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Sticker of Nettle ground bug
Bug card No. 2975 of 4,939

Nettle ground bug

Heterogaster urticae
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The nettle ground bug is a small, shiny brown bug that loves stinging nettles. Its legs have stripes of dark and light, and its head is covered in long white hairs. Often you can find a whole crowd of them sitting together on one nettle.

Lives in
Europe, Africa, northern Asia, New Zealand and North America, on nettle patches
Length
6 to 7 mm (0.24 to 0.28 in)
Top speed
about 0.15 km/h (0.09 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting people.
What does it eat?
It lives on stinging nettles and feeds on them.
For real!Photo of Nettle ground bug
Picture by Hectonichus. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Nettle ground bug about 7 mm long (0.28 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)
small enough to sit on your fingernailcould run across a dinner table in 24 seconds

How big is Nettle ground bug compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Grown-up bugs spend the winter hiding under tree bark or inside hollow plant stems.

2

A male and a female can stay joined together for 3 or 4 days when they mate.

3

The female lays her eggs in the ground near the nettles.

4

Its front legs each have a little spine on them.

you asked

Most asked questions about Nettle ground bug

?What does the nettle ground bug eat?

It lives on stinging nettles and feeds on them.

?How big is the nettle ground bug?

About 6 to 7 millimetres long, roughly as long as a grain of rice.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Heterogaster urticae
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Heterogastridae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Heterogastridae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and Oceania, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Heterogaster urticae (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 Hectonichus. 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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More from the same group: True bugs and cicadas

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows

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