Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Superfamily: Pentatomoidea
Family: Pentatomidae
Genus: Glaucias
Species: G. amyoti
Binomial name: Glaucias amyoti
Synonyms: Rhaphigaster amyoti, Nezara amyoti, Rhaphigaster amyoti, Nezara amyoti, Zangis amyoti, Zangis stali
Common name: New Zealand vegetable bug, Australasian green shield bug, Green Stink Bug, Green soldier bug, New Zealand Shield Bug
Glaucias amyoti is a native shield bug is found throughout the North Island of New Zealand and Nelson and Marlborough on the South Island. It is also present in Australia, East Timor, Indonesia (West Timor), Palau and Papua New Guinea. It occurs on host plants, a variety of trees and shrubs, in city gardens and parks as well as in native ecosystems.
Its colour is typically bright green, with narrow yellow, orange, or reddish edges. It is a large, shield-shaped bug with an elongate, oval form and a length of 13-18 mm.
The beetles of the genus Pentatomidae are often called stink bugs because when handled they emit a strong smell. The nymphs have prominent glands on the upper (dorsal) side of their abdomen, while adults have glands between the base of their legs. The chemicals may deter predators and cause other bugs to drop to the ground, but some of the chemicals produced may also act as aggregation pheromones.
They are a pest found in orchards, gardens, woodlands and crop fields feeding with their needle-like mouthparts on the juices of a wide variety of plants. Adults develop a preference for developing seeds and thus become crop pests (tomato, bean, pea, cotton, corn, soybean, eggplant). When no seeds are present, they also feed on stems and foliage, thus damaging several fruit trees, such as the apple, cherry, orange and peach trees.
For more information on the New Zealand vegetable bug visit:
http://nzacfactsheets.landcareresearch.co.nz/factsheet/InterestingInsects/Australasian-green-shield-bug---Glaucias-amyoti.html
A fifth instar (stage) nymph of Australasian green shield bug, Glaucias amyoti.
Thanks to Wikipedia for text and Information: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
