Musgraveia sulciventris
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~20%
Musgraveia sulciventris is a Tessaratomid bug found in Australia, sometimes known as the bronze orange bug. It is considered a pest, particularly to plants in the citrus group. Bronze orange bugs suck the sap from trees, which causes the flowers and fruit to fall.
In 1863, Swedish entomologist Carl Stål described the species as Oncoscelis sulciventris from a collection near Moreton Bay in Queensland. In 1957, English entomologists Dennis Leston and G.G.E. Scudder reclassified the bronze orange bug as Musgraveia sulciventris, due to reorganization of Oncoscelis and related genera. It is the type species of the genus Musgraveia and in the Tessaratomidae family.
Bronze orange bugs are first found on trees in late winter. Mating takes place between late November through early March. Each mating pair takes 3 to 5 days to produce 10 to 14 eggs. The female lays up to four clutches of eggs and deposits them on the undersurface of a leaf. The bright green spherical eggs are around 2.5 mm (0.1 in) in diameter. The incubation period varies based on current weather conditions. Hatching averages around 7.4 days at 25 °C and 6 percent humidity. As a... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Royal National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 2 | Blue Mountