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Four woundwort shieldbugs standing on a leaf. They're compact, shield-shaped brown bugs with patches of irridescent coppery red on their head and back

Woundwort shieldbugs © Philip Precey

A woundwort shieldbug standing on the star-shaped calyx of a hedge woundwort plant. It's a cute, rounded bug with a black head and pronotum and yellowish-green abdomen with a row of black ovals

Woundwort shieldbug nymph © Tom Hibbert

Woundwort shieldbug

This small, shiny shieldbug is usually found on hedge woundwort.

Scientific name

Eysarcoris venustissimus

When to see

Mainly May to September

Species information

Category

Statistics

Length: 5-7 mm

Conservation status

Common

About

The woundwort shieldbug has been expanding its range north through Britain. It is usually found on hedge woundwort growing along woodland rides and edges, hedgerows and even in gardens. It can sometimes also be found on other plants, including white dead-nettle and black horehound.

How to identify

A small, compact shieldbug. It's whitish-grey and bronze, with metallic, coppery-red patches on the head, the front of the pronotum and the centre of the back. The edges of the abdomen have a pattern of alternating black and white wedges.

Distribution

Widespread in England as far north as Yorkshire, though scarcer in the southwest. Also recorded in the east of Wales.

Did you know?

Woundwort shieldbugs spend the winter as adults, emerging in spring to mate and lay their eggs. The nymphs hatch in summer and quickly grow into the next generation of adults.