Key to Order Hemiptera

E. A. Heinrichs

Lincoln, Nebraska

Updated: January 2022

About

The Hemiptera consist of the leafhoppers, planthoppers, tree hoppers and the true bugs. It is a very large order consisting of numerous species. The most important family is the Pentatomidae (stink bugs) where both the nymphs and adults feed on the liquid content (‘milk’) in the rice grain from anthesis (the flowering period of a plant, from the opening of the flower bud) to the grain hardening stage. Both the nymphs and adults use their piercing-sucking mouthparts to remove the milk from the developing rice grains. Feeding causes both quantitative damage (decrease in rice yield) and qualitative damage (decrease in rice grain quality). The name Hemiptera means 'half wing’, referring to the forewings of many heteropterans which are hardened near the base, but membranous at the ends. The antennae in Hemiptera typically consist of four or five segments, although they can still be quite long, and the tarsi of the legs have two or three segments. The defining feature of hemipterans is their "beak" in which the modified mandibles and maxillae form a "stylet" which is sheathed within a modified labium.