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Sticker of Cretan seed bug
Bug card No. 1235 of 4,939

Cretan seed bug

Lygaeus creticus
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The Cretan seed bug is a brightly coloured bug from the lands around the Mediterranean Sea. Its bold colours are a warning to birds: do not eat me. Even its babies wear the same warning colours.

Lives in
Around the Mediterranean Sea
Top speed
about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless to people. Its bright colours are only a warning for birds.
What does it eat?
It sucks juice from plants, especially oleander and a kind of whitebeam tree.
For real!Photo of Cretan seed bug
Picture by Alessandro Bellavia. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It was first named in 1853 by a French bug scientist who studied the animals of the island of Crete.

2

Oleander, one of its food plants, is poisonous to many animals, but this bug feeds on it anyway.

3

A female lays about 21 eggs at a time.

you asked

Most asked questions about Cretan seed bug

?What does the Cretan seed bug eat?

Plant juice, especially from oleander bushes.

?Is the Cretan seed bug dangerous?

No. Its bright colours are just a warning for birds.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Lygaeus creticus
Named by
Lucas, 1853
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Lygaeidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Lygaeidae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Lygaeus creticus (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 Alessandro Bellavia. 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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