Wood bug (shivnik)

Its name sounds beautiful and unusual - Palomena prasina, but, despite the unusualness of such a name, this well-known insect is a wood bug. He is familiar to every Russian, because it is common on the territory of our country almost everywhere, preferring to settle near water bodies.

Here are just memories of a meeting with him are not always encouraging. What child did not eat freshly picked raspberries? Many bugs from the Shchitnikov family are also lovers of this berry. Perhaps, the one who has seen, or maybe even accidentally tasted a green bug, will never forget annoyance, frustration, characteristic unpleasant smell and bitterness in the mouth.

But it happens that people go to raspberries not for fruits, but for bedbugs. From time immemorial, we have reached the recipe for getting rid of drunkenness - vodka, infused on green bugs.

 

How to know the shield

Look at the photo: here they are, wood bugs. In their light green uniforms, they are barely visible on the summer foliage.

With the approach of autumn, the color of the insect changes, brown spots appear, and later the bug is completely lost on the red-yellow background of falling leaves.

It has a rather large oval body with characteristic protrusions on the sides of the pronotum, which indicate the belonging of a wood bug to the family Shchitnikov. A strong shield of chitin serves to protect the insect from external influences. In the back section, brown membranes of folded wings peeking out from under the shield.

In hot summer, woody bugs have time to lay eggs twice. They are the same light green as the parents, neatly laid on the underside of the leaves. The tiny embryos of embryonic shield bugs have a microscopic device that helps the ripe larva to leave - the cap. On the opened egg, it is possible to examine the finest notches, thanks to which the lid is tenaciously held in place.

The larvae are very similar to adults and in color and in shape, which have not reached puberty, insects show only the absence of wings. Dense chitinous cover interferes with the growth of the larva.

Having endured 5 molts, the nymph of a wood bug reaches the size of 12-15 mm. Insect shedding is a serious challenge. It is at this turning point that the majority of offspring perish, failing to get out of the chitinous shell that has become close.

 

Bedbug lifestyle

In winter, the shield plant spends in a daze, burying itself in the fallen leaves. Spring "comes to life", enters the breeding season. In the summer, the quiet and inconspicuous bug of the tree usually sits modestly on the branches.

The green shishnik rarely flies, only in case of special need, being in full confidence that there is a nourishing meal ahead of him. Too much energy is required to spend the bug for taking to the air. Its wings have a small span, and do not provide sufficient lift.

A special dislike was earned by the green woody shield of the tree primarily because of the characteristic unpleasant smell that the insect emits at danger. And the second serious reason to treat it negatively is the ability of the bug to damage agricultural plants.

The bug has a detrimental effect on the plant in whose foliage it hides. Of course, for large shrubs, its damage is almost insignificant,only small brown spots on the leaves indicate that the wood bug was reinforced here. Its jaws are adapted for feeding with plant juices.

But not only raspberries are food for the green bug. He, like other bugbugs, can feed on the sap of most deciduous trees and succulent herbs, and sometimes causes damage to grain fields.

Woodbug is not a “staunch vegetarian”, it does not refuse animal food either, although it doesn’t know how to hunt for insects and finds their remains in the forest floor.

 

Why do shields enter flats?

It is completely incomprehensible how, having such food addictions, the wood bug turns out to be in human apartments? After all, there he has nothing to profit.

However, the shielders brazenly crawl into the vents, make awkward attempts to fly indoors. They are also alarmed by the unusual situation. The green bugs that you see in the photos are not at all glad that they found themselves in a confined space.

This does not happen, of course, from a good life. Green shielders always have good reasons for such an atypical act. Insects are most often disorienting a premature cold snap, which is why the woody bugrefuting the name given to him by entomologists, a cozy place not in the shade of trees, but in the warmth of our buildings.

An outbreak of wildfire or flood can also frighten an insect and push it in search of a new habitat.

The Shchitnik cannot bite a person, so do not be afraid of him. Just let him out of the apartment to the street.

 

The best ways to get rid of wood bugs

In the countryside, seeing a tree bug, thrown out of the window by a gust of wind, is not uncommon, and in the city it is an exceptional phenomenon. People are not inclined to show sympathy for the insect with an unpleasant smell and tolerate its presence in their own home. Therefore, as soon as at least one tree bug appears in the apartment, the human thought begins to work on how to get rid of this unpleasant guest and his relatives.

As a rule, there is no question of invasion. In the overwhelming majority of cases, individual individuals penetrate into their homes, and it is easy to drive them out. Throw the lost green bug out of the window and be sure that it will not disturb you anymore.

If the number of shield bugs in the house grows day by day, you still have to take the following control measures:

1. Catch all the insects that have settled in your rooms. There will be no particular difficulties. Shchitniki, unlike bed bugs, will not be able to hide from the gaze of the owners. To catch them is quite simple, they do not have much agility.
2. Shut off all possible wood entry paths. bed bugs in the apartment. It is about doors and windows. You can, for example, use mosquito nets.

These measures will be quite enough to protect their buildings from representatives of the Shchitnikov family.

But for gardens and orchards sometimes green bugs can pose a real threat. Karbofos and chlorophos are effective against these insects, but the use of insecticides is not always justified. Therefore, to the fore all the same mechanical methods of dealing with wood shields.

Effective and another method of getting rid of bugs. It is the creation of biological protection against pests on its backyard. Plant the ornamental plant cimicifugu. It is noticed that the shchitniki do not like its flavor, for which she received another name - black cohosh.

You can also scare away wood bugs with the help of onion peel infusion or mustard solution.

Do you know that…

The forest bird - the swirl, eats without parsing a wide variety of insects, including bitter bugs. However, using this ability to destroy bedbugs in the garden is risky, as the bird's gastronomic preferences can change, and she will enjoy the succulent berry with an excellent appetite.

Americans are looking for a new safe method of dealing with tree bugs. They hope to deceive the smell of insects thanks to artificially synthesized analogues of pheromones and distract the shielders from planting.

Whether a woodbug can and a person coexist peacefully depends largely on our prudence. It makes sense to wage an active fight with shinniki only with a threatening increase in their numbers.

 

Interesting video: green bug near the bug