Red Jewel Bug
Female, Red Face
Ellura
Red Jewel Bug
Female, Orange
 
                      
Red Jewel Bug (Choerocoris paganus)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: True Bugs (Hemiptera)
Family: Shield Backed Bug (Pentatomoidea, Scutelleridae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Red Jewel Bug (Choerocoris paganus)
This Photo:     🔍Female, Brown🔎
Other name: Dodonaea bug

Thank you Danilo Lüdke for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills, the Riverland, Coastal Areas and elsewhere
~12mm long. We suspect the different coloured shield (ie all dark vs wine glass shaped stripe) relates to different gender; with the females having the wine glass shape. We've included some shots of them mating to prove their variation in colour occurs within the same species and to show the size differences. Males seem thicker at the back, while females are wider and larger overall.
An amazing array of fire engine red and deep metallic green head and shield.
There are 6 small white dots around the rear edge of the abdomen.

Copyright © 2012-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 19-Dec-2012
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.