How to Make an Awesome Insect Collection | Purdue | entomology | insect | collect | supplies | specimen | mounting | identifying | displaying | preserve

4-H and Youth

Home

How to Know Insects

How to Collect Insects

How to Preserve Insects

How to Display Insects

How to Identify Insects to Order

Field Identification

Where to Get Supplies

Reference Books

Insect Collection Checklist

Order Labels

Specimen Labels

Insect Card Points

Hemiptera - true bugs

Back

Largid bug
Largidae
3/8 in.

Water boatman
Corixidae
3/16 in.

True bugs usually have four wings; the front pair is thick and leathery at the base and thin and membranous at the tip. These wings are held flat over the back so that the tips overlap each other. A few species are wingless. Some are beneficial and some are pests. All true bugs have piercing-sucking mouthparts, which form a noticeable beak. Metamorphosis is incomplete. Many true bugs possess stink glands and give off an unpleasant odor when disturbed or handled.

Most true bugs live on land, but some, such as the giant water bug and water striders, live in or on water. Usually, those that live on land feed on plant juices or are predators of other insects, but a few, such as the bed bug, are parasites of humans and other animals.

Stilt bug Berytidae 5/16 in.	Ambush bug Phymatidae 3/8 in.
Leaf-footed bug Coreidae 3/4 in.	Bed bug Cimicidae 3/16 in.
Squash bug Coreidae 7/16 in.	Negro bug Thyreocoridae 1/8 in.
Assassin bug Reduviidae 3/4 in.	Chinch bug Lygaeidae 1/8 in.
Garden fleahopper Miridae 1/8 in.	Water strider Gerridae 5/8 in.
Plant bug Miridae 1/16 in.	Stink bug Pentatomidae 5/8 in.
Seed bug Lygaeidae 3/8 in.	Milkweed bug Lygaeidae 7/16 in.
Lace bug Tingidae 1/8 in.	Harlequin cabbage bug Pentatomidae 3/8 in.
Backswimmer Notonecgtidae 1/2 in.	Giant water bug Blostomatidae 2 in.