Piezodorus lituratus (Fabricius, 1794)
(Gorse Shieldbug)

Interactions where Piezodorus lituratus is the dominant partner and gains from the process

The following relationships have been collated from the published literature (see 'Interaction References').

Stage		Summary			Taxon	Vernacular	Classification	References	Darwin Classification of Active Taxon	Active Taxon	Active Vernacular	Active Taxon Uncertain	Active State	Active Part	Active Stage	Relationship	Relationship Uncertain	Relationship Geography	Darwin Classification of Passive Taxon	Passive Taxon	Passive Vernacular	Passive Taxon Uncertain	Passive State	Passive Part	Passive Stage	Passive Taxon's significance to Active Taxon	Indoors etc	Season
adult		adult sucks sap of unripe pod			Cytisus	a genus of brooms	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				adult	Foodplant / sap sucker		UK and/or Eire	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Cytisus/	Cytisus	a genus of brooms		unripe	pod
nymph		nymph sucks sap of unripe pod			Cytisus	a genus of brooms	Fabales: Fabaceae	Some foods of Heteroptera larvae in the wild, Hawkins, R.D., 1985 Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				nymph	Foodplant / sap sucker		UK and/or Eire	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Cytisus/	Cytisus	a genus of brooms		unripe	pod
adult		adult sucks sap of unripe pod			Genista tinctoria	Dyer’s Greenweed	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				adult	Foodplant / sap sucker			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Genista tinctoria/	Genista tinctoria	dyer's greenweed		unripe	pod
nymph		nymph sucks sap of unripe pod			Genista tinctoria	Dyer’s Greenweed	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				nymph	Foodplant / sap sucker			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Genista tinctoria/	Genista tinctoria	dyer's greenweed		unripe	pod
nymph		nymph sucks sap of unripe pod			Laburnum	laburnums	Fabales: Fabaceae	Some foods of Heteroptera larvae in the wild, Hawkins, R.D., 1985	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				nymph	Foodplant / sap sucker		UK and/or Eire	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Laburnum/	Laburnum	laburnums		unripe	pod
adult		adult sucks sap of unripe pod			Lupinus	lupins	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				adult	Foodplant / sap sucker			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Lupinus/	Lupinus	lupins		unripe	pod
nymph		nymph sucks sap of unripe pod			Lupinus	lupins	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				nymph	Foodplant / sap sucker			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Lupinus/	Lupinus	lupins		unripe	pod
adult		adult sucks sap of unripe pod			Melilotus	melilots	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				adult	Foodplant / sap sucker			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Melilotus/	Melilotus	melilots		unripe	pod
nymph		nymph sucks sap of unripe pod			Melilotus	melilots	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				nymph	Foodplant / sap sucker			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Melilotus/	Melilotus	melilots		unripe	pod
adult		adult sucks sap of unripe pod			Trifolium	clovers	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				adult	Foodplant / sap sucker			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Trifolium/	Trifolium	clovers		unripe	pod
nymph		nymph sucks sap of unripe pod			Trifolium	clovers	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				nymph	Foodplant / sap sucker			/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Trifolium/	Trifolium	clovers		unripe	pod
adult		adult sucks sap of unripe pod			Ulex	gorses	Fabales: Fabaceae	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				adult	Foodplant / sap sucker		UK and/or Eire	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Ulex/	Ulex	gorses		unripe	pod
nymph		nymph sucks sap of unripe pod			Ulex	gorses	Fabales: Fabaceae	Some foods of Heteroptera larvae in the wild, Hawkins, R.D., 1985 Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles, Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug				nymph	Foodplant / sap sucker		UK and/or Eire	/Plantae/Tracheophyta/Magnoliopsida/Fabales/Fabaceae/Ulex/	Ulex	gorses		unripe	pod

Interactions where Piezodorus lituratus is the victim or passive partner (and generally loses out from the process)

The following relationships have been collated from the published literature (see 'Interaction References').

Filters:

Affected Part		Summary			Taxon	Vernacular	Classification	References	Darwin Classification of Active Taxon	Active Taxon	Active Vernacular	Active Taxon Uncertain	Active State	Active Part	Active Stage	Relationship	Relationship Uncertain	Relationship Geography	Darwin Classification of Passive Taxon	Passive Taxon	Passive Vernacular	Passive Taxon Uncertain	Passive State	Passive Part	Passive Stage	Passive Taxon's significance to Active Taxon	Indoors etc	Season	Summary
		is endoparasitoid host of larva			Subclytia rotundiventris	a shield bug parasitoid fly	Diptera: Tachinidae	Tachinid Flies (Diptera: Tachinidae), Belshaw, R., 1993	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Diptera/Tachinidae/Subclytia rotundiventris/	Subclytia rotundiventris	a shield bug parasitoid fly				larva	Animal / parasitoid / endoparasitoid		Foreign	/Animalia/Arthropoda/Insecta/Hemiptera/Pentatomidae/Piezodorus lituratus/	Piezodorus lituratus	gorse shieldbug								larva is endoparasitoid of

Author & Year	Title	Source
Belshaw, R., 1993	Tachinid Flies (Diptera: Tachinidae)	Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, Vol 10, Part 4a(i), 169pp, The Royal Entomological Society of London
Hawkins, R.D., 1985	Some foods of Heteroptera larvae in the wild	Het News No 6: 3.
Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D., 1959	Land and Water Bugs of the British Isles	Wayside & Woodland Series, 1959 edition, 436pp, Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd.

Piezodorus lituratus (Gorse Shieldbug) may also be included in 'feeds on' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

INSECTA
(true insects)

Piezodorus lituratus (Gorse Shieldbug) may also be included in 'fed on by' relations listed under the following higher taxa:

PENTATOMIDAE
(a family of shieldbugs)

HEMIPTERA
(bugs)

INSECTA
(true insects)

HEXAPODA
(insects and other 6-legged organisms)

ARTHROPODA
(arthropods)

ANIMALIA
(animals)

Invertebrates
(Invertebrates)

Taxonomic hierarchy:

Species	Piezodorus lituratus (Gorse Shieldbug)
Subfamily	PENTATOMINAE (a subfamily of phytophagous shield bugs)
Family	PENTATOMIDAE (a family of shieldbugs)
Superfamily	PENTATOMOIDEA (shieldbugs)
Infraorder	Pentatomomorpha (an infraorder of bugs)
Suborder	HETEROPTERA (true bugs)
Order	HEMIPTERA (bugs)
Division	Exopterygota (earwigs, grasshoppers, stoneflies, true bugs, and other insects with wings developing externally)
Infraclass	Neoptera (bees, beetles, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other advanced insects)
Subclass	PTERYGOTA (bees, beetles, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other winged insects)
Class	INSECTA (true insects)
Subphylum	HEXAPODA (insects and other 6-legged organisms)
Phylum	ARTHROPODA (arthropods)
Superphylum	ECDYSOZOA (skin shedders)
Clade	Bilateria (bilaterally symmetrical animals)
Subkingdom	EUMETAZOA (metazoans)
Kingdom	ANIMALIA (animals)
Domain	Eukaryota (eukaryotes)
Life	BIOTA (living things)

Piezodorus lituratus is also a member of:
Invertebrates - Invertebrates (via Arthropoda)

NBN

NBN (data.nbn.org.uk) has a distribution map for Piezodorus lituratus (Gorse Shieldbug)

Piezodorus lituratus (Gorse Shieldbug) may be included in identification literature listed under the following higher taxa:

PENTATOMIDAE
(a family of shieldbugs)

Pentatomomorpha
(an infraorder of bugs)

HETEROPTERA
(true bugs)

HEMIPTERA
(bugs)

INSECTA
(true insects)

HEXAPODA
(insects and other 6-legged organisms)

ARTHROPODA
(arthropods)

ANIMALIA
(animals)

Eukaryota
(eukaryotes)

BIOTA
(living things)

Literature listed under the following higher taxa may be relevant to Piezodorus lituratus (Gorse Shieldbug):

PENTATOMIDAE
(a family of shieldbugs)

PENTATOMOIDEA
(shieldbugs)

Pentatomomorpha
(an infraorder of bugs)

HETEROPTERA
(true bugs)

HEMIPTERA
(bugs)

PTERYGOTA
(bees, beetles, dragonflies, flies, grasshoppers, moths and other winged insects)

INSECTA
(true insects)

HEXAPODA
(insects and other 6-legged organisms)

ARTHROPODA
(arthropods)

EUMETAZOA
(metazoans)

ANIMALIA
(animals)

Eukaryota
(eukaryotes)

BIOTA
(living things)

Invertebrates
(Invertebrates)

BioImages

BioImages (www.bioimages.org.uk) has 32 images of Piezodorus lituratus (Gorse Shieldbug)

Often found in good numbers on sunlit Gorse (Ulex europaeus) in the spring, but it can be quite patchy, being abundant on some bushes and absent from others. In dull weather it must be searched for among litter at the base of the Gorse.

When disturbed they fold up their legs and drop.

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