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Sticker of Sycamore seed bug
Bug card No. 4269 of 4,939

Sycamore seed bug

Belonochilus numenius
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The sycamore seed bug is a small bug that lives on sycamore and plane trees. It feeds on these trees, and the mother lays her eggs on their round, spiky fruit. It comes from North America but has now moved to Europe too.

Lives in
North America, and now also Europe, wherever plane trees grow
Top speed
about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not sting and cannot hurt you.
What does it eat?
It feeds on sycamore and plane trees, especially their seeds.
For real!Photo of Sycamore seed bug
Picture by xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is the only kind in its whole genus. It has no close brothers or sisters.

2

Some of them spend the winter hiding under the bark of the trees they eat from.

3

In Europe it is an invasive species, which means it arrived from far away and is spreading.

you asked

Most asked questions about Sycamore seed bug

?What does the sycamore seed bug eat?

It feeds on sycamore and plane trees and lays its eggs on their fruit.

?Is the sycamore seed bug harmful?

Not to people. It cannot bite or sting.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Belonochilus numenius
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Lygaeidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Lygaeidae
Lives on
North America, Europe

Where the facts come from

  1. Belonochilus (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 xpda. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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