The bread bug is a harmful turtle. What does the harmful turtle bug damage and how to deal with it? Video: harmful bug eats wheat
Inhabiting our planet are parasites. Many species parasitize animals and prefer blood, but some feed on the sap of young plants. The turtle bug is not a bloodthirsty species, but it is the worst enemy of man and causes enormous harm to his activities. Grain crops are most susceptible to the influence of bedbugs, and if effective measures to protect the crop are not taken in a timely manner, the economic damage will be significant.
Features of the species, habitat
The bug bug belongs to the family of stink bugs. This species received this name for its appearance, since the body of the insect looks like a small turtle, and the relief and color of the elytra resembles a shell. The adult size varies from 10 to 15 mm in length.
Turtle bugs belong to the order Hemiptera and have two pairs of wings. Pests fly well and easily move between food bases.
Interesting!
In search of food, shield turtles can cover enormous distances, migrating not only between fields, but also administrative regions.
After the larvae emerge from wintering to pupate, a period of intense mating and egg laying begins. Female turtle bugs lay 140 to 250 eggs in a short favorable period of just over a month.
Interesting!
The female bug bug has 14 oviducts in its abdomen, which allows it to lay 14 eggs at the same time.
Under favorable climatic conditions, the embryo develops within a week, after which the larva hatches. Its dimensions do not exceed 1.4-1.6 mm. From the moment of emergence until reaching the mature form, the larva has to go through 5 stages of development. With each phase, the appearance of the young individual becomes more and more reminiscent of an adult insect.
Appearance On a note!
The habitat of the grain bug is distributed from the steppe zone to forest-steppe. The insect is moderately thermophilic, therefore in the hot months, when the temperature rises to 30-35 degrees, it moves from fields to forest edges, to parks and squares.
During this period, pests are frequent guests in personal plots and cottages, where the bug damages corn crops or other succulent plants. By the time harvesting begins, insects have gained enough fat mass for a successful winter and, with the onset of cold weather, go into a dormant state.
Danger to humans and animals, harm to agriculture
Appearance On a note!
Sometimes pests accidentally fly into a living space, but do not pose any threat. But it is not recommended to pick up stink bug with bare hands, as it secretes a special, strong-smelling enzyme to repel birds of prey. Therefore, the insect is often called.
The pest bug feeds on plant sap; to do this, it pierces the stem or ear and ferments the internal contents, and then sucks it out. Corroded crops are severely stunted in growth and do not reach the required ripeness.
On a note!
Grain damaged by the bug loses its marketable value and is practically unsuitable for making flour. The product obtained from grains contaminated with enzymes is not suitable for baking; it has a gray color and is very sticky when kneading the dough. To obtain high-quality wheat bread, the flour should not contain damaged grains.
The main signs of damage to crops by the pest bug are:
- wilting of young shoots at the source of infection;
- white color of ears and shoots;
- the presence of microscopic chips and spots on mature grains in places where bugs have bitten.
On a note!
The pest bug prefers the most valuable and expensive types of crops as food.
Due to its high mobility, the insect very quickly colonizes large spaces, increasing its numbers and, without special protective measures, is capable of destroying crops over vast areas.
Fighting the turtle bug
The most effective drugs for combating stink bugs are:
On a note!
Bugs are serious pests that can destroy entire fields of expensive durum wheat. To successfully combat the pest, it is necessary to take a whole range of measures aimed not only at destroying insects, but also at creating unfavorable conditions for their development.
There are many types of bedbugs in nature. They all differ from each other in distinctive features. There are types of bedbugs that feed exclusively on the blood of animals or humans.
There are species that do not live indoors. They feed on plant leaves, young shoots, grains and vegetables. All types of bedbugs are considered harmful insects, one of them is the bug bug.
Description
The pest bug belongs to the order Hemiptera. It has three pairs of legs, with the help of which the insect moves, swims and holds prey.
