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Clown stink bug sucking from kobus magnolia fruit

True bugs

The term bug is often used used to describe insects, spiders, centipedes and a whole range of other arthropods, but true bugs or Hemiptera actually only includes things like aphids and shield bugs. True bugs all have very unusual mouthparts. The mandibles have evolved into a spiky proboscus for sucking up liquids, usually plant sap or sometimes even blood. Some of the best known species, such as aphids, are significant pests of crops and gardens, while bed bugs are common human parasite. Most of the 75,000 species, however are not even noticed, and can even be benificial, like the damsel bug helping to keep the levels of some garden pests down.

Scientific name: Hemiptera

Rank: Order

Distribution

The True bugs can be found in a number of locations including: Africa, Amazon Rainforest, Asia, North America, South America, United Kingdom. Find out more about these places and what else lives there.

Explore this group

Periodical cicadas
Periodical cicadas Aphids
Aphids

Fossil types

Learn more about the other animals and plants that also form these fossils.

Amber Amber
Amber owes its existence to the defence mechanisms of certain kinds of tree. When the bark is punctured or infected, a sticky resin oozes out to seal the damage and sterilise the area.

About

Hemiptera ( /hɛˈmɪptərə/) is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs (cf. bug), comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others. They range in size from 1 millimetre (0.04 in) to around 15 centimetres (6 in), and share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts. Sometimes the name true bugs is applied more narrowly still to insects of the suborder Heteroptera only.

Read more at Wikipedia

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Classification

  1. Life
  2. Animals
  3. Arthropods
  4. Insects
  5. True bugs

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