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Sticker of Ocellated shield bug
Bug card No. 3094 of 4,939

Ocellated shield bug

Cantao ocellatus
Eats: PlantsTrue bugs and cicadasRainforests and jungles6 legs

The ocellated shield bug is a reddish or orange bug with a big shield covering its back. On the shield sit six or eight black spots, each ringed with yellow like little eyes. It is a caring mother that guards her eggs.

Lives in
From India through Southeast Asia to Papua New Guinea, and also Japan and central Africa
Top speed
about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot bite or sting people, so you can watch it up close.
What does it eat?
It sucks sap from many kinds of plants and trees.
For real!Photo of Ocellated shield bug
Picture by L. Shyamal. CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

After laying her eggs, the mother stands over them and covers them with her body to protect them.

2

Eggs at the edge that she cannot cover are often attacked by tiny wasps.

3

It carries special helpful bacteria inside its gut.

4

The corners of its shoulders often stick out as curved spines.

you asked

Most asked questions about Ocellated shield bug

?Does the ocellated shield bug look after its babies?

Yes. The mother guards her eggs and young by standing over them.

?What does the ocellated shield bug eat?

Sap, which it sucks from many different plants.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Cantao ocellatus
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Scutelleridae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Scutelleridae
Lives on
Asia, Australia and Oceania, Africa

Where the facts come from

  1. Cantao ocellatus (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 L. Shyamal. CC BY-SA 3.0, 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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