The size of an adult insect reaches 12–13 mm. Thanks to its convex, oval body with a chitinous shield, the bug received the name turtle bug. His body is almost completely covered by a hard shell in the form of a helmet. The color of the insect varies from black to light beige. It is difficult to confuse it with other types of bedbugs. Its peculiarity lies in the fact that this species has a hard shell.
The life span of a bedbug lasts no more than a year. During this time, the female manages to lay up to 42 eggs over the entire period. The eggs are in special shells in rows of seven. Nests are found on the stem of the plant, the underside of leaves and sometimes on weeds.
It will take about a month for the young nymph to emerge. During this time, the larvae go through five stages of development. At warm air temperatures, development occurs very quickly. At this time, young individuals feed on stems, leaves and unripe grain crops.
In the first two stages of development, the larva has a pale belly, and the head and thorax are dark. At the fourth stage, the front wings begin to appear, and at the last stage, the hind wings.
An adult insect lives for about a year. The male lives less than the female.
Where does it live?
The harmful bug lives in countries with moderately warm climatic conditions. Its homeland is Africa, the Balkans, Central and Western Asia. In our country it can also be found in regions such as Krasnodar Territory, Chelyabinsk Region, North Caucasus, central Volga, Bashkiria.
In early spring, when the threat of frost has passed, the insect begins fertilization and laying eggs. After a short period of time, the adult dies, so offspring can only be produced once during the entire life period.
Since the female lays up to 50 eggs, the number of young nymphs can cause enormous damage to crops. After all, for the full development and growth of larvae, good nutrition is required.
There is a misconception that the turtle bug can enter the house, this is not true at all. Some people confuse it with the green bug, which produces a strong odor.
What does it eat?
The insect can cause huge losses to agriculture and farming. In spring, the larvae feed on young stems, leaves and grains of crops. Winter crops are damaged the most.
Favorite treats are:
- young wheat
- corn
- barley
Damaged crops do not have time to ripen on time. Grain bitten by harmful turtles becomes unfit for consumption. The flour comes out of very low quality, gray in color.
How to get rid
In order to protect agricultural lands from pests, an active fight is being carried out to destroy them. They use two methods: biological and chemical.
Nowadays, biological weapons are increasingly being used to combat pests. There is a very effective and dangerous weapon for pests called an entomophage.
Many gardeners prefer to use entomophages instead of chemicals, attracting various herbs to their plots. To get an idea of what they look like, you can look at photos and videos of them on websites.
Eurygaster integriceps
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Synonyms |
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In English |
Eurygaster integriceps |
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Insects - Insecta |
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Bugs (Hemiptera) - Heteroptera (Hemiptera) |
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Family |
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Biological |
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Special marks |
Common type |
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Dangerous pest of cereal crops. Prefers wheat, less common on barley, rye, oats, and corn. Recorded on beets, sunflowers, sainfoin. Development is incomplete. bisexual. One generation develops during the year. Adults overwinter. |
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Morphology
. A bug with a broadly oval body, 9 - 13 mm long, 6 - 7 mm wide. varies. Most often the covers are light brown, less often gray, light gray and even black. large, wide, chitinized, covers and . It is usually rounded at the apex, but sometimes there are individuals with a straight one. The middle is clearly visible. It is bordered laterally by triangular zygomatic plates. The lateral edges are rounded and convex.Sexual
The genitals of different-sex individuals differ in their external structure. The structure of the male genitalia is an important species characteristic. Secondary sexual characteristics are not indicated.
imago-like. As it develops, it passes through five instars.First age. Length 1.5 mm, width 1.3 mm. The shape is almost round and strongly convex. light pink, by the end of the first instar - dark brown.
Second age. Length 2 - 2.3 mm, width 1.6 mm. Slightly oval in shape. light. Yellowish-gray tone. , and the middle part of the abdominal segments is slightly darker at the top.
Third age. Length 3.3 - 4.5 mm, width 2.4 - 2.7 mm. The shape is ovoid. light yellowish-gray, and the abdominal segments are dark.
