| Carpocoris purpureipennis (De Geer, 1773) |
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Scientific name: Carpocoris purpureipennis (De Geer, 1773) Common name: French name: Punaise à pattes rouges Order: Heteroptera Family: Pentatomidae Wingspan : 12-13 mm. Biotope: Flower meadows, gardens. You can often observe it on Apiaceae and Umbelliferae. Geographic area: Europe, central Asia. Observation period : May to September. |
The shield bugs of the Carpocoris genus show a yellow coloured, thin and sharpened pronotum front edge, up to eyes. The pronotum angles are black. There are 5 species of this genus in France. You mustn't base the species identification on the colours which may vary very much from greyish yellow to dark brown, and sometimes orange or reddish. They have black antennae while Codophila varia, which is very similar, is dark red on the first 3 articles of the antennae. The edge of the pronotum is also less sharpened and more rounded. In France you can only find Codophila varia in the regions close to the Mediterranean sea. Carpocoris melanocerus is only found at high altitude and shows a very wide abdomen. The abdomen sides (or connexivum) exceed the pronotum in width or are, at minimum, the same width. Carpocoris pudicus shows rounded angles on the pronotum and can mainly be told apart by the shape of the scutellum which is deeply narrowed in the middle. Carpocoris mediterraneus is characterized by the sharp pointed angles on each side of the pronotum. It also shows four dark stripes running from the head and diverging backwards. Carpocoris fuscipinus also shows a pointed pronotum on both sides and the hind edges of the pronotum are clearly convex. At least, Carpocoris purpureipennis shows a moderately pointed pronotum on both sides with blunt tips. The lateral edges of the scutellum are almost straight and not narrowed in the middle like on Carpocoris pudicus. |
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The sharpened yellow pronotum front edge confirms the Carpocoris genus. The moderately pointed and not sharp lateral angles of the pronotum, with the lack of a narrowing on the scutellum edges confirm Carpocoris purpureipennis. |
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I am rather often seeing Carpocoris purpureipennis in the flower meadow of the region of Paris. |
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The French common name "Red-legged Shield bug" is not always well suited. I would say that I often see yellow legs. The colours, and in particular the legs' colours, are never mentioned in the keys used to tell species of the Carpocoris genus apart. |
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I have observed this shield bug while hiking in the Vercors Massif. |
André Bon October 2021