#bronze orange bug

[supereffectivemoonblast]

The Bronze Orange Bug is a member of the greater Pentatomomorpha, the stink bugs and their allies. They are true bugs and so do not undergo complete metamorphosis. The eggs hatch into nymphs that resemble the adults in overall bodyshape, just a lot smaller.

Spring in NSW is when the Bronze Orange Bug thrive the most. And the Bronze Orange Bug is not named for its Orange middle instars, it is because they are ravenous pests of oranges and other citrus fruit. So when I went to look at my parent's lemon tree in their backyard, I found it absolutely swarmed with Bronze Orange Bugs.

Since it is breeding season for these bugs, luckily for me, I got to see the insect's entire lifecycle coexisting on the tree. Unluckily, this does mean the majority of those lemons are doomed.

Although not true stink bugs, the Bronze Orange Bug does still produce a foul smelling chemical when under attack. Like other true hemipteran bugs, they have sucking mouth parts, used to suck sap out of the citrus tree, causing flowers to fail and fruit to fall off the tree before ripening.

The youngest growth stage or instar are green and camouflage well against the tree's leaves. The later instars are yellow to orange in colour. This makes them a lot more visible, to warn predators against their chemical defenses. The adult stage grows a duller bronze-black, now more well suited to camouflage against the trunk of the tree. And if they are spotted against the fruit, the adults are more well armoured, and still capable of chemical defenses. Why they do not keep their bright orange is beyond me.

Chemical pesticides have mixed success against these pungent bugs, as they produce foul chemicals themselves. General purpose pesticides can work, but they will kill all other insects in your garden too.

Best success is physically removing the insects, and this is easier than you'd think. Stink bugs are relatively placid (likely due to their defenses), so sticking a vacuum cleaner into your citrus trees will cause most of them to sit still while they are sucked up.

[quilbug-cam]

🪲ID Guess: Bronze Orange Bug - Nymph 🌿Date: 16/01/2025

Other photos & notes under cut

aka: flat boi

It was so hard getting a photo of this lad!! It was such a windy day and the leaf it was on kept bobbing up and down ToT

[quilbug-cam]

These bugs are currently still having their yearly fest in our citrus tree, you smell them before you see them 😂

🪲ID Guess: Bronze Orange Bug (Musgraveia sulciventris) 🌿Date: 15/01/2025

[onenicebugperday]

@allbino​ submitted: Hello fellow insect lover!

I Just moved to a new place in Brisbane, QLD, Australia and have been finding heaps of cute insects in my new garden, all on my lime tree. I’d love if you could help me identify them? Thank you!

This caterpillar that morphs from brown/white (like bird poo 😂😍) then to white/green with red retractable horns?

This cute little leaf hopper?

This (actually huge?!) stink bug, largest I’ve seen

And I’ve seen a few of these beautiful iridescent spiders 😍✨

How exciting to have a garden full of pals you can go admire any time you like! I can certainly help you ID them. The caterpillars are orchard swallowtails, and they prefer citrus trees as their host plant! The “horns” are called osmeteria and they evert them from inside their body defensively. They emit a stinky odor that predators don’t like.

The planthopper is a citrus planthopper, which makes sense. The Large Dude is not a stink bug, but it is related to stink bugs! It’s called a bronze orange bug and once again feeds on citrus. Technically the family they’re in are called the tessaratomids, but colloquially people call them giant shield bugs or giant stink bugs.

And finally the absolutely beautiful spider man is a sea-green northern jumper! Keep your eyes peeled for females nearby as well. They’re more rotund and are a sort of bronzey-purple color.

Thanks for sharing all these great pals, tell them all I love them!

[onenicebugperday]

i found the same guy i did a few days ago that i sent to you! they was upsidedown (again) on the floor. is there any kind of environment i should put them in? im not sure if non-native bushes in my backyard are the best thing, or if they like nice fresh dirt

Anywhere outside is fine, they can fly and will find their way to where they need to be. If you've found it upside down repeatedly, it may be near the end of its life anyway. Specifically, though, if you were curious, they suck sap from trees, primarily citrus trees.

[drhoz]

#1620 - Musgraveia sulciventris - Bronze Orange Bug

Photo by Kerri Faull.

I’m a bit surprised that I haven’t covered these guys, or apparently anything from their entire family, before. They’re quite a common backyard pest of citrus in Eastern Australia, and the Tessaratomidae are large and often colourful bugs (although the heads are disproportionately small).

One lemon tree can be carrying hundreds, if you don’t go out and pluck them off by hand. Gloves and probably a face mask are a must - they defend themselves by spraying alkanes, cimicine and aldehydes.

Bronze Orange Bugs grow up to an inch long, but start of as translucent, very flat green nymphs, and grow to be bright orange nymphs. The common name, however, refers to the colour of the adult, and their frequent diet.

Photo by William John‎, with the note “Can you smell a stinkbug? I asked the wife. Brushed my hair and this stinky little guy drops onto the floor. Serves me right for pinching some lemons off the neighbours tree.”

Photo by Pat Stewart.

[libutron]

Bronze Orange Stink Bug Nymph

Musgraveia sulciventris (Hemiptera - Tessaratomidae), commonly known as Bronze Orange Bug, is a species of bug famous in producing stink secretion. It is regarded as a minor pest of citrus in the cooler coastal regions of eastern Australia.

References: [1] - [2] - [3]

Photo credit: ©Andrew Trevor-Jones

Locality: Glenbrook, New South Wales, Australia