Sweetpotato bug facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Sweetpotato bug |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Adult P. grossipes photographs by EBKauai |
|
 |
|
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | |
| Phylum: | |
| Class: | |
| Order: | |
| Family: |
Coreidae
|
| Subfamily: |
Coreinae
|
| Genus: |
Physomerus
|
| Species: |
P. grossipes
|
| Binomial name | |
| Physomerus grossipes (Fabricius, 1794)
|
|
The sweetpotato bug (Physomerus grossipes) is a type of insect. It belongs to a group of insects called Hemiptera. Its family is known as Coreidae. These bugs originally come from Southeast Asia. But now, they have also moved to islands in the Pacific Ocean.
Female sweetpotato bugs often lay their eggs on the same plants they eat. These plants include Fabaceae (like beans) and Convolvulaceae (like morning glories). The mothers are very protective of their young. They guard both their eggs and their baby bugs, called nymphs, from animals that might try to eat them.
Contents
Where Sweetpotato Bugs Live
Sweetpotato bugs are originally from Southeast Asia. You can find them in places like Indonesia, Peninsular Malaysia, and India. Over time, these bugs have spread to other areas. This includes islands like Guam and Hawaii.
What Sweetpotato Bugs Look Like
These bugs are brown and have black legs. They usually grow to be about 2 cm (0.79 in) long. Like other bugs in the Coreidae family, the sweetpotato bug has an oval shape. It also has antennae that are divided into segments. Its front wings have many veins, and it has a special gland that makes a stinky fluid. The back legs of the sweetpotato bug are also noticeably larger.
What Sweetpotato Bugs Eat
Sweetpotato bugs eat plants from the Leguminosae and Convolvulaceae families. As their name suggests, they love to eat sweet potato plants. They also feed on other plants in the Ipomoea group. Other favorite foods include catjang, Clitoria ternatea, and the common bean.
When these bugs feed, they suck juice from the plant's stem. This can make the plant wilt and stop it from growing fruit. Because of this, the sweetpotato bug is considered a pest by farmers.
Sweetpotato Bug Life Cycle and Care
Sweetpotato bugs lay their eggs on the underside of leaves. They also lay them on the stems of the plants they eat. Sometimes, they lay eggs on nearby sedges. A study in 1990 found that a female bug lays about 83 eggs at once. However, some groups of eggs have been found with twice that many. This might mean several bugs laid their eggs together.
The female sweetpotato bug is very protective of her eggs. She offers the "best known example" of a mother bug caring for her young in the Coreidae family. Mothers guard their eggs closely. They might even threaten or rush at animals that come too close. The mother bug can also spray a strong-smelling fluid from a special gland. She uses this to spray larger predators.
Even with this protection, some eggs are still eaten. About 20% of eggs are lost to predators like ants. Another 13% are lost to tiny wasps. These wasps lay their own eggs inside the sweetpotato bug eggs. If eggs are not guarded, many more are lost. The eggs that survive hatch in about 15 days.
After hatching, the baby bugs (nymphs) go through five stages of growth. This takes about 85 days for males and 88 days for females. After these stages, they become full-grown adult bugs.
Once the eggs hatch, the mother bug stays to guard her young nymphs. The nymphs often stay together in groups. The mother even feeds them food that she has already started to digest. Sometimes, groups of nymphs of different ages are seen together. There have also been cases where more than one female bug guards a single group of nymphs. This is rare, but it might mean that sweetpotato bugs have more social behaviors than we know. Perhaps two mothers work together to protect their young. Or maybe a female bug that hasn't mated helps raise another bug's babies. Male bugs are also often found near nymph groups. They might also help protect the young bugs.
