Nature’s calling – Picasso bug
They are also really tiny, growing to a maximum length of just 10 millimetres.
Warren Dick starts the year off writing about one of the most brightly coloured little bugs in the Durban area, the picasso bug.
The picasso bug is also known as the Zulu hud bug and it belongs to the shield-backed bug family, Scutelleridae. Shield-backed means that the carpus of the picasso bug is in one piece, this makes flying tiring so these beetles are reluctant to fly.
As with most other brightly coloured insects, its bright colours are there to warn off would-be predators and should you not heed the warning, they then spray a fowl smelling liquid on you.
While all picasso bugs have a similar pattern, no two are identical, very much the same as one would find with Zebra and their stripe pattern. They are also really tiny, growing to a maximum length of just 10 millimetres.
Picasso bug nymphs (babies) look quite different from the adults, they are a creamy yellow colour with black stripes and dots.
Picasso bugs occur over much of subtropical Africa and are known to feed on a variety of different plants, however, here in Durban, you only find them on one specific type of alien invasive plant at the Kenneth Stainbank Nature Reserve where they feed on seeds. If you have seen these bugs in your garden and took note of what plant they were on, contact Warren to help him understand the life history of these little bugs.
If you would like to contact Warren to have some of your interesting spiders, snakes or other wildlife identified, send him a WhatsApp message or call him on 072-211-0353. Visit his Facebook page, Warren’s Small World.
