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Sticker of Two-spined grass bug
Bug card No. 4492 of 4,939

Two-spined grass bug

Stenodema calcarata
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The two-spined grass bug is a long, thin bug that lives in the grass. It is about as long as a grain of rice. In spring the females slowly turn green, while the males stay yellow or brown.

Lives in
Europe and Asia, all the way to Siberia, China, Korea and Japan, in grassy places and bogs
Length
7 to 8 mm (0.28 to 0.31 in)
Top speed
about 0.16 km/h (0.1 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It just wants to sit in the grass.
What does it eat?
It lives on grasses, sedges and rushes and sucks juice from the plants with its pointy mouth.
For real!Photo of Two-spined grass bug
Picture by Martin Cooper from Ipswich, UK. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Two-spined grass bug about 8 mm long (0.31 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 22 seconds

How big is Two-spined grass bug compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It sleeps through the winter and comes out again in April.

2

In spring the females change colour to green, but the males keep their yellow or brown colour.

3

It has a little groove that runs between its eyes.

4

Its babies appear by August.

you asked

Most asked questions about Two-spined grass bug

?How big is the two-spined grass bug?

An adult is about 7 to 8 millimetres long.

?What does the two-spined grass bug eat?

It lives on grasses, sedges and rushes and drinks their plant juice.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Stenodema calcarata
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Miridae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Miridae
Lives on
Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Stenodema calcarata (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 Martin Cooper from Ipswich, UK. CC BY 2.0, 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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