Fourth age. Length 5.2 - 6.1 mm, width 3.8 - 4.5 mm. light yellowish-gray. On the body there are clearly expressed rudiments of the anterior ones in the form of small protrusions on the mesonotum.
Fifth age. Length 8 - 10 mm, width 6 - 6.7 mm. light brownish-gray. Three lobe-like projections are visible on the posterior edge.
Development
. Individuals in the stage survive unfavorable winter conditions. They overwinter under fallen leaves of trees and shrubs, mainly in forests and shelterbelts, where they concentrate in illuminated areas with loose leaf litter and low humidity.
Mating period
. Some time after populating the crops, usually from 5 to 12 days, mating takes place and the females begin laying eggs. During this period, bugs are constantly on the surface of plants and do not hide even when the temperature drops significantly. placed in two rows on the leaves of cereal crops and various weeds, on post-harvest residues and even on lumps of soil. This process continues until the end of June - beginning of July. At the end, the females die off. Fertility varies from 50 to 400 pieces. . Embryo development takes on average 6 to 12 days. In cool weather - up to 20. . Duration of development is from 20 to 60 days. In its development it passes through 5 ages. In the first and second instars, growth and development are highly dependent on weather conditions. A decrease in temperature and humidity, heavy rainfall causes mass death of the harmful turtle.. The development cycle and transformation of the fifth instar into and fledging is completed only when the pest feeds on grain. Depending on climatic conditions, mass fledging of the pest coincides with the end of the milky ripeness phase or with the complete ripening of the grain. If an individual does not complete development before harvesting, then it can feed under windrows or on fallen grain and ears.
Features of development
. The pest develops throughout the year.Morphologically related species
In terms of morphology (appearance), the bread bug bug Eurygaster dilaticollis is close to the described species. This species is distinguished by: short, absence of tubercles in the main corners, presence of a smooth keel in the middle.
Geographical distribution
The pest bug is common in the steppe zone of Europe. The northern border coincides with the Voronezh and Samara regions of the Russian Federation and the Kharkov region of Ukraine. The pest spread covers Central Asia, Iran, Turkey, and Iraq.
Maliciousness
The pest bug damages grain crops. Overwintered and summer ones feed, as well as from the second instar and older.
Overwintered individuals pierce the stems with their proboscis slightly below the ear bud and suck out the plant juices. A constriction forms at the injection site; the damaged stems do not wither, remaining green, but do not sprout and gradually die off. When injected into the stem of the ear, in the axil of the leaves, above the injection site, white hair appears. When injected below the base, the entire ear turns white.
Economically harmful threshold
determined for overwintered bugs:- On winter wheat, during regrowth and tillering in the spring, if there are more than two individuals per square meter, in a dry spring - one bug per square meter.
- On spring wheat, during the tillering period, - 1.5 bugs per square meter of area, in dry years - 0.5 bugs per square meter.
The turtle bug, having a beautiful name and extraordinary appearance, is a serious pest of industrial crops, ornamental cereals and plants grown on one's own plot of land. It is especially active at a time when intensive growth and ripening of wheat is observed in the field. How to recognize a pest, where to look for it, how does an insect reproduce, what harm can it cause, what methods can be used to combat it? Find out about all this right now.
The pest bug naturally received a flat and oval-shaped body. It can be painted yellow-gray, brown-gray, or simply gray. There is always a characteristic pattern on the surface, with shades ranging from light green to silver. The bug has a spiny-sucking mouthparts.
A rather small head is attached to the body. Thanks to the wings rounded at the ends, the insect moves perfectly in space and can cover a distance of up to 200 km. The main food for it is grain crops, from which the bug uses its mouthparts to suck out life-giving juices. In winter, it is even able to penetrate wheat storage facilities.
Habitats and breeding places
The main habitat of the pest in cold weather is leaf litter located in the forest belt, or perennial weeds. In the spring, when the air temperature warms up to 10 - 15 degrees, the pest bug goes in search of winter crops. Having discovered fields with such plants, hordes of bugs occupy them for living, feeding and mating.
