Lime seed bug
The lime seed bug is a tiny red, white and black bug, only about half a centimetre long. In winter, lots of them huddle together in big groups on the trunks of lime trees.
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Fun facts
Its babies have a black head and a red tummy.
Its see-through front wings reach to the end of its body.
Since the 1970s it has been moving north and now lives in the Netherlands, Belgium and Central Europe.
There are usually two families of these bugs each year.
Most asked questions about Lime seed bug
?Why are there so many bugs on the lime tree?
Lime seed bugs gather in big groups on lime tree trunks to spend the winter together.
?Is the lime seed bug harmful?
Not to people. In some countries it is seen as a pest on mallow plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Oxycarenus lavaterae
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Lygaeidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Lygaeidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa
Where the facts come from
- Oxycarenus lavaterae (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 Katja Schulz. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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