Cotton harlequin bug
The cotton harlequin bug is a round, shiny bug shaped like a shield. It shines like metal in bright orange, red and blue. Its babies look different again, in shiny green and purple.
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Fun facts
Females are mostly orange, while males are blue with red or orange.
Every bug looks a bit different. Its many colours may help it fool birds that want to eat it.
Its colours are so different that scientists gave it at least 16 different names, thinking they were different bugs.
The mother lays her eggs in a ring around a plant stem and stays to guard them until they hatch.
It also visits the flowers of flame trees and bottlebrush plants.
Most asked questions about Cotton harlequin bug
?Is the cotton harlequin bug dangerous?
No. It does not hurt people. It only sucks sap from plants.
?What does the cotton harlequin bug eat?
Plant sap, mostly from hibiscus and cotton.
?How big is a cotton harlequin bug?
It grows to about 2 centimetres long.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Tectocoris diophthalmus
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Scutelleridae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Scutelleridae
- Lives on
- Australia and Oceania
- Also known as
- Hibiscus harlequin bug
Where the facts come from
- Tectocoris (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Louise .. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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