Tuesday, May 8, 2012

name that insect!

This beautiful friend loves to hike on the tea trees. I met him on the hills of Xishuangbanna, at 1200m of altitude. He doesn't talk a lot, but he likes the Camellia Sinensis too. He is a tea friend in some way. Do you think this 'teamate' has a positive impact on the health of the trees, or is it considered as a pest? 




13 comments:

  1. Beautiful photos! But I still think it is a pest.
    Jakub

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  2. from the size, I think he is a predator of pests, not a pest :-)

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  3. He also looks more carnivore than herbivore. So I don't think tea is his food source :-)

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  4. Eheh, nice pest ... i don't know the name in english, but in french, it's a " Punaise "

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  5. I think I am inclined to agree with Gingko that it might ba a predator of pests, at least that was my first thought from the initial image.

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  6. Thanks for your comments. I would also tend to think this insect is a predator considering its size, but on the last picture, you can see that the leaf on the bottom right and bottom left have been attacked. Was our tea friend sleeping at that time?

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    1. Ah!! I totally missed that chewed out leaf! Good on Henry Nicolas for getting it correct.

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  7. I found it again : it's a "Punaise de la graine de thé" ( http://www.journaux.fr/la-punaise-de-la-graine-du-the-_authentiques-insectes_loisirs_159631.html ) ... in english bug of the tea grain ... so it's a tea pest, eating tea leaf.

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  8. Great, you got it!

    The latin name is Poecilocoris latus, you can see a larger picture there: http://sinobug.aminus3.com/image/2011-12-06.html

    You can send me your address at bannachamail@gmail.com, I will send you a few samples.

    Thank you Henry!

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  9. Ouch, we were supposed to say its name? I did not want to spoil the "pest or predator game" - I have to admit that I put "tea bug" into Google images and looked it up and read it is a pest. Still, a good fun and beautiful bug - thanks!
    Jakub

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  10. William, do you mean a sample of the bug? That's so cool! Anybody knows if it's ok to get dead bugs in an international mail? This is a beautiful bug! :-D

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  11. I only have tea samples :)

    It seems you can buy this insect on the internet, just type in its latin name and you'll find out.

    This insect has a really beautiful shield, maybe used as an alert color to prevent birds from eating him. Even if it's a pest, he's still my friend, we both consume a lot of tea leaves anyway.

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  12. Oh my silly misunderstanding! :-p

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