COMMON NAME

Dicyphus bug

Order

Suborder

Family

Genus

Species

Alias

Hemiptera

Heteroptera

Miridae

Dicyphus

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Description

This slender black or brownish mirid bug looks a bit like a Rutherglen bug or a soldier fly, only more elongate. The adults have red eyes and the nymphs are green with red eyes.

Adult size: 6 mm

Out and about

They are about when their prey is, from spring on through summer. Species of this genus inhabit North Africa up to the arctic region and east incorporating the Euro-Siberian, Mediterranean, Sahara and Arabian desert regions.(Palearctic region).A few species are found in India and southern Africa. Dicyphus Hesperus is native to North America. I haven’t found any reference to them in Australia although D. hesperus is listed in Atlas of Living Australia.

Reproduction and Life cycle

The female lays two or three eggs a day in plant tissue. The nymphs go through 5 stages. It usually takes 30 days to complete the cycle from egg to adult. The growth of population depends on environmental conditions.

To deter

To control

Plants to repel

Plants to attract

Mullein (Verbascum thaspus) –this is one of their host plants, so plant this to provide an extra food source / Foxglove / Eggplant

Predators

Why they are Beneficial

Almost all species of Dicyphus are predators with a piercing-and-sucking rostrum. They feed on white fly, aphids, thrips, caterpillars and spider mites. It seems that they need to feed on plants to survive primarily Mullein (Verbascum Thapsus) but it will feed on eggplants. They don’t appear do any long term harm to crop plants. The species Dicyphus minimus is a pest of tobacco crops in North America.

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