Taphropeltus contractus

Taphropeltus contractus
Taphropeltus contractus depicted in Edward Saunders Hemiptera Heteroptera of the British Islands (figure 5)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Family:	Lygaeidae
Genus:	Taphropeltus
Species:	T. contractus
Binomial name
Taphropeltus contractus (Herrich-Schäffer, 1835)

Taphropeltus contractus is a species in the family Lygaeidae. It is found in the West Palearctic - in Europe, excepting the far North. In the South of Europe the distribution includes the Mediterranean Basin including North Africa. The East limit is the Caucasus. In Central Europe the species is widespread and it is not uncommon in the South. North of the central uplands, it occurs but only locally. The species occurs only in warmer in the Alps. It prefers half shady, dry warm habitats.^[1]

This species lives in the litter layer and sucks the seeds of many different types of herbaceous plants and shrubs. At the beginning of the summer when it is the mating season, they are also seen on the plants. The imagines hibernate and pairing starts from May. Nymphs are present in June to Autumn, the new generation of adult bugs appears in August. There is one generation per year. ^[2]

References

1. Fauna Europaea
2. Ekkehard Wachmann, Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Wanzen. Band 3: Pentatomomorpha I: Aradoidea (Rindenwanzen), Lygaeoidea (Bodenwanzen u. a.), Pyrrhocoroidea (Feuerwanzen) und Coreoidea (Randwanzen u. a.). (= Die Tierwelt Deutschlands und der angrenzenden Meeresteile nach ihren Merkmalen und nach ihrer Lebensweise. 78. Teil). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2007, ISBN 978-3-937783-29-1.

External links

• British Bugs