Two-spotted stink bug
Perillus bioculatus
The two-spotted stink bug is a shield-shaped bug and a helpful hunter. It goes after the eggs and young of the Colorado potato beetle, a bug that eats potato plants. That makes it a friend of potato farmers.
Lives in
North America, and brought to eastern Europe and northern India
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. Like other stink bugs, it may make a bad smell if you grab it.
What does it eat?
Young and grown-up bugs hunt the eggs and larvae of the Colorado potato beetle. The tiniest young ones first sip juice from potato stems.
How fast is it?
A garden snail about 0.05 km/h (0.03 mph)
Two-spotted stink bug about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
A tortoise about 0.3 km/h (0.19 mph)
A person walking about 5 km/h (3.1 mph)
cool stuff
Fun facts
1
It is a specialist: it mainly hunts just one kind of prey, the Colorado potato beetle.
2
Its newly hatched young start out by sucking juice from potato stems before they become hunters.
3
People brought it to eastern Europe and India to help fight potato beetles.
you asked
Most asked questions about Two-spotted stink bug
?What does the two-spotted stink bug eat?
Mostly the eggs and larvae of the Colorado potato beetle.
?Is the two-spotted stink bug good or bad for gardens?
Good. It eats potato beetles that would otherwise eat potato plants.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Perillus bioculatus
- Group
- True bugs and cicadas
- Family
- Pentatomidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Hemiptera > Pentatomidae
- Lives on
- North America, Europe, Asia
- Also known as
- Double-eyed soldier bug
Where the facts come from
- Perillus bioculatus (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 Louis Tedders, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org. CC BY 3.0 us, 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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