The genus ''Lygus'' includes over 40 species of plant-feeding insects in the family
Miridae
The Miridae are a large and diverse insect family at one time known by the Synonym (taxonomy), taxonomic synonym Capsidae. Species in the family may be referred to as capsid bugs or "mirid bugs". Common names include plant bugs, leaf bugs, and g ...
. The term lygus bug is used for any member of genus ''Lygus''.
Species
At one time, nearly 200 species were classified as genus ''Lygus'', but most of those have since been reclassified into new or existing genera. Species within this genus include:
* ''
Lygus abroniae''
* ''
Lygus aeratus''
* ''
Lygus atriflavus''
* ''
Lygus atritibialis''
* ''
Lygus borealis''
* ''
Lygus bradleyi''
* ''
Lygus ceanothi''
* ''
Lygus convexicollis''
* ''
Lygus elisus''
* ''
Lygus gemellatus''
* ''
Lygus hesperus''
* ''
Lygus humeralis''
* ''
Lygus keltoni''
* ''
Lygus lineolaris''
* ''
Lygus lupini''
* ''
Lygus maritimus
''Heterocordylus tibialis'' is a Palearctic
The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the f ...
''
* ''
Lygus mexicanus''
* ''
Lygus oregonae''
* ''
Lygus perplexus
The genus ''Lygus'' includes over 40 species of plant-feeding insects in the family Miridae. The term lygus bug is used for any member of genus ''Lygus''.
Species
At one time, nearly 200 species were classified as genus ''Lygus'', but most of th ...
''
* ''
Lygus plagiatus''
* ''
Lygus potentillae''
* ''
Lygus pratensis''
* ''
Lygus punctatus
The genus ''Lygus'' includes over 40 species of plant-feeding insects in the family Miridae. The term lygus bug is used for any member of genus ''Lygus''.
Species
At one time, nearly 200 species were classified as genus ''Lygus'', but most of th ...
''
* ''
Lygus robustus''
* ''
Lygus rolfsi''
* ''
Lygus rubroclarus
''Lygus rubroclarus'' is a species of plant bug in the family Miridae
The Miridae are a large and diverse insect family at one time known by the Synonym (taxonomy), taxonomic synonym Capsidae. Species in the family may be referred to as capsi ...
''
* ''
Lygus rubrosignatus
The genus ''Lygus'' includes over 40 species of plant-feeding insects in the family Miridae. The term lygus bug is used for any member of genus ''Lygus''.
Species
At one time, nearly 200 species were classified as genus ''Lygus'', but most of th ...
''
* ''
Lygus rufidorsus
The genus ''Lygus'' includes over 40 species of plant-feeding insects in the family Miridae. The term lygus bug is used for any member of genus ''Lygus''.
Species
At one time, nearly 200 species were classified as genus ''Lygus'', but most of th ...
''
* ''
Lygus rugulipennis
''Lygus rugulipennis'', the European tarnished plant bug, is a species of ''plant bugs'' of the family Miridae.
Distribution and habitat
This common and widespread species is present in most of Europe and in the Nearctic realm. These bugs mainly ...
''
* ''
Lygus scudderi''
* ''
Lygus shulli''
* ''
Lygus solidaginis''
* ''
Lygus striatus''
* ''
Lygus unctuosus''
* ''
Lygus wagneri''
* ''
Lygus vanduzeei''
* ''
Lygus varius''
*The tarnished plant bug (''
Lygus lineolaris'') feeds on over half of all commercially grown crop plants, but favors
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
,
alfalfa
Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...
,
bean
A bean is the seed of some plants in the legume family (Fabaceae) used as a vegetable for human consumption or animal feed. The seeds are often preserved through drying (a ''pulse''), but fresh beans are also sold. Dried beans are traditi ...
s,
stone fruits, and
conifer
Conifers () are a group of conifer cone, cone-bearing Spermatophyte, seed plants, a subset of gymnosperms. Scientifically, they make up the phylum, division Pinophyta (), also known as Coniferophyta () or Coniferae. The division contains a sin ...
seedlings. This bug can be found across
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
, from northern Canada to southern Mexico.
*The western tarnished plant bug (''
Lygus hesperus'') is a very serious pest of
cotton
Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
,
strawberries, and seed crops such as
alfalfa
Alfalfa () (''Medicago sativa''), also called lucerne, is a perennial plant, perennial flowering plant in the legume family Fabaceae. It is cultivated as an important forage crop in many countries around the world. It is used for grazing, hay, ...
.
*The European tarnished plant bug (''
Lygus rugulipennis
''Lygus rugulipennis'', the European tarnished plant bug, is a species of ''plant bugs'' of the family Miridae.
Distribution and habitat
This common and widespread species is present in most of Europe and in the Nearctic realm. These bugs mainly ...
'') is distributed throughout Europe, where it will feed on over 400 types of crop plant from
peach trees to
wheat
Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
to
lettuce
Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in Green salad, green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiche ...
.
British Bugs
/ref>
Description
These insects appear as small oval creatures. Adult lygus are approximately 3 mm wide and 6 mm long, colored anything in a range from pale green to reddish brown or black. The bugs can be solid shaded or mottled, and have a distinctive triangle or V-shape on their backs. Adults are capable of flight
Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...
, and will often thus escape when approached. Nymphs are wingless, and being light green in color, are often mistaken for aphids. However, lygus nymphs have harder exoskeletons, are typically more active, gain spots as they age, and lack aphid cornicles.
Biology
Lygus bugs are known for their destructive feeding habits - they puncture plant tissues with their piercing mouthparts, and feed by sucking sap. Both the physical injury and the plant's own reaction to the bugs' saliva cause damage to the plant. The females insert their eggs directly into the plant tissues using piercing ovipositor
The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typica ...
s, and the newly emerged 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 voracious consumers of plant tissue juices. Signs that a plant has been attacked by lygus bugs include discoloration, deformation of shoots and stems, curling of leaves, and lesions on the plant tissues.
Economic importance
The more well-known lygus bugs are those that have agricultural
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...
impacts. Some lygus bugs are very serious agricultural pests.[ General Lygus Information]
/ref>
Some methods of biological pest control have proved useful against lygus bugs. For example, wasp
A wasp is any insect of the narrow-waisted suborder Apocrita of the order Hymenoptera which is neither a bee nor an ant; this excludes the broad-waisted sawflies (Symphyta), which look somewhat like wasps, but are in a separate suborder ...
s of the genus ''Peristenus'' are parasitoids of lygus bugs; an adult wasp will inject an egg into a lygus nymph, and once the egg hatches the wasp's larva will consume the nymph from the inside out.
Gallery
File:Lygus.pratensis4.-.lindsey.jpg
File:Lygus.wagneri.-.lindsey.jpg
File:Mirid April 2008-1.jpg
File:Lygus lineolaris 2.jpg
File:Lygus lineolaris on Trifolium.jpg
File:Lygus lineolaris.jpg
References
{{Authority control
Miridae genera
Agricultural pest insects
Taxa named by Carl Wilhelm Hahn