Euschistus ictericus is a North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of shield bug

Shield bug

Pentatomoidea is a superfamily of insects in the Heteroptera suborder of the Hemiptera order and, as such, share a common arrangement of sucking mouthparts...

. It grows up to 12 mm (0.47244094488189 in) long, and lives in damp areas.

Distribution

In Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, E. ictericus is restricted to Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

 and Quebec

Quebec

Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....

. In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, its distribution reaches as far south as Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 and Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

, and only as far west as Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

, despite previous reports that its range extended from coast to coast.

Description

E. ictericus grows to a length of 10.5–12 mm (0.413385826771654–0.47244094488189 ), and can be distinguished from other members of the "brown stink bug complex" by the lack of black spots in the middle of the ventral side of the abdomen

Abdomen

In vertebrates such as mammals the abdomen constitutes the part of the body between the thorax and pelvis. The region enclosed by the abdomen is termed the abdominal cavity...

, and by the presence of black rings around the spiracle

Spiracle

Spiracles are openings on the surface of some animals that usually lead to respiratory systems.-Vertebrates:The spiracle is a small hole behind each eye that opens to the mouth in some fishes. In the primitive jawless fish the first gill opening immediately behind the mouth is essentially similar...

s on the abdomen.

Ecology

E. ictericus lives in damp situations, on Carex comosa

Carex comosa

Carex comosa is a species of sedge known by the common name longhair sedge. It is native to North America, where it grows in western and eastern regions of Canada and the United States, and parts of Mexico. It grows in wet places, including meadows and many types of wetlands. Tolerates deeper water...

, Iris versicolor

Iris versicolor

Iris versicolor, also commonly known as the Harlequin Blueflag, Larger Blue Flag, Northern Blue Flag, and other variations of those names, is a species of Iris native to North America where it is common in sedge meadows, marshes, and along streambanks and shores.-Growth:I. versicolor is a perennial...

, Nymphaea odorata

Nymphaea odorata

Nymphaea odorata, also known as the Fragrant Water Lily and Beaver Root, is a flower belonging to the genus Nymphaea. It can commonly be found in lake shallows, ponds, and permanent slow moving waters throughout North America where it ranges from Central America to northern Canada...

, Saururus cernuus

Saururus cernuus

Saururus cernuus is a medicinal and ornamental plant native to eastern North America. It grows in wet areas or shallow water, and can be up to about a meter tall...

, willow

Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

s, Carduus horridulum, Heracleum maximum

Cow Parsley

Anthriscus sylvestris, known as Cow Parsley, Wild Chervil, Wild Beaked Parsley, Keck, or Queen Anne's lace, is a herbaceous biennial or short-lived perennial plant in the family Apiaceae, genus Anthriscus. It is also sometimes called Mother-die , a name that is also applied to the Common Hawthorn...

, Cuscuta

Cuscuta

Cuscuta is a genus of about 100-170 species of yellow, orange or red parasitic plants. Formerly treated as the only genus in the family Cuscutaceae, recent genetic research by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has shown that it is correctly placed in the morning glory family, Convolvulaceae...

, Glycine max

Soybean

The soybean or soya bean is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean which has numerous uses...

, Vicia faba

Vicia faba

This article refers to the Broad Bean plant. For Broadbean the company, see Broadbean, Inc.Vicia faba, the Broad Bean, Fava Bean, Field Bean, Bell Bean or Tic Bean, is a species of bean native to north Africa and southwest Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere. A variety is provisionally...

, Verbascum thapsus, Juncus

Juncus

Juncus is a genus in the plant family Juncaceae. It consists of some 200 to 300 or more species of grassy plants commonly called rushes...

, Perillus frutescens, polygonum densiflorum and Persicaria punctata

Persicaria punctata

Persicaria punctata is a species of flowering plant in the knotweed family known by the common name dotted knotweed....

. It is attacked by Euthera tentatrix

Euthera tentatrix

Euthera tentatrix is a species of fly in the family Tachinidae....

, Beskia aelops and Cylindromyia euchenor (Tachinidae

Tachinidae

Tachinidae is a large and rather variable family of true flies within the insect order Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. There are over 1300 species in North America. Insects in this family are commonly called tachina flies or simply tachinids...

) and by the eastern meadowlark, Sturnella magna

Eastern Meadowlark

The Eastern Meadowlark, Sturnella magna, is a medium-sized icterid bird, very similar in appearance to the Western Meadowlark. It occurs from eastern North America to South America, where it is also most widespread in the east.-Description:...

. E. ictericus is not economically important as a pest.