Anoplocnemis curvipes (Fabricius, 1781)

Continuing our bug theme - remember, it is absolutely okay to call any member of the insect order Hemiptera a 'bug'. It is not okay to call beetles (Coleoptera), wasps, ants and bees (Hymenoptera), Flies (Diptera), Moths and butterflies (Lepidoptera), Scorpionflies (Mecoptera), lacewings (Neuroptera), grasshoppers (Orthoptera), mayflies (Ephemeroptera), Dragonflies (Odonata), Termites, mantids and Cockroaches (arguably all Dictyoptera), Stick insects (Phasmatida), Earwigs (Dermaptera), Fleas (Siphonaptera), Caddisflies (Trichoptera), Silverfish (Thysanura), jumping bristletails (Archaeognatha), webspinners (Embioptera), heelwalkers (Notoptera), alderflies (Megaloptera), stoneflies (Plecoptera), snakeflies (Raphidioptera), or no-real-common-name orders Strepsiptera and Zoraptera, bugs. Because they're not bugs. 

Thrips (Thysanoptera), barklice (Psocoptera) and Lice (Pthiraptera) are also not bugs, but they're closely related, and so I'll forgive people who occasionally slip up there.

I'm afraid that the concession of three orders is all anyone's getting. Even Americans. Sorry, but just because it's a near universal vernacular doesn't mean it's correct. And come on, I'm giving you three whole orders to get wrong here... 


So, anyway, into the taxonomy...

Eukaryota
  Animalia
    Eumetazoa
      Bilateralia
        Nephrozoa
          Protostomia
            Ecdysozoa
              Arthropoda
                Hexapoda
                  Dicondylia
                    Pterygota
                      Metapterygota
                        Neoptera
                          Eumetabola
                            Paraneoptera
                              Condylognatha
                                Hemiptera
                                  Heteroptera
                                    Pentatomorpha
                                      Coreiodea
                                        Coreidae
                                          Coreinae
                                            Mictini

Anoplocnemis curvipes

(Fabricius, 1781)

As you may be able to guess from the early description, it's a widespread and conspicuous insect... (originally described by Fabricius in 1781, just 28 years after Linnaeus jump-started the taxonomy game as we now know it) - and here it is:

And now to the continuation of the bug theme: 

Anoplocnemis are stink-bugs - as you can tell from the bright orange stink gland between the second and third pair of legs. However, they are, and I cannot stress this enough, NOT shield bugs. All shield bugs are stink bugs, but not all stink bugs are shield bugs.

Remember this. It'll be referred to again later.



Acknowledgements/notes: identified as Anoplocnemis by me... identified as A. curvipes by Mick Webb of the Natural History Museum of London.