Physomerus grossipes
| Sweetpotato bug | |
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| Adult P. grossipes photographs by EBKauai |
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| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Family: | Coreidae |
| Subfamily: | Coreinae |
| Genus: | Physomerus |
| Species: | P. grossipes |
| Binomial name | |
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Physomerus grossipes (Fabricius, 1794) |
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The sweetpotato bug (Physomerus grossipes) is a species of hemipterans in the family Coreidae. Native to Southeast Asia, the species has immigrated to the Pacific Islands. Frequently laying its eggs on the same Leguminosae and Convolvulaceae plants on which it feeds, the female of P. grossipes is very protective of her young, notably guarding both eggs and nymphs from predators.
Native to Southeast Asia, the species' distribution ranges from Indonesia, throughout Peninsular Malaysia and India. The species has spread to other areas, including Guam and Hawaii.
Brown in color with black legs, individuals grow to be about 2 cm (0.79 in) long. Like other Coreidae, P. grossipes is oval-shaped with segmented antennae, a numerously veined forewing membrane, a metathoracic stink gland, and enlarged hind tibia.
The insect feeds on Leguminosae and Convolvulaceae]plants. In addition to the sweet potato from which it derives its common name, it frequents other plants of the Ipomoea genus, as well as catjang, Clitoria ternatea and the common bean. Since the removal of juice from the stem in the insect's feeding causes the plant to wither and disrupts its production of fruit, P. grossipes is regarded as a pest.
The sweetpotato bug oviposits its eggs on the undersides of leaves or on the stems of the plants on which it feeds, as well as on neighboring sedges. A 1990 study found a mean clutch size of 83 eggs, although some egg deposits numbering twice that have been found, possibly representing the collected eggs of several insects. The female of P. grossipes is very protective, providing the "best known example" of "maternal care in the large family Coreidae." Mothers guard their eggs, threatening and occasionally even rushing at the predators that approach them. In addition, P. grossipes generates a strong-smelling fluid from a metathoracic gland with which the mother sprays larger predators through the anal orifice.
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Wikipedia