Red bug or soldier beetle: photo and description of a bright firefighter bug
Representatives of the red-bug family, known to many from childhood as soldier beetles, despite their harmless appearance and good reputation, are capable of causing serious damage to the crop. Often, gardeners have to use complex methods of struggle to save their plantings.
Content
- Red bugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus): general description
- Habitat of red bugs
- Causes and signs of the appearance of soldier bugs in the garden
- Bug-soldier: harm and benefit from an insect
- Methods of dealing with red bugs
- How to get rid of bedbugs of soldiers in the house and apartment
- Prevention of the appearance of bedbugs-soldiers
- Other insects often confused with soldier bugs
- Interesting facts about red bugs
Red bugs (Pyrrhocoris apterus): general description
Red bugs belong to the family of the same name, the Coleoptera order. These are ordinary, ground bugs whose size does not exceed 9-11 mm. Insects are active from March to October.
Reproduction and development cycle
What do soldiers eat?
Habitat of red bugs
Toy soldiers are widespread in temperate regions. It is found throughout Eurasia, in the United States and northern parts of Africa.
Their favorite habitats are:
- heaps of dry grass and leaves;
- tree bark and stumps;
- foundation of commercial buildings.
Causes and signs of the appearance of soldier bugs in the garden
The main reasons for the appearance of a pest on the site include:
- mountains of dry leaves, grass and other organic debris;
- rotten and decaying stumps;
- a large number of weeds, especially quinoa and wormwood;
- the presence of crops of legumes, alfalfa, woodpile.
In some cases, soldiers may appear in a private house. Insects are quite adaptive and can find food there as well - most often houseplants, seedlings and other vegetation serve as food.
A trend has been noted: as soon as one soldier changes location, relatives immediately follow him. In the absence of food, they die or have time to find another habitat.
Signs by which you can suspect the appearance of soldiers on the site:
- the appearance of yellow spots on cabbage leaves and their death;
- shedding of buds and flowers;
- drying and twisting beet tops;
- fast drying of plants of the umbrella family.
Red bugs have a habit of basking in the sun. Often one or a small number of individuals can be found behind this occupation. In this case, it is necessary to examine the places where pests can hide - as mentioned above, they live in colonies.
Bug-soldier: harm and benefit from an insect
Many consider red bugs to be harmless insects, but this is a delusion. Even a small number of these insects can cause significant damage to garden crops.
Damage caused by firefighters
- with the help of a powerful proboscis, they pierce the stems and fruits of crops, suck out their juice, as a result, the plant dries up and dies;
- the soldiers are very fond of feasting on grapes, devastating them - the affected fruits become unsuitable for food, and the crop yield is significantly reduced;
- damage beet tops and cabbage leaves, leaving ugly punctures on them;
- spoil the seed material in the soil;
- affect the trunks and branches of trees;
- suck juices from young sprouts and shoots, as a result of which they die before they have time to grow.
However, there are benefits from these insects: they lead an open lifestyle, are easy to grow and develop quickly, so it is used as a model object for laboratory studies of biochemistry and endocrinology of insects, as well as for assessing environmental quality.
Methods of dealing with red bugs
Since the soldiers multiply very quickly and are capable of causing serious damage to the landings, at the first sign of their appearance, measures must be taken. There are several methods of dealing with fire bugs.
Natural enemies
These insects have many natural enemies, but they are protected from them by their red color and the ability to emit a pungent odor.
The bright red color in nature is a signal that the insect is poisonous and should not be eaten.
If the soldier got into the web, most spiders discard it precisely because of the sharp "aroma". The protective properties of insects will not stop praying mantises, birds and bats.
Chemicals
Chemical compounds easily cope with pests, but it should be borne in mind that in any case they remain in the soil and on plants. In addition, soldiers have the ability to develop resistance to a particular type of pesticide, so the second generation of pests will be insensitive to it. .
You can carry out the procedure yourself, the most effective drugs are.
light traps
Bedbugs are attracted to light - this quality is based on the principle of operation of light traps. It is worth noting that in this way it is possible to reduce the population of pests, but it will not work to completely get rid of them. Most often, unfertilized males and females fall into the traps. There are 2 types of devices, any of them can be purchased in the store:
- ordinary radiation - parasites crawl into the light and stick to a sticky surface;
- ultraviolet radiation - such light is not visible to the human eye, and the insect dies from the mains.
Some traps additionally use chemical powders and other means, as a result of which the insect is immobilized and dies.
Folk methods
To destroy the soldiers, you can use folk methods. They are not as effective as chemicals, but they are safe for humans, soil and plants.
The following recipes showed the greatest efficiency.
| Means | Using |
|---|---|
| Soap solution | 300 gr. Grate laundry soap and dissolve in 10 liters. warm water. Spray the plants and soil with the resulting solution using a spray gun. |
| Lukovaâ Husk | Fill a large container up to half with onion peel and pour water. Infuse the remedy for 4-5 days in a dark room. After that, strain the solution and use it for spraying plants. |
| Wood Ash | 200 gr. dilute the means in a bucket of water, use by analogy with the methods described above. |
| Manual collection | You can simply catch the soldiers, but this is not easy to do, as they move very quickly. It is recommended to prepare containers in advance for the destruction of large clusters of insects. It is better to crush single individuals on plants immediately on the spot, like Colorado potato beetles. |
| Trapping belts | Special windings with toxic or sticky substances are attached to the trees, which limit the movement of the insect. |
How to get rid of bedbugs of soldiers in the house and apartment
Insecticides are not suitable for the destruction of pests in the apartment.
- However, you can try to get rid of them with the help of ordinary dichlorvos.
- Vinegar and kerosene are used to exterminate them in residential premises. It should be treated with skirting boards, furniture legs and other hidden areas.
- In addition, you can use decoctions of odorous herbs (wormwood, tansy) or spread the dry branches of these plants around the apartment. A sharp, specific smell will scare away pests.
- Individuals can be caught mechanically.
Prevention of the appearance of bedbugs-soldiers
Carrying out preventive measures will protect the house and site from the invasion of fire bugs.
These measures include:
- Timely weeding the garden, getting rid of weeds and plant debris. With the growth of grass, the number of pests and their eggs increases. Grass is best burned.
- Do not leave old rotten stumps on the site, but immediately uproot them.
- Do not plant alfalfa next to legumes on the site - these are the favorite habitats of soldiers.
- Plant cimicifuga around the perimeter of the site (popularly this plant is called "black cohosh"). You can also plant strong-smelling herbs, such as wormwood.
- Mow the lawn in time - the height of the grass should be minimal.
Other insects often confused with soldier bugs
The red bug is often confused with two other insects.
Interesting facts about red bugs
- In winter, soldiers, like mammals, hibernate - it lasts from December to March.
- Each colony of pests has a significantly larger number of males than females (about 3-4 times).
- It used to be that soldiers with their bite could cause irreparable harm to human health, but this is not so: they are generally harmless and not inclined to display various kinds of aggression.
- Redbug emits a strong unpleasant odor even if it is simply hurt, and if crushed, the stench is simply unbearable.
- The patterns on the predorsum differ depending on the habitat of the insect; in total, there are about 23 varieties of patterns.
- If the air temperature is low, then the eggs decrease in size and smaller larvae emerge from them, which often become victims of relatives. In general, cannibalism is a fairly common occurrence in these insects.
- The X chromosome was discovered in 1891 by the German biologist Hermann Hecking during a study of the ovaries of the toy bug.
- The female, having laid eggs, guards them for some time, thus showing concern for the offspring.