Out in the garden I spotted this interesting looking creature. I recognised it as a Shield Bug species and thought something so distinctive would be relatively easy to identify.
Thus began a very interesting delve into the lives of Shield Bugs. I quickly checked my Bug books and drew a blank. So I then had a look on-line, there is a wealth of information about these, but still nothing matching this. Then I started reading about their life cycle, now this is when it began to get really interesting.
I think you all know the Butterfly life cycle, egg, caterpillar, pupae and finally another adult Butterfly emerges. Shield Bugs do it slightly different. Starting with the egg, they hatch into little bugs, ( called early instar nymphs). After a while they shed their skins/shells, grow a bit larger and become mid instar nymphs, they repeat the process and become final instar nymphs. Eventually they shed their skins again and become adult Shield Bugs.
The thing is each of these nymph stages look very different to each other, and they also appear just to be an adult insect. If you happened to find all four stages together, you would quite easily think you were looking at four different species, of various sizes.
One other thing is just after they shed their skins, they are very soft skinned, which allows them to swell and grow, and also a different colour until the shell hardens.
Anyway after discovering all this I found out what this bug really is.
He is a Red Legged Shield Bug ( Pentatoma rufipes), final instar nymph, not quite an adult Shield Bug yet.
I have posted a couple of other views of him, if you wish to click on the link below.....
http://365project.org/markp/Alternatively/17-06-2016
