''Staria lunata'' is a

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 ''shield bug'' belonging to the family

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 the only species of the genus.

Distribution and habitat

This species is present in most of Europe (

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, Northwest

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). It is widespread in the Mediterranean, but rather rare in Central Europe. They often occur in rainfed fields not far from a river.

Description

''Staria lunata'' can reach a length of . These shield bugs are mainly brown. Head, thorax, lateral tergites and abdomen have light erect hair. They have three bright calluses at the base of a rather rounded the scutellum, that shows at the lower end a whitish sickle shape marking.

Biology

''Staria lunata'' 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 ...

. Adults can be found from March to December. These bugs are often found on herbaceous plants, especially on wild oat (''

Avena fatua ''Avena fatua'' is a species of grass in the oat genus. It is known as the common wild oat. This oat is native to Eurasia but it has been introduced to most of the other temperate regions of the world. It is naturalized in some areas and consi ...

''), '' Astrodaucus orientalis'', noble yarrow ('' Achillea nobilis''), Iberian knapweed ('' Centaurea iberica''), garden yellowrocket (''

Barbarea vulgaris ''Barbarea vulgaris'', also called wintercress (usual common name), or alternatively winter rocket, rocketcress, yellow rocketcress, yellow rocket, wound rocket, herb barbara, creases, or creasy greens, is a Biennial plant, biennial herb of the ...

''), ''

Cistus ''Cistus'' (from the Greek ''kistos'') is a genus of flowering plants in the rockrose family Cistaceae, containing about 20 species (Ellul ''et al.'' 2002). They are perennial shrubs found on dry or rocky soils throughout the Mediterranean reg ...

'' species, ground ivy (''

Glechoma hederacea ''Glechoma hederacea'' is an aromatic, perennial, evergreen creeper of the mint family Lamiaceae. It is commonly known as ground-ivy, gill-over-the-ground,Connecticut Invasive Plant List', Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, January ...

''), ''Nepeta italica'' subsp. ''troodi'' (syn. ''Nepeta troodi''), woodland germander (''

Teucrium scorodonia ''Teucrium scorodonia'', common name the woodland germander or wood sage, is a species of flowering plant in the genus ''Teucrium'' of the family Lamiaceae. It is native to Western Europe and Tunisia, but cultivated in many places as an ornamenta ...

''), ''

Thymus The thymus (: thymuses or thymi) is a specialized primary lymphoid organ of the immune system. Within the thymus, T cells mature. T cells are critical to the adaptive immune system, where the body adapts to specific foreign invaders. The thymus ...

'' species, ''

Galium ''Galium'' is a large genus of annual and perennial herbaceous plants in the family Rubiaceae, occurring in the temperate zones of both the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Some species are informally known as bedstraw. Over 600 species of ' ...

'' species, ''

Scrophularia scopolii The genus ''Scrophularia'' of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of ''Scrophularia'' all share square Plant stem, stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped ...

'', ''

Verbascum ''Verbascum'' is a genus of over 450 species of flowering plants, common name mullein (), in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean. Mullein or "mullein le ...

'' species.Fungi or Plant Host Records List by Host Species.
North Dakota State University, Fargo.

References

External links

* * * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q28338393, from2=Q28469671 Pentatominae Hemiptera of Europe Insects described in 1835