Three weeks ago I posted a little clutch of first instar woundwort shieldbug nymphs, and commented that they would be approaching adulthood in around a month. I’ve tried to keep an eye on their development since then, but the weather has caused the hedge woundwort to go over more quickly than expected, and most of the stems have now collapsed in a messy heap, which has made it hard to even see, let alone photograph, the tiny nymphs. Today I did a little careful rummaging in the pile of stems and separated out one or two that had a good number of nymphs on them, so that I could record their progress.
Of the four nymphs you can see here, the smallest one in the centre is an early model: second instar, I think, because it’s bigger and more mobile than the ones in my post from three weeks ago, with more clearly defined markings, but it hasn’t yet acquired the pair of white spots that appear on what will eventually become the scutellum after the second moult. The other three individuals are all in their fifth and final instar, which is shown by the fact that they have obvious wing buds. One more moult will transform them into fully winged adults.
Sad to say, I’ve now completely lost the little gang of hairy shieldbug nymphs which I also photographed back at the beginning of the month. They were on a low stem of this plant, which I had to lift with one hand while holding the camera in the other, and which is almost certainly now well down the heap of collapsed stems. Though this doesn’t work for me at all, it’s probably helpful to the shieldbugs, in keeping them out of sight of potential predators. With luck one or two of them will make their way up to the surface in due course.
