Hemiptera (Rhynchota)

Kingdom Animalia, Phylum Arthropoda, Subphylum Hexapoda, Class Insecta

Alydidae

Coreidae

Gerridae

Lygaeidae

Miridae

Nabidae

Nepidae

Notonectidae

Pentatomidae

Pyrrhocoridae

Reduviidae

Tessaratomidae

Tingidae

Order Hemiptera

From ancient hemi = half + pteron = wing

incomplete metamorphosis

134 families, 82,000 described species

Though the term especially in American English is used also for insects of other orders, Hemiptera are the only that could properly called "bugs", and true bugs are in the suborder Heteroptera.
But in the order are also cicadas, aphids, ticks.

Class Insecta
Order Hemiptera
Suborder Heteroptera
Families Alydidae - Coreidae, Gerridae, Notonectidae

Alydidae

Broad-headed bugs are similar to Coreidae and often have thin legs. They feed seeds, piercing them with their proboscis to drink the nutritious fluids contained within.

Coreidae

They sap-sucking whose name "Coreidae" derives from the Ancient Greek κόρις (kóris) meaning bedbug. but they have nothing to do with them.

Gerridae

Water skeeters, water scooters,water skippers really walk on water and are aquatic predators. They are 90% fresh water bugs, but there are marine species too.

Notonectidae

Backswimmers swim "upside down", They are all predators that vigorously paddle with their long, hair-fringed hind legs, as if they were oars.

Class Insecta
Order Hemiptera
Suborder Heteroptera
Families Lygaeidae, Miridae, Gerridae, Notonectidae

Nepidae

Water scorpions are exclusively aquatic and are so called because their raptorial forelegs and the presence of a sort of tail at the posterior end of the abdomen.

Lygaeidae

Among seed bugs, there are also species that feed on sap or pods, omnivores and a few carnivores. They are often similar to Pyrrhocoridae, but we can distinguish them by the presence of ocelli,

Miridae

Plant bugs, leaf bugs and grass bugs are the largest family of true bugs, includes over 10,000 species. Some of them are called also "mirid bugs" and have a hunched look

Nabidae

Damsel bugs are soft-bodied, elongate predators. They catch almost any insect smaller than themselves and sometimes bit humans.

Class Insecta
Order Hemiptera
Suborder Heteroptera
Family Pentatomidae

Shield bugs have piercing sucking mouthpart and most are phytophagous. Scientific name is from Greek pente = five" + tomos = "section", and refers to the five segments of their antennae. Common name is because the body is shaped like a shield.

Class Insecta
Order Hemiptera
Suborder Heteroptera
Family Pyrrhocoridae

The family name is from Greek: pyrrho = fire + coris = bug. We can distinguish them from Lygaeidae by the lack of ocelli (simple eyes) on the top of the head..

Class Insecta
Order Hemiptera
Suborder Heteroptera
Families Reduviidae, Tessaratomidae, Tingidae

Reduviidae

Together with the Nabidae, they are terrestrial predators (most other predatory Hemiptera are aquatic). Large specimens should be handled with caution, because they defend themselves with a very painful stab from the proboscis. They are called also wheel bugs.

Tessaratomidae

Tessaratomids resemble large shield bugs. Some of them exhibit maternal care of eggs and offspring. The defensive chemicals of certain species can cause significant damage if they come into contact with human skin, and temporary blindness.

Tingidae

Lace bugs are very small. The adults look as made of delicate lace.Most feed on the undersides of leaves by piercing the epidermis and sucking the sap, If too many, they can be destructive for plants.

Class Insecta
Order Hemiptera
Suborder Auchenorrhyncha
Families Aphrophoridae, Cercopidae, Membracidae

Membracidae

Treehoppers and thorn bugs are members of the family Membracidae. With fantastic shapes like helmets that enhance mimicry, often they resemble plant thorns. They pierce plant stems with their beaks and feed upon sap.

Aphrophoridae

Spittlebugs are so called because Nymphs live immersed in a foamy mass similar to the saliva of a spit. They are visible outdoor, unlike the Cercopidae, that stay below the ground surface

Cercopidae

They are commonly called froghoppers or also spittlebugs, , because as Aphrophoridae, in their juvenile stages most of them produce a stable and whitish foam, which envelops the body

Class Insecta
Order Hemiptera
Suborder Auchenorrhyncha
Families Cicadellidae, Cicadidae

Cicadellidae

Leafhoppers suck plant sap from grass, shrubs, or trees. Their hind legs are modified for jumping. Two ocelli (simple eyes) are present on the top or front of the head

Cicadidae

Males of true Cicadas produce sounds using a pair of tymbals Annual cicadas remain underground as nymphs for two or more yaers and some adults mature each year. Periodical cicadas emerge in synchrony in one location and are absent as adults in the intervening years. Genus Magicicada, emerge as adults every 13 or 17 years

This suborder of the Hemiptera contains: the aphids,that we can recognize only basing on the plant on which we find them; the whiteflies, very small insects feeding on the undersides of plant leaves;the scale insects,of extreme variable appearance, whose adult females have soft bodies and no limbs and extrude quantities of wax for protection.

For Kids, for Teachers, for all People who want to set it up together!