One female bug after mating can lay up to 40 eggs. She does this 2 weeks after copulation, laying eggs directly on the stems of the crops. Pest eggs are small in size, white or light green in color and have a translucent structure. After a week from the moment of oviposition, larvae are born.
They will have to go through as many as 5 stages separating them from becoming an adult. This lasts about 1 month. Gradually, as they molt, the young animals acquire the color and body shape of an adult. Since the number of bedbugs increases very quickly, new individuals help the old ones destroy large areas of crops in the fields.
Maliciousness
Spikelets damaged by bugs are characterized by a whitish tint and a change in their normal shape. As for the grain, visually it will be of an uncharacteristic color, bitten and cracked. Pests accurately identify and select those plants that have high nutritional value. Because they grow intensively and have a lot of juice that bedbugs need.
If you subsequently use flour made from such grains, which is difficult to distinguish from quality in appearance, then the substance from saliva will change the normal color and consistency of the product. Therefore, if after kneading the dough it acquires viscosity and becomes dark gray in color, you will have to throw it away and the flour that is still left.
The pest bug is not dangerous to human health. The maximum that its bite can lead to is allergic reactions on the skin. If a pest is found in your home, it will be enough to simply release it into the wild.
Video “Harmful turtles spoil wheat”
How to get rid
Natural decline in the number of turtle bugs
The application of fertilizers based on potassium and phosphorus into the soil has worked well. It is recommended to sow those varieties of grain that are resistant to the appearance of turtle bugs. Such measures can be considered preventive or partially destroying pests.
Application of insecticides
Aktara
Do not allow the product to come into contact with crops adjacent to wheat. The death of bedbugs that stop feeding occurs quite quickly.
Karate Zeon
This drug in the form of an aqueous suspension acts quite quickly on the insect body. Even if you use small dosages of the product, you can get rid of most pests on the site. Unlike many similar drugs, it has a repellent effect, that is, it is not toxic to bees.
It exhibits its protective properties for up to 3 weeks. Much depends on the weather conditions at the time of processing the area. After treatment, the corpses of bedbugs can actually be detected within a few hours. The prepared solution cannot be stored; it is best to use it on the same day. Plants can be sprayed both locally and from the air.
When spring comes, the ground thaws. At this time, bedbugs awaken and many farmers see them in their fields. From the school biology course we know that they help plants by pollinating them. However, not all insects are equally useful.
Bug bug: general characteristics
Take a closer look, and if you see a small (up to half a centimeter) oval-shaped bug of a brownish hue with a clear pattern on the hard shell, it’s time to sound the alarm. Such a neighbor can be found by everyone: from a summer resident on a personal plot to a farmer cultivating several fields, and entire production companies engaged in growing grain. Most likely, this is a turtle bug that spent the whole winter quietly in your field in a pile of fallen leaves, and woke up at the moment it began to warm up to +14 ° C, and, believe me, it is very, very hungry, so it’s a pleasure enjoy your grains. And no matter how you clean your fields and garden plots before winter, all this is unlikely to help. The pest bug is common in the steppe zone of Europe
The bug could spend the winter not only on your garden plot. Perhaps it was with your neighbors, not just your neighbors: biologists have calculated that from the localization of the wintering place to the place where the insect will begin its activity in the new spring period, the distance can be up to 180 kilometers. What factor does this depend on? From which direction the wind blows, literally.
Thanks to its ability to fly and use air currents, the bug is extremely mobile, making it a real threat to anyone who owns a farm. When spring comes, watch the wind (in which direction it blows - from there you can expect trouble).
You have a week and a half to prevent bedbugs from spreading throughout your property. This is exactly the period during which the displaced insects will lay eggs. One female will lay 15 clutches per season, each containing 14 eggs. The result is 210 new hungry bugs. What if you have 10 or even 1000 such females? Don't expect small bugs to cause less damage. The danger is that they feed in the same way as adults.
