Two-dots Gum Tree Shield Bug - Poecilometis parilis
Family Pentatomidae
This page contains pictures and information about Gum Tree Shield Bugs that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 20mm
- The Shield Bugs are fairy common in Brisbane forest and bushland. Many other species look similar and hard to be identified. Bugs in this Pentatomidae family are known also as stink bugs and produce foul smelling defensive liquids.
- This bug was found feeding on smooth-bark gum tree trunk alone on mid summer. The bug inserts its sucking mouthparts into the gum tree trunk, sucking the sap.
- The bug was also found resting on wattle leaf in Toohey Forest during early winter.
- Reference:
- 1. Stink Bugs of Australia - FaunaKeys, Australian Museum online 2003.
- 2. Wildlife of Tropical North Queensland - Queensland Museum Publications 2000, p88, (Poecilometis gravis).
- 2. A revision of the species of Australian and New Guinea shield bugs formerly placed in the genera Poecilometis Dallas and Eumecopus Dallas (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), with description of new species and selection of lectotypes. - Gross, G.F. (1972). Aust. J. Zool. Suppl. Ser. 15: 1-192 (description, revision)
