• bugs aidgap
  • bugs aidgap
  • bugs aidgap

Bugs AIDGAP

Bugs AIDGAP covers the families of adults of bugs in Britain and Ireland.

  • Identification taken to family level
  • Illustrated with line drawings throughout
  • No specimen preparation needed

An intermediate-level identification guide to families in the insect order Hemiptera.

What is a bug? In everyday usage the word ‘bug’ has several meanings, from a micro-organism (‘tummy bug’) to a problem in a computer program. But to entomologists a bug is a member of the order Hemiptera. For this reason the Hemiptera are called ‘true bugs’, although this term is more often reserved for the Heteroptera, one of the suborders of Hemiptera. Overall this can be very confusing! So in this key the term ‘bug’ means a member of the order Hemiptera.

There are over 1600 species of hemipteran in Britain and Ireland, ranging in size from less than a millimetre to forty millimetres in length. They have mouthparts in the form of a rostrum, sometimes called a beak. Bugs feed on fluids, which may be of plant or animal origin.

This guide is part of the FSC’s AIDGAP series (Aids to Identification in Difficult Groups of Animals and Plants). Our AIDGAP guides are accessible identification keys, suitable for non-specialists from age 16+. As with all guides in the series, the Bugs AIDGAP underwent extensive testing before publication, by beginners and specialists alike. The author has revised this, the first published version, in the light of the testers’ experience.