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Female ''Cermatulus nasalis'' are between in length and males are slightly smaller. The head is brown and has a bluntly rounded snout. The
''Cermatulus nasalis'' is a
Des Helmore
Desmond W. Helmore (born 1940) is a New Zealand artist and illustrator, known both for his fine art and for his scientific work depicting insects, not least illustrating the New Zealand Arthropod Collection. One of the country's most noted and ...
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File:HEMI Pentatomidae Cermatulus nasalis hudsoni f.png, ''Cermatulus nasalis hudsoni''
File:HEMI Pentatomidae Cermatulus nasalis nasalis f.png, ''Cermatulus nasalis nasalis''
File:HEMI Pentatomidae Cermatulus nasalis turbotti.png, ''Cermatulus nasalis turbotti''
species
A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...
of predatory shield bug
Pentatomidae is a family of insects belonging to the order Hemiptera, generally called shield bugs or stink bugs. Pentatomidae is the largest family in the superfamily Pentatomoidea, and contains around 900 genera and over 4700 species.Robert ...
in the family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Pentatomidae
Pentatomidae is a family of insects belonging to the order Hemiptera, generally called shield bugs or stink bugs. Pentatomidae is the largest family in the superfamily Pentatomoidea, and contains around 900 genera and over 4700 species.Robert G ...
. It is commonly known as the brown soldier bug or glossy shield bug and is native to Australia and New Zealand.
Taxonomy
The species was first identified byJohn Obadiah Westwood
John Obadiah Westwood (22 December 1805 – 2 January 1893) was an English people , English entomologist and archaeologist noted for his artistic talents. He published several illustrated works on insects and antiquities. He was among the first ...
in 1837, who described the species as ''Aelia nasalis''. In 1951 William Dallas
William Sweetland Dallas (1824–1890) was a British zoologist and curator. He curated collections at the British Museum and the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, and was editor of the '' Popular Science Review''.
Biography
He was appoi ...
created the genus ''Cermatulus'', naming ''Cermatulus nasalis'' as the type species. The species has three known subspecies. ''C. turbotti'', endemic to Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands
The Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands (Manawatāwhi is also the Māori language, Māori name for the largest island) are a group of 13 uninhabited islands about northwest of Cape Reinga / Te Rerenga Wairua, New Zealand, where the Pacific Oce ...
northwest of New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
, was described as a species in 1950 by Thomas E. Woodward. Woodward later revised this designation in 1952, describing it as a subspecies of ''Cermatulus nasalis'', however some authors such as Donald B. Thomas consider this to be a separate species.
Subspecies
Three subspecies are recognised: *''C. nasalis hudsoni'' Woodward 1953 *''C. nasalis nasalis'' (Westwood, 1837) *''C. nasalis turbotti'' Woodward 1950Description
Female ''Cermatulus nasalis'' are between in length and males are slightly smaller. The head is brown and has a bluntly rounded snout. The prothorax
The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum ( ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ...
is broadly triangular and marked with fine perforations, the colour being some shade of yellowish-, orangeish- or rusty-brown with blackish markings and fine brownish-black punctuations. The dorsal surface of the abdomen is black and the ventral surface a mottled yellowish-brown. The forewings are mainly brown, each having a large black triangular patch on the posterior part. The antennae and legs are yellowish-brown.
Ecology
''Cermatulus nasalis'' ispredatory
Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill ...
and feeds on a variety of insect species, plunging its beak into its prey and sucking out the body fluids. There is just one generation each year, breeding taking place over a period of several weeks during the summer. The female lays a batch of about thirty black eggs in three neat rows, on a leaf or patch of bark. The newly hatched nymphs
A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
are red with black heads and feed at first on the bacteria that coat the eggs, and also on plant sap. They moult five times, each instar
An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'' 'form, likeness') is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, which occurs between each moult (''ecdysis'') until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to ...
having a different pattern of red and black markings. From the second instar onwards they are predators and feed on caterpillars and other insects with soft bodies.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10446803 Asopinae Insects described in 1837 Hemiptera of Australia Hemiptera of New Zealand Taxa named by John O. Westwood