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Sticker of Almond stink bug
Bug card No. 0052 of 4,939

Almond stink bug

Apodiphus amygdali
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The almond stink bug is a big, oval shield bug from southern Europe. It is blackish brown and covered in lots of little yellow specks, like it was sprinkled with sand. It has long legs and long feelers.

Lives in
Southern Europe: Italy, Austria and the Balkans, in orchards and among trees
Length
1.5 cm (0.59 in)
Top speed
about 0.22 km/h (0.14 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
It does not bite or sting people. Like other stink bugs, it can make a bad smell if you pick it up.
What does it eat?
It sucks juice from the stems, leaves and young fruit of trees like plum, apricot, apple, pear, olive and pistachio. Its babies, called nymphs, do the same.
For real!Photo of Almond stink bug
Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Almond stink bug about 1.5 cm long (0.59 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 16 seconds

How big is Almond stink bug compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is about 15 millimetres long and 8 millimetres wide. The females are a little bigger than the males.

2

Farmers do not like it, because it sucks on the young fruit of their plum, apricot and olive trees.

3

The female lays her eggs on the underside of leaves, in small groups of eleven to fifteen. They hatch in two to five days.

4

A baby bug grows by changing its skin five times before it is grown up.

5

Two new families of bugs grow up every year. Grown-ups of the second family sleep through the winter from October to May.

you asked

Most asked questions about Almond stink bug

?What does the almond stink bug eat?

It sucks plant juice from fruit trees like plum, apricot, apple and olive.

?How big is the almond stink bug?

About 15 millimetres long, a bit longer than your fingernail.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Apodiphus amygdali
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Pentatomidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Pentatomidae
Lives on
Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Apodiphus amygdali (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this 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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