G. italicum
         G. semipunctatum
         N. viridula
         C. mediterraneus
         Unidentified
         P. apterus

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Unless otherwise noted, all pictures on this site were taken in Pelion, Greece, shown on the map below.

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View images of the Common Toad, an ugly, bulky, but really sweet creature with an interesting... nightlife.

  Veggie of the Month

Learn about the Salsify, a beautiful plant, with edible and medicinal properties, that is currently blooming in Pelion.

  Cool Destination

Visit Mourtias, one of Pelion's most picturesque beaches on the Aegean coast.

  Exciting Site

Tour the Volos Archaeological Museum, a pretty century-old building, whose exhibits span a historical period of over 10 millennia!

  Month's Wallpaper

Download a fantastic picture of a rickety jetty in Lefokastron, Pelion, taken by Huw Jones.

Loading image. Please wait Graphosoma italicum, Mating Couple :: 2001/08/25 :: Horton :: © A.Papadopoulos Graphosoma italicum, Mating Couple :: 2001/08/25 :: Horton :: © A.Papadopoulos Image 1/5 G. italicum, Possibly w. Parasitic Tachinid Fly Egg :: 2001/08/25 :: Horton :: © A.Papadopoulos Image 2/5 Graphosoma italicum, Mating Couple :: 2008/04/20 :: Horton :: © A.Papadopoulos Image 3/5 Graphosoma italicum, Mating Couple :: 2008/04/20 :: Horton :: © A.Papadopoulos Image 4/5 Graphosoma italicum, Mating Couple :: 2008/04/20 :: Horton :: © A.Papadopoulos Image 5/5

 I talian Stink Bug

Graphosoma italicum

Cool Stink Bug, whose bright red and black stripes bring to mind Milan's football (or soccer, depending on where you're from) jersey and warn predators of foul taste. Stink Bugs are also referred to as Shield Bugs, because the shape of their bodies brings to mind the shields held by valiant knights in times past!

This particular insect, which is also known as Graphosoma lineatum because of its striped appearance, is very abundant in Pelion. It is usually found on  umbelliferous plants, such as wild carrots (Daucus carota), especially their buds. Because most predators tend to avoid it, it is found more frequently in the open than most shield bugs.

While surfing the Web, I happened upon a paper providing information on an experiment designed to test the hypothesis that the coloration of the red-black Shield Bug has a warning function. To that end, scientists from the Department of Department of Zoology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of South Bohemia, offered wild-colored and artificially deaposematized (painted brown) red-black Shield Bugs (Graphosoma lineatum) to a number of avian predators (Parus major, Parus caeruleus). Five Shield Bugs were offered, in succession, to each bird. The bugs were presented on contrasting (white) and matching (imitating the Shield Bug's habitat and imitating the  striated Shield Bug pattern) backgrounds. The test showed that the Blue Tits avoided all Shield Bugs offered to them, regardless of their coloration. The Great Tits attacked both color forms, but the brown one more frequently. The wild-colored Shield Bugs were significantly better protected against repeated attacks. Shield Bugs presented on any of the matching backgrounds were attacked less frequently than when presented on the white background.

According to another paper, scientists from the Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, studied the detectability of two seasonal colorations in the  aposematic striated Shield Bug, Graphosoma lineatum. As already mentioned, the typical coloration of this insect is red and black, which is also the coloration of the reproductive post-hibernation bugs in the study area, in south central Sweden. However, the majority of newly emerged adults in late summer exhibit a pale (light brownish, non-red) and black striation, and these bugs appear quite cryptic to the human eye, when sitting on the dried stems and umbels of their host plants. In experiments using photographs of prey in the late-summer habitat shown on a computer screen, the experimenters compared the time to detection by human subjects of bugs, which had been manipulated to show either of the two typical seasonal colorations. Time to detection was significantly longer for the pale-and-black than for the red-and-black striation in images with the bug photographed at two different distances. This indicates that the pale, pre-hibernation striation may have a cryptic function. In a separate experiment, the scientists tested detectability of striated and non-striated manipulations of bug pre-hibernation coloration against the late-summer background, and found that time to detection was significantly longer for the striated bugs. Thus, they hypothesize, the pale color in the late summer provides a benefit of increased camouflage.

Anyway, Graphosoma italicum or Graphosoma lineatum, if you prefer, is a warmth-loving species, common in southern Europe, but increasingly rare northwards and altogether absent from Britain. The depicted specimens measure around 12 mm (1/2 in) in length.

Note: Check out the little seed-like object on the individual in image no. 2. I believe it is the egg of a parasitic Tachinid fly.

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Fact Sheet

Food
Various plant materials and products.

Active
April - September.

Habitat
Flowery habitats.

Distribution
Southern Europe, rarer towards the north; absent from Britain.


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Taxonomy


Superkingdom: Eukaryota; Kingdom: Metazoa; Phylum: Arthropoda; Superclass: Hexapoda; Superclass: Hexapoda; Class: Insecta; Subclass: Neoptera; Order: Hemiptera; Suborder: Heteroptera; Family: Pentatomidae; Genus: Graphosoma; Species: italicum

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References

The above information has been obtained from the following sources:

• CHINERY, M., 1993. Collins Guide to the Insects of Britain & Western Europe. Domino Books, Jersey.
• GIBBONS, B., 1995. Field Guide to Insects of Britain and Northern Europe. The Crowood Press, Wiltshire.
• GIBBONS, B., 1999. Collins Wild Guide - Insects. HarperCollins Publishers, London.
• STERRY, P., 2000. Collins Complete Mediterranean Wildlife Photoguide. HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., London.
• VESELY, P., VESELY, S., FUCHS, R., ZRZAVY, J., 2006. Are gregarious red-black shieldbugs, Graphosoma lineatum (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), really aposematic? An experimental approach. Evolutionary Ecology Research, 8: 881–890
• TULLBERG, B.S., GAMBERALE-STILLEL, G., BOHLIN, T., MERILAITA, S., 2008. Seasonal ontogenetic colour plasticity in the adult striated shieldbug Graphosoma lineatum (Heteroptera) and its effect on detectability. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, 9: 1389-1396.

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