Minstrel Bug

Appearance

"Graphosoma italicum" can reach a length of 8–12 millimetres. The body is almost round, with a large shield. The basic color of the upperside of the body is bright red, with wide black longitudinal stripes. The pronotum has six black bands. The antennae are black. Also the sides of the abdomen are red with many small black spots.

The nymphs have no the red-black stripe pattern, they are mostly brownish or grayish.

The species of Graphosoma all look fairly similar:
Graphosoma italicum has large black and bright red bands, the legs are black, except maybe for the third tibia.
Graphosoma lineatum is quite similar to G. italicum, but always has pale reddish legs and a paler orange ground colour.
Graphosoma semipunctatum has orange legs and the red and black bands on the pronotum are interrupted into black dots.
Graphosoma melanoxanthum has dark connexivi with small red points. It is distributed in South Russia, Turkey and Iran
Graphosoma creticum has thin black bands on pronotum, a smaller body, and more orange in colour. It is present in Crete

Distribution

G. italicum is common across most of Europe.

Habitat

G. italicum is an insect of warm and sunny areas. It prefers warm slopes and meadows located on south-facing slopes.
It is frequently found on the umbels of Apiaceae and often on the flowers of the Greater Pignut, Bunium bulbocastanum.