Pale-shouldered flatbug

The pale-shouldered flatbug is a very flat true bug. It lives on dead or old tree wood where fungus grows, and its flat body helps it squeeze into narrow spaces. It is the most common bug in its group.

How fast is it?
Fun facts
It likes birch trees best, but it also lives on oak, beech, willow, alder, apple and other trees.
In the Alps it can be found up to 1,600 metres high in the mountains.
In spring, from mid April to the end of May, the females fly a lot, sometimes far away from any trees.
Both the young bugs and the grown-ups live on wood where fungus is growing.
Most asked questions about Pale-shouldered flatbug
?Where does the pale-shouldered flatbug live?
In Europe and Asia, from Ireland to Siberia, on old tree wood with fungus on it.
?Is the pale-shouldered flatbug dangerous?
No. It is a small, flat bug that is harmless to people.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Aradus depressus
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Aradidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Aradidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
Where the facts come from
- Aradus depressus (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 Iwan Van Hoogmoed. CC BY 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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