Ground Dwelling Bug
Female, standing
Ground Dwelling Bug
Female, Face
| Ground Dwelling Bug Female, standing | | Ground Dwelling Bug Female, Face | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | True Bugs (Hemiptera) | ||||
| Family: | Ground Dwelling Bug (Coreoidea, Hyocephalidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Ground Dwelling Bug (Maevius sp) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍Female, Scaloping on it's back🔎 | ||||
Thank you Danilo Lüdke for identifying this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere ~9mm long and flightless. These dark bugs live under stones in sandy soil & gravel. They are very rarely found or seen. We thought this might be Hyocephalus aprugnus. But Danilo said "The fore femora are armed with spines", making it Maevius sp. They look very similar to juvenile assassin bugs, but their proboscus is straight, not curved. Also their wings are "squared off", nearly all true bug invert wing-buds are rounded. Usually the number of antennae segments is diagnostic. But you can see here one side has 4 & the other 3. A mutation perhaps? We find this occurs with bugs sometimes. Ratios/lengths of the antennae with 4 segments is diagnostic. Further Danilo provided a key "The key is as follows (A1-4 = antennal segments) A3 > A4, A1 > 1.95 mm (at least as long as head), profemora unarmed = Hyocephalus aprugnus A4 > A3, A1 shorter than head, profemora armed with spines = Maevius". | |||||
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