Taylorilygus | |
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Adult of Taylorilygus apicalis | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Hemiptera |
Suborder: | Heteroptera |
Infraorder: | Cimicomorpha |
Family: | Miridae |
Genus: | Taylorilygus |
Species: | T. apicaliss |
Binomial name | |
Taylorilygus apicalis (Fieber, 1861) |
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Synonyms | |
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Taylorilygus apicalis or broken-backed bug is a species of plant bug in the family Miridae.
This species is widespread in most of Europe, in the Afrotropical ecozone, in the Australasia ecozone, in the Neotropical ecozone, in the Oriental ecozone, in North America and in Oceania.
Taylorilygus apicalis can reach a length of about 4–5 millimetres (0.16–0.20 in). These very common bugs are usually light green, but the may also be tan, with mainly brown outer wings and brown flecks on the inner wings. Wing tips appear bent down at 45° (hence the common name of broken-backed bugs). The eyes are white or light-colored. They show a very slender pronotal collar and an elaborately spined extra projection of the left paramere.
These plant bugs are polyphagous, but they mainly feed on Asteraceae species, Anthemis and Salix species. The broken-backed bugs are vectors of a phytoplasma-caused phyllody in species of Parthenium.