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Sticker of Woundwort shield bug
Bug card No. 4845 of 4,939

Woundwort shield bug

Stagonomus venustissimus
Name means: “the most beautiful bug”
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The woundwort shield bug is a small shield-shaped bug. Its head and shoulders shine like copper, and it has a bronze-purple triangle on its back. Its whitish legs are dotted with black.

Lives in
Most of Europe
Length
5 to 7 mm (0.2 to 0.28 in)
Top speed
about 0.15 km/h (0.09 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite people.
What does it eat?
Its young eat seeds of hedge woundwort and white dead-nettle.
For real!Photo of Woundwort shield bug
Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Woundwort shield bug about 7 mm long (0.28 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 24 seconds

How big is Woundwort shield bug compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The edges of its body have a black and white pattern, like piano keys.

2

It has just one family of young each year.

3

For many years scientists used the wrong name for it, until someone found the older name.

you asked

Most asked questions about Woundwort shield bug

?What does the woundwort shield bug eat?

Its young eat the seeds of hedge woundwort and white dead-nettle.

?How big is the woundwort shield bug?

It is only 5 to 7 millimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Stagonomus venustissimus
Named by
Schrank, 1776
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Pentatomidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Pentatomidae
Lives on
Europe
Also known as
Woundwort shieldbug

Where the facts come from

  1. Stagonomus venustissimus (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 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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