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Sticker of Paddy bug
Bug card No. 3206 of 4,939

Paddy bug

Leptocorisa acuta
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The paddy bug is a long, thin bug that lives in rice fields. It pokes its beak into young rice grains and sucks out the soft, milky inside. Farmers do not like it much.

Lives in
Northern Australia, Southeast Asia and Taiwan, in rice fields
Top speed
about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. It only harms rice plants.
What does it eat?
It sucks the juice from young rice grains. In Asia it also feeds on sorghum and millet.
For real!Photo of Paddy bug
Picture by Owasim raja ahmed. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is one of several kinds of rice bugs.

2

It feeds on the grains when they are still soft and milky, just before harvest.

3

Because it comes so close to harvest time, spraying poison against it can leave harmful leftovers on the rice.

you asked

Most asked questions about Paddy bug

?What does the paddy bug eat?

It sucks juice from young rice grains, and also from sorghum and millet.

?Is the paddy bug a pest?

Yes. It can make the rice harvest worse and sometimes smaller.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Leptocorisa acuta
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Alydidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Alydidae
Lives on
Australia and Oceania, Asia
Also known as
Paddy earhead bug, Rice bug

Where the facts come from

  1. Leptocorisa acuta (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 Owasim raja ahmed. 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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