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Bugs have conquered countless habitats through their adaptability. With the knowledge of the key characteristics, you can easily identify bugs and assign them to your species.
In a nutshell
- Around 3000 species of different bugs can be found in Europe
- Due to climate change and globalization, many species of bugs live with us today that did not originally exist here
- The vast majority of species feed strictly on plants, such as plant juices
- An essential feature of each type of bug is the shape and color of the back shield
- Since many species are very similar, it is often a subordinate, difficult-to-recognize feature such as shape, color or habit that is important for the differentiation
bug species
With around 3,000 species occurring in Europe, bugs represent an enormous diversity in the insect world. These include species that have always been native to us, as well as bug species introduced or immigrated from other countries or even continents:
stink bugs
Berry bug (Dolycoris baccarum)
- Size: 10 to 12 millimeters
- Appearance: Ground color grey-brown, reddish-violet elytra, light yellow scutula, side edges of abdomen ringed black and white, underside, head and pronotum hairy
- Stay: bushes, forest edges, meadows, gardens
- Available: overwintering from June, new generation from August to late autumn
- Food: berry juices, aphids and insect eggs
- Jewelry bug / black-backed vegetable bug (Eurydema ornata)
- Size: around 7 to 9 millimeters
- Appearance: Basic color from white to yellow to bright orange and red possible, stop sign with 6 black spots
- Stay: warm, dry open landscapes
- Available: May to September
- Food: plant juices
Tip: These bugs are often confused with the much more common Eurydema dominulus. A clear feature is the black "smear" along the lateral edges of the elytra
Line bug (Graphosoma lineatum)
- Size: 8 to 12 millimeters
- Appearance: Upper side with distinctive black and red vertical stripes, lower side reddish with black spots
- Stay: sunny, warm meadows and slopes, bushes, embankments
- Available: April to September
- Food: plant juices
Notice: Another distinctive feature of these animals is their smell. It's reminiscent of old apples.
sting bugs
Sting bug (Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale)
- Size: 15 to 18 millimeters
- Appearance: Large, contrastingly colored bug with green, black dotted shield surrounded by red, green legs with reddish-brown tarsi
- Stay: bushes, edges of forest, gardens
- Available: May to November
- Food: Fruit and vegetable juices
Source: David Short from Windsor, UK, Hawthorn shieldbug (BG) (7137856703), edited by Plantopedia, CC BY 2.0
Colorful leaf bug (Elasmostethus interstinctus)
- Size: 9 to 12 millimeters
- Appearance: Head and pronotum green, elytra and caps variable from red to brownish, legs yellow-greenish to green
- Stay: deciduous trees, bushes, gardens, often birch or alder, as well as hawthorn
- Available: May to November
- Food: mainly juices from flowers and catkins
Source: Quartl, Elasmostethus interstinctus qtl1, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
ground bugs
Ground bug (Cydnidae)
- Size: around 3 millimeters
- Appearance: Round body with strongly arched elytra, dark green to black in color
- Residence: usually under the basal leaf rosette of the host plants (especially perennials)
- Available: April to October
- Food: plant juices
Source: picture taken by Olei, Tritomegas.sexmaculatus.6887, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
bullet bugs
Ball bug (Coptosoma scutellatum)
- Size: 3.6 to 4.5 millimeters
- Appearance: Domed, black with bluish, greenish or bronze luster
- Residence: Sand and gravel pits, nutrient-poor grassland, inland dunes
- Available: late April to September
- Food: plant juices
Source: Darius Baužys, Coptosoma scutellatum in Lithuania, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
shield bugs
Common grain bug (Eurygaster maura)
- Size: 8 to 11 millimeters
- Appearance: Brown with a convex pronotum, two white spots on the back at the level of the second pair of legs, reddish-brown legs
- Stay: dry meadows, semi-dry grassland, grain fields
- Occurrence: all year round outside of periods of frost
- Food: Juices from grasses and cereal plants
Source: Didier Descouens, Eurygaster maura MHNT dos, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
Turtle bug (Eurygaster testudinaria)
- Size: 8 to 11 millimeters
- Appearance: washed-out brown to greenish-brown, oval outline, very flat build with black "smear" along rear shield edges
- Whereabouts: wet meadows, swampy or boggy open land biotopes
- Available: all year round
- Food: Juices of sedges, rushes and grasses
Source: Darius Baužys, Eurygaster testudinaria LT, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Leather/edge bugs
Rhomb bug (Syromastus rhombeus)
- Size: 9.5 to 11.5 millimeters
- Appearance: brown, characteristic rhombic abdomen, characteristic antennae with second segment orange and third segment black
- Location: Widespread across all biotopes, except for the North German Plain
- Available: from the end of June
- Food: juices of carnation plants
Source: Luis Fernández García, Syromastus rhombeus 20110508a, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 4.0
American pine or cone bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis)
- Size: 16 to 19 millimeters
- Appearance: Brown with fine zigzag markings in white on elytra, rear edge of shield mottled black and white
- Residence: as an invasive species, mainly in residential areas in attics, in cellars, etc.
