Acrosternum heegeri

Appearance

The approximately 11 mm long bugs are green in summer and brownish in color in autumn. At the end of the label (scutellum) there are usually two small yellow spots. The first two antennae and the base of the third are green, while the rest of the antennae are red or reddish in colour.

Naming

Fieber, 1861

Distribution

The species is found around the Mediterranean (holomediterranean), in the Middle East , in Central Asia and in tropical Africa.

Behavior

Acrosternum heegeri is a phytophagous type of bug. The bugs are often found in turpentine pistachio ( Pistacia terebinthus ), mastic ( Pistacia lentiscus ), Westward strawberry tree ( Arbutus unedo ), or holm oak ( Quercus ilex ). In the Middle East (Iran), the species is considered a pest , as it causes damage to pistachio trees there.

Food

Host plants. On Prunus armeniaca ( Rosaceae ), Pinus sp. ( Pinaceae ) ( Modarres Awal 1987 ), Phaseolus sp. ( Fabaceae ), Peganum harmala ( Zygophyllaceae ), Pistacia vera ( Anacardiaceae ), Populus sp. ( Salicaceae ), Salicornia sp. ( Chenopodiaceae ) or Salsola sp. ( Amaranthaceae ), Seidlitzia rosmarinus ( Amaranthaceae ) ( Modarres Awal 1997 b ); on various trees belonging to Cupressaceae , Fagaceae , Anacardiaceae , Araliaceae , Ranunculaceae ( Dusoulier & Lupoli 2006 ) ; Xanthium occidentale (Sakenin et al . 2008 ) , in pistachio garden ( Zeinoddini Memand et al . 2012 , 2013 ), and also on Alhagi pseudalhagi ( Fabaceae ), Peganum harmala ( Zygophyllaceae ) ( Zeinoddini Memand et al . 2013 ). Also recorded on Juniperus sp. ( Cupressaceae ), Eucalyptus sp. ( Myrtaceae ), Euphorbia sp. ( Euphorbiaceae ), Rhamnus sp. ( Rhamnaceae ) (Ribes & Pagola Carte 2013 ).