Staria lunata

Staria lunata is a species of shield bug belonging to the family Pentatomidae. It is the only species of the genus. [1]

Staria lunata
Staria lunata. Dorsal view
Scientific classification
Kingdom:
Animalia
Phylum:
Arthropoda
Class:
Insecta
Order:
Hemiptera
Superfamily:
Pentatomoidea
Family:
Pentatomidae
Subfamily:
Pentatominae
Tribe:
Carpocorini
Genus:
Staria
Species:
S. lunata
Binomial name
Staria lunata
(Hahn, 1835)
Synonyms
  • Eysarcoris lunatus Hahn, 1835
  • Staria levantinae Fuente, 1972
  • Cimex lobulatus Rambur, 1839
  • Staria maroccana Lindberg, 1932

Distribution and habitat

This species is present in most of Europe (Albania, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, European Turkey, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Republic of North Macedonia, Moldova, Northwest European Russia, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine, Yugoslavia). It is widespread in the Mediterranean, but rather rare in Central Europe.[2] They often occur in rainfed fields not far from a river.

Description
Mating couple

Staria lunata can reach a length of 7–8 millimetres (0.28–0.31 in). These shield bugs are mainly brown. Head, thorax, lateral tergites and abdomen have light erect hair. They have three bright calluses at the base of a rather rounded the scutellum, that shows at the lower end a whitish sickle shape marking.

Biology

Staria lunata is polyphagous. Adults can be found from March to December. These bugs are often found on herbaceous plants, especially on wild oat (Avena fatua), Astrodaucus orientalis, noble yarrow (Achillea nobilis), Iberian knapweed (Centaurea iberica), garden yellowrocket (Barbarea vulgaris), Cistus species, ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea), Nepeta troodi, woodland germander (Teucrium scorodonia), Thymus species, Galium species, Scrophularia scopolii, Verbascum species.[3]

References
  1. Zicha, Ondrej. "BioLib: Biological library". www.biolib.cz. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  2. "Staria lunata (Hahn, 1835) | Fauna Europaea". fauna-eu.org. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  3. Fungi or Plant Host Records List by Host Species. North Dakota State University, Fargo.
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