Animal ID please ... New Beetle

[Frank Fremerey]

Animal ID please ... New Beetle

[Lars Hansen]

Frank - It looks like a Firebug: Pyrrhocoris apterus. Also, as a species, it belongs to bugs and not beetles .. if my english is correct 

[Frank Fremerey]

Frank - It looks like a Firebug: Pyrrhocoris apterus. Also, as a species, it belongs to bugs and not beetles .. if my english is correct 

Thank you!

I tought of these (Feuerwanze, Pyrrhocoris apterus). Yet these look shorter, wider and fatter than the ones we see here in the Rhine Valley quite often. From Wikipedia I learn that there are 300 species of Pyrrhocoridae described. So I try to find which of them? I have not see this subspecies here so far.

[Fons Baerken]

Natural sample variation, a hot and dry summer may have influenced their dimensions.

[Lars Hansen]

Thank you!

I tought of these (Feuerwanze, Pyrrhocoris apterus). Yet these look shorter, wider and fatter than the ones we see here in the Rhine Valley quite often. From Wikipedia I learn that there are 300 species of Pyrrhocoridae described. So I try to find which of them? I have not see this subspecies here so far.

The devil is also in the detail when trying to identify species of bugs and beetles - large number of species but also fascinating variation I once watched a photo exhibition with extreme closeups of insects on very large canvases - that was really fascinating! 

We have the Firebug in Denmark but it's relatively rare.

[Lars Hansen]

Natural sample variation, a hot and dry summer may have influenced their dimensions.

Oh.. that's a large number in one place Fons! I understand they mainly live of seeds from Lime trees - is it an unwelcome bug in the garden? 

[Fons Baerken]

Oh.. that's a large number in one place Fons! I understand they mainly live of seeds from Lime trees - is it an unwelcome bug in the garden?

This was taken in France 3 years ago and indeed on limetrees, (Tilia or Linden), i dont find them particularly attractive, but seem harmless.

[Frank Fremerey]

Natural sample variation, a hot and dry summer may have influenced their dimensions.

These look even different

[Michael Erlewine]

Here in Michigan, this is the larval form of what we call the Box Elder bug.

[Bill De Jager]

Frank - It looks like a Firebug: Pyrrhocoris apterus. Also, as a species, it belongs to bugs and not beetles .. if my english is correct 

Your usage is correct!

What's confusing is that colloquially, the word bug is used in English to mean any insect or even other land arthropods.  For example, the land isopods in the family Armadillidiidae are commonly called pillbugs and they're not even insects.

However, from the scientific standpoint bug means an insect in the order Hemiptera such as the one we're looking at in this thread.  Most English speakers would only be aware of the colloquial usage.

[Lars Hansen]

These look even different

Frank - the ones Fons posted are nymphs of the same species as far as I can tell. More details to consider..   

Your usage is correct!

What's confusing is that colloquially, the word bug is used in English to mean any insect or even other land arthropods.  For example, the land isopods in the family Armadillidiidae are commonly called pillbugs and they're not even insects.

However, from the scientific standpoint bug means an insect in the order Hemiptera such as the one we're looking at in this thread.  Most English speakers would only be aware of the colloquial usage.

Many thanks for the clarification Bill  Here in Denmark we have a similar confusion - ticks are sometimes called what would be bugs in English. But ticks are also not even classified as insects and belongs to arachnids like spiders.