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Friday, 31 October 2014

Cazira verrucosa

Image: 林 敬偉
!!

Who let this guy out of the isolation ward?

Image: 林 敬偉
We're looking at (and backing away from) a 1 cm (0.4 in) long, Asian stink bug called Cazira verrucosa.

They look... unwell, covered as they are in what look like boils and scar tissue, or what one paper calls "gibbosities, spines and excrescences".

Image: Shipher (士緯) Wu (吳)
You know what's even worse?

They're predators! Most stink bugs use their sharp, straw-like mouthparts to pierce plants and suck up the sap within. Cazira verrucosa, on the other hand, uses those mouthparts on the soft bodies of caterpillars and leaf beetle larvae.

Image: 林 敬偉
What a rotter!

9 comments:

  1. not the prettiest bug in the world, huh? And is it just me, or do they look like they're covered in slime?

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  2. They really ought to bathe more often. Ick.

    Came across this during my daily webcrawl. Might make for a good article. And by "good" I mean "oh god why."

    http://oceantoday.noaa.gov/creaturesofthedeep_bathysaurus/

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  3. @Porakiya Draekojin: Yes! They look so slick and shiny, oh wow it only gets worse!

    @Crunchy: With some serious antibacterial soap and probably lasers or something!

    http://www.realmonstrosities.com/2013/01/bathysaurus.html

    :P

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  4. @TexWisGirl: Haha! They look quite untidy to me!

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  5. It's quite a charming little thing, really!


    In a "My goodness that's repulsive" kind of way.

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  6. Haha! We just can't get away from that caveat!

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  7. :)

    Still waiting for the day when I completely forget that I've already covered something. Hasn't happened yet!

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