- Available: all year round
- Food: Seeds and flowers of conifers
Source: Sjonnoh, Bladpootwants (3), edited from Plantopedia, CC0 1.0
Notice: This species is not originally native to Germany, but has quickly established itself in populated areas.
fire bugs
Fire bug (Pyrrhocoris apterus)
- Size: 9 to 12 millimeters
- Appearance: bright red basic coloration with typical black markings, black legs, head and antennae, elongated, oval body
- Stay: sunny, warm places, especially on linden or mallow plants
- Occurrence: all year round outside of the frost period
- Food: plant juices
Notice: The fire bug is one of the few species of bugs that is typically found in large groups.
assassin bugs
Ringed assassin bug (Rhynocoris annulatus)
- Size: 11 to 15 millimeters
- Appearance: black bug with conspicuously red-ringed legs and red-black spotted side margin
- Habitat: various habitats, often on sparse forest edges and on meadows
- Available: May to September
- Food: predatory: lice, insect eggs, butterfly larvae, etc.
Source: anonymous, Rhinocoris annulatus 20060511 790, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
Blind / soft bugs
Brown-yellow Fax (Pinalitus cervinus)
- Size: 3.8 to 4.5 millimeters
- Appearance: variable coloration from golden-yellow to red-brown to greenish, second antennae black from the end of the second segment, forewings partly transparent, slightly hairy
- Stay: on bushes and trees; Forests, bushes, parks, gardens
- Available: May to November
- Food: plant juices
Source: Bj.schoenmakers, Pinalitus cervinus (Miridae sp.), Elst (Gld), the Netherlands, edited by Plantopedia, CC0 1.0
Common bug (Adelphocoris lineolatus)
- Size: 8 to 11 millimeters
- Appearance: Basic color greenish to brownish, two clearly visible longitudinal stripes on the elytra, dark tip of the abdomen, legs characteristically covered with small thorns
- Residence: open country, meadows, ruderal areas, forest edges
- Available: late June to October
- Food: Plant juices, larvae prey on small insects
Source: Line Sabroe from Denmark, Adelphocoris lineolatus (16550091205), edited by Plantopedia, CC BY 2.0
Black-red soft bug (Capsus ater)
- Size: 5.3 to 6.1 millimeters
- Appearance: Males all black, females black with orange-red to red pronotum and head, legs black to reddish
- Stay: natural meadows
- Available: May to August
- Food: Plant juices from sweet grasses
Source: Line Sabroe from Denmark, Capsus ater (16741139922), edited by Plantopedia, CC BY 2.0
Yellow-necked jumping bug (Halticus luteicollis)
- Size: 2.8 to 3.6 millimeters
- Appearance: Black, orange pronotum and head, legs and antennae orange, heavily thickened last pair of legs as jumping legs
- Residence: Herb layer of sunny, warm biotopes, also popular with clematis
- Available: June to September
- Food: plant juices
Source: Sanja565658, Halticus luteicollis 01, edited by Plantopedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
water strider
Common Sandpiper (Gerris lacustris)
- Size: 8 to 11 millimeters
- Appearance: Dark body coloration, very elongated, narrow body, extremely long legs as an impressive feature
- Stay: small bodies of water, such as ponds or ponds
- Available: late April to October
- Food: insects
frequently asked Questions
Are bedbugs dangerous to humans?The vast majority of bug species are completely harmless and at most a little unpleasant due to the odor secretion emitted. Some species have a predatory diet as a highly individual trait. However, they do not pose any danger to humans either, as they only attack insects.
Are bugs under species protection?Even if you will only come across a few specimens of many species, the populations are so stable that there is no need for species protection classification. A few protected species, on the other hand, colonize such individual niches in the ecosystem that you will hardly find these animals.
There are more and more bugs. Why is that?Recent years have been very favorable in terms of reproductive conditions for the bug. Warm winters ensured that a particularly large number of animals survived and were able to reproduce quickly in spring. However, it can be assumed that the next “normally cold” winter will again lead to a decline in the number of animals that can be identified.