''Mictis profana'' is a species of insect in the family

Coreidae Coreidae is a large family (biology), family of predominantly sap-sucking insects in the Hemipteran suborder Heteroptera. The name "Coreidae" derives from the genus ''Coreus'', which derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning bedbug. As a fam ...

known by the common names crusader bug and holy cross bug. It is distributed in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

, and the Indo-Pacific. The insect can be seen in most habitat types, from

urban area An urban area is a human settlement with a high population density and an infrastructure of built environment. Urban areas originate through urbanization, and researchers categorize them as cities, towns, conurbations or suburbs. In urbani ...

s to the coastal

heath A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

, except for the

desert A desert is a landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions create unique biomes and ecosystems. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one-third of the la ...

Description

The adult is 20–25 mm long and 7–10 mm wide, stout, and grey to brown with a clear

saltire A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a Heraldry, heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross. The word comes from the Middle French , Medieval Latin ("stirrup"). From its use as field sign, the saltire cam ...

in cream or yellow on its back. The legs are long and the shoulders of the

pronotum 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 e ...

project into short spines in adults and older nymphs. The hindmost legs are much thicker than the other legs, and the hind femur has inner rows of fine teeth and one preapical spine. The hindmost legs are shorter and much swollen in the male. The hind tibia are inwardly lamellate in about middle third; less so in the male, which also has a distinct spine on the lamellate area. Later

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 ...

nymphs have a pair of orange spots in the middle of the upper surface of abdomen, and wing pads in later instars are marked with orange. The species is

polyphagous Feeding is the process by which organisms, typically animals, obtain food. Terminology often uses either the suffixes -vore, -vory, or -vorous from Latin ''vorare'', meaning "to devour", or -phage, -phagy, or -phagous from Greek φαγε ...

, and has been recorded feeding on a variety of native and introduced plants such as

eucalypt Eucalypt is any woody plant with Capsule (fruit), capsule fruiting bodies belonging to one of seven closely related genera (of the tribe Eucalypteae) found across Australia: ''Eucalyptus'', ''Corymbia'', ''Angophora'', ''Stockwellia'', ''Allosyn ...

s, wattles, orchard trees such as

citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

, and cultivated crops including

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

, pawpaw,

cowpea The cowpea (''Vigna unguiculata'') is an annual herbaceous legume from the genus '' Vigna''. Its tolerance for sandy soil and low rainfall have made it an important crop in the semiarid regions across Africa and Asia. It requires very few inpu ...

tomato The tomato (, ), ''Solanum lycopersicum'', is a plant whose fruit is an edible Berry (botany), berry that is eaten as a vegetable. The tomato is a member of the nightshade family that includes tobacco, potato, and chili peppers. It originate ...

beans 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 tradition ...

, and

green gram The mung bean or green gram (''Vigna radiata'') is a plant species in the legume family.Brief Introduction of Mung Bean. Vigna Radiata Extract Green Mung Bean Extract Powder Phaseolus aureus Roxb Vigna radiata L R Wilczek. MDidea-Extracts P ...

. Although it is a minor pest of citrus and wattles it is considered a helpful

biological control agent Biological control or biocontrol is a method of controlling pests, whether pest animals such as insects and mites, weeds, or pathogens affecting animals or plants by using other organisms. It relies on predation, parasitism, herbivory, or ot ...

against the weed ''

Mimosa pigra ''Mimosa pigra'', commonly known as the giant sensitive tree (''pigra'' = lazy, slow), is a species of plant of the genus ''Mimosa'', in the family Fabaceae. The genus ''Mimosa'' (Mimosaceae) contains 400–450 species, most of which are native ...

''.

References

* (2007)
Crusader bug (''Mictis profana'')
Pest and Diseases Image Library. Updated on 25 November 2010 11:24:56 AEST.
Australian Museum: The Crusader Bug
Last Updated: 8 May 2009 ''This article incorporates text fro
this source
which is licensed unde
CC-BY 3.0 Australia
'' * * {{Hemiptera-stub Mictini Insects of Australia Insects of Indonesia Insects described in 1803