Elasmucha grisea - Winter colours A

Not only the leafs on the trees are changing their colour ... :o)

comments (3)

Patomarazul

Lion

Wow! are you joking or do they really change colors too??
Nice spotting! :-) Posted 4 years ago
1. Pudding4brains
  
  Lion
  
  Hola Pato :o) No, not joking. Many insects that overwinter as an adult become darker just before or during winter. In some it can be interpreted just as "aging" of the colours and the colours will not change back in spring, but on some species there is clear cycle from more greenish to more brownish and back to greenish in spring(!) Clearly this has something to do with camouflage in broad leafed environments. Most well known (because the bug is so darn omnipresent) is probably Palomena prasina. I haven't uploaded any images of that yet but there is one here by Joost Thissen:
  
  Same goes for the "southern" green stinkbug Nezara viridula:
  
  But not only bugs do this. In Lacewings it is quite unusual for the adults to overwinter (mostly they sit through the cold as a pupa in cocoon), but in the few species that do (in Europe Chrysoperla spp and Peyerimhoffina) some will also change colours. In fact this is one of the things that makes a few Chrysoperla carnea s.l. actually identifiable to species as some (from "evergreen" areas in Europe) do not change colours, some change to a dark reddish brown and some to a more yellowish brown like this one:
  
  Posted 4 years ago
2. 1. Patomarazul
    
    Lion
    
    Wow! Super! It makes all sense but I had no idea they did that. Many thanks for the additional info! :-) Posted 4 years ago

The Parent bug

The parent bug is a shield bug, a type of insect characterized by its shield-shaped body. It is so named because adults remain with their offspring for several weeks after they hatch; this is relatively rare behaviour in the insect world. Adults are approximately 12 mm long.

Info 12 0

Similar species: True Bugs

Species identified by Pudding4brains