Large bright orange shield bug or stink bug in Madagascar

There goes my hope of this being a real new specie discovery, as suggested by the guide. I found one other guy on the web having identified it before. This bug flies around a lot and has a very bright orange belly, which attracted our attention is the otherwise colorless Spiny forest of Madagascar.

comments (2)

Joost Thissen

Lion

Wonderfull colors! Makes our shield bugs look boring...

It suprises me that the shape is exactly like our shield bugs even there is a huge distance between the Netherlands and Madagscar. Does it mean the design is just perfect or that the species only spread recently? Posted 12 years ago
1. Ferdy Christant
  
  Lion
  
  That's a very good question, I don't have an immediate answer to that. Indeed I think that you could generally say that the later is was introduced, the more it will look alike.
  
  From what I learned about Madagascar, it is mostly mammals and reptiles that developed in complete isolation. Insects and birds tend to spread faster, the thinnest crossing between continental Africa and Madagascar is "only" 400km. Posted 12 years ago