Molipteryx fuliginosa is a large leaf-footed bug, nearly an inch long, with flat, leaf-like flaps sticking forward from the sides of its thorax. It lives in Japan, Korea, and the southern Russian Far East, and is not found in the United States. In the Russian Far East it has become a pest of red raspberries.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 0.9–1 in (22–25 mm) long and dark brown to blackish. The side corners of the thorax spread out and forward like leaves.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Woodland edges
- Bramble thickets
- Range
- Japan, Korea, and the southern Russian Far East. It has not been recorded in North America.
Behavior
- Diet
- Plant sap, mainly from plants in the rose family (including brambles) and the daisy family. In Korea it strongly prefers the shoot tips of a wild bramble and Japanese zelkova, and in the Russian Far East it also feeds on raspberry fruit.
- Overwintering
- Overwinters as an adult.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- In Korea, females mostly lay their eggs one at a time on the leaves of a wild bramble. In studies in the southern Russian Far East, overwintered females mate repeatedly from May through August and lay about 21–36 eggs in total, sometimes on the ground.
- Larva
- Nymphs go through five stages. In the Russian Far East, development from egg to adult takes about 80–117 days, depending on temperature.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- NENot EvaluatedNot yet assessed
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