The painted bug is a small orange-and-black stink bug of Europe, Asia, and northern Australia that feeds on cabbage-family plants; it isn't found in the United States. In Asia it's known as a pest of vegetables such as Chinese cabbage and daikon radish. It looks a bit like the harlequin bug familiar to American vegetable gardeners.
Appearance
- Appearance
- A shield-shaped bug about 1/4 in (6–7 mm) long, bright orange or red with black markings. The tip of the leathery part of each forewing is pale with a single black spot. The outer edge of the forewing is pale, though bugs in Asia may have a black spot near its middle.
Look-alikes
Harlequin bugMurgantia histrionica
The harlequin bug is mostly black with red, orange, yellow, and white markings. The painted bug is mostly orange or red with black spots.
Why they get mixed upBoth are boldly patterned stink bugs that feed on cabbage-family crops.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Vegetable fields
- Meadows
- Range
- Europe east across Asia to China, Japan, and Taiwan, and south through Southeast Asia and India to northern Australia. It doesn't live in North America.
- Preferred conditions
- Lives wherever its cabbage-family food plants grow, from vegetable fields to wild meadows.
Behavior
- Diet
- Both young and adults suck sap from plants in the cabbage family (), from vegetables like cabbage and radish to wild mustards.
- Overwintering
- Spends the winter as an adult and becomes active again in spring.
Cautions
- Cautions
- Harmless to people. Where it's common, its feeding leaves pale spots on leaves, and heavy feeding can wilt plants.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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