The shield bug ‘Eurydema ornata’ is a shiny bug about 6 to 8 mm long. It is conspicuously colored, usually red and black, but often with other colors, such as yellow and black, or orange and black, shown in today’s photograph. The vivid colored markings should warn off would be prey.
Eurydema ornata belongs to the tree bug family and has spread northward from southern Europe as a result of climate change. This shield bug sucks the sap of plants. It preferentially feeds on cultivated and wild plant species from the family Brassicace, such as cabbage, cress and radish.
Damage to plants is caused by nymphs and adults, which suck sap from young leaves, petioles, flower stalks and pods. Pale yellow spots appear on the leaves, which gradually spread over the entire leaf and cause it to dry out. On plants left for seed, adults and nymphs attack the flower stalks and later move onto the pods. Attacked pods dry up and drop off, and the resulting seeds have reduced germination capacity.