Broad-headed bug ( Riptortus linearis)

The various insects scattered around us in nature are truly wonderful subjects for macro photography. This wonderful insect in the picture is known to the common people as 'Pod bug', 'Bean bug' or 'Broad-headed bug'. In rural Bengal, many people also know them as a type of Gandhi bug or sap-sucking insect because they suck the sap of bean or lentil crops. It is basically a 'true bug' or real bedbug.

​Scientific name:
In the scientific classification of biology, the official name of this insect is Riptortus linearis. In 1775, the famous entomologist Johan Christian Fabricius was the first to give it this scientific name. An old or synonymous name is also used in the scientific world, which is Cimex linearis.

Family and Genus:
This insect is mainly included in the order Hemiptera under the vast phylum Arthropoda and class Insecta. Going deeper into the classification, it can be seen that they are members of the family Alydidae under the suborder Heteroptera. Their genus or genus name is Riptortus.

​Size and body structure:
These insects look quite slender and elongated. Their body color is mainly brown or dark brown. The back side of a full-grown broad-headed bug is quite flat. Their legs and antennae are quite long compared to the body. The hind legs are slightly stronger and larger than the other legs. Their head is quite wide compared to the thorax, and that is why they are called broad-headed bugs. Interestingly, when seen from a distance, they can often be mistaken for large ants or beetles.

​Habitat and habitat:

This species of insect is widely distributed in various parts of the Asian continent, especially in Bangladesh, India and the surrounding South Asian countries. If you look carefully, you can see them resting on leaves in the fields of crops in beautiful rural environments like Gurdaspur in Natore, near lemon or fruit orchards, or in wild bushes by the pond. They mainly prefer warm and humid weather, so bushes and agricultural land are their main habitat.

​Food:
In terms of food habits, they are completely herbivorous. They have a strong and pointed sucking tube or proboscis in the front of their mouth. They insert this tube into the young branches, leaves or fruits of the tree and suck out the nutritious juice. Their favorite foods include the young fruits or pods of various types of beans, peas, soybeans and pulses. In India, they also like to drink the juice of sorghum crops.

​Reproduction:
Their reproductive process is similar to other common true bugs. After mating, the female insects usually lay eggs on the leaves and young fruits of their favorite host plant. The small nymphs or children that hatch from the eggs look exactly like large black ants. This is called 'ant mimicry' in scientific terms, which helps them escape from predators. The nymphs gradually turn into winged full-fledged insects by changing their shells several times.

​Benefits:
This insect has no direct benefit for humans or in agriculture. However, like other insects in nature, they are also part of a specific ecosystem. Various predators in nature, such as birds, spiders or other large insects, eat them as food and survive. As a result, the natural food chain of the environment is intact.

Harmfulness:
It is a very well-known and seriously harmful pest to farmers. Since they insert their sucking ducts into the young pods of bean or pulse crops and suck the juice, the seeds of the affected crops cannot grow properly. The seeds inside the pods remain malnourished or dry up and shrivel. If their attack on the crop field is excessive, the yield decreases drastically, which causes major financial losses to the farmers.

I hope you like the information.

I learned about them from various sites including iNaturalist, Wikipedia and Google.

(All posts are written in Bengali and translated into English using Google Translate.)
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Camera Used	Samsung SM-G973F
F-Stop	F2.4
ISO speed	ISO
Focal length	26mm
Flash	No
Editing app	default
Photography	(Riptortus linearis)
Photographer	Hive account@mshbd
Location	Purulia, Natore, Bangladesh