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Sticker of Charcoal seed bug
Bug card No. 0851 of 4,939

Charcoal seed bug

Melacoryphus lateralis
Name means: “it looks like a glowing piece of charcoal from a fire”
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasDeserts and dry places6 legs

The charcoal seed bug is black with red and grey edges, so it looks like a glowing ember from a campfire. It lives in the deserts of western North America. In late summer, huge numbers of them can suddenly appear.

Lives in
Deserts of western North America
Length
0.1 to 1.2 cm (0.06 to 0.47 in)
Top speed
about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot sting.
What does it eat?
Like other seed bugs, it sucks juices from seeds and plants.
For real!Photo of Charcoal seed bug
Picture by Junkyardsparkle. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Charcoal seed bug about 1.2 cm long (0.47 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
as long as 2 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 18 seconds

How big is Charcoal seed bug compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is very tough. It can even survive being stepped on.

2

It is a close cousin of the small milkweed bug, another black and orange insect.

3

Its scientific name is said like mela-co-riff-is ladder-a-lis.

you asked

Most asked questions about Charcoal seed bug

?Why is it called the charcoal seed bug?

Because its black body with red edges looks like a glowing piece of charcoal.

?Where does the charcoal seed bug live?

In the deserts of western North America.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Melacoryphus lateralis
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Lygaeidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Lygaeidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Black-and-red seed bug

Where the facts come from

  1. Melacoryphus lateralis (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 Junkyardsparkle. CC0, 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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