometimes the nymphs can confuse me if its a species I don't see often.