How to spot insects
How to determine if there are bedbugs in your field? A careful inspection of the area and the ears of wheat or other grain crops will help detect insects. After all, these are the plants that attract bedbugs. The main signs of the appearance of insects are as follows:
Don’t be afraid to carefully inspect everything; the turtle bug is practically harmless to humans. The maximum that an insect can cause in you is a mild allergic reaction at the site of the bite. 
Grain damaged by a bug loses its marketable value and is practically unsuitable for making flour
Consequences of the appearance of a harmful bug
A large concentration of bugs of the pest bug species can ruin not only the harvest, but also the final product. Flour from grains damaged by bedbugs in dry form is almost impossible to distinguish from high-quality flour; it looks the same. The difference will only become noticeable when the product is placed in a humid environment. It will change both consistency and color. Flour from damaged grains will produce a viscous and stringy dough, which also has an unpleasant dark gray color. The saliva of the turtle bug contains a certain enzyme that can change the chemical composition of grains. It is activated when insect-damaged products are placed in liquid, the result of which can be observed without special laboratories, with the naked eye. To avoid this, you should start fighting bugs for healthy and natural grains.
Ways to control insects
The main methods of getting rid of bedbugs are as follows:
- weeding. It will significantly reduce the number of insects. They lay eggs anywhere. The housing issue does not matter to them: a weed is a weed, corn is corn, wheat is wheat. But insects will only eat grains, and those that are the most nutritious, in this matter they are great gourmets;
- stubble peeling. This is more related to preventive methods, but at the same time it is an effective method. Stubble peeling is carried out in late summer or autumn;
Stubble peeling - tillage of the soil with special tools (hullers) at a shallow depth (8–12 cm) - timely harvesting of grains, quick grinding and direct combining;
Compliance with agricultural technology and technology for cultivating grain crops will help avoid the appearance of turtle bugs - fertilizer. Plants need substances for nutrition. The question of who will get the grain - you or the beetles - is better resolved in favor of using fertilizers containing phosphorus and potassium.
The main types of simple mineral fertilizers are potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus - use of insecticides. The measure is even more stringent, but effective. Use drugs such as Decis, Fastak, Mavrik, Arrivo, Fury, Fosbecid. But in this matter you need to be very careful, do not use the same drug: if it helped this year, it may be useless next year. Bedbugs easily adapt to the action of insecticides. The best option is to alternate medications. In any case, get ready: you will have to treat with insecticides twice. The first time was to get rid of those who had spent the winter on the field, and the second time was to get rid of those who had arrived for the first time. Among chemical protection agents, some farmers highlight Boverin. It is safe for humans, but in insects it causes a specific disease called “white mucardine”. This drug can be called a biological weapon. The fact is that when a bug eats this drug, a fungus gets into it, which, growing inside the insect, grows through it, enveloping it from the outside. The product, judging by the reviews of those who have tried it, is very good, but difficult to obtain.
Boverin is an insecticide based on the fungus Beauveria bassiana - natural fencing. If you have the opportunity, it is better to plant grains in a place that has various obstacles, for example, a forest. Remember, bugs fly with the wind. If they stumble upon a forest belt, they may not be able to reach your field. But in the forest they will be joyfully greeted by ants and birds, their natural enemies, and will do all the work of destroying turtle bugs for you;
- natural enemies. This measure is more effective than insecticides; it is used when nothing else has helped. They use heavy artillery - chickens. One such bird can destroy a hundred bedbugs. But you will also miss the grains, so you should seriously think about the advisability of using this method. In addition, some farmers use other insects against bedbugs. This method is used mainly by biofactories and is carried out under the close supervision of specialists in this field;
A chicken can destroy a fairly large number of bedbugs in a day. - vinegar. This is a helper in different cases of life. Simply spray it on the desired area once a week. But this method, of course, is more suitable for small areas of grain.
Of all the home remedies for bedbugs, vinegar is the most affordable and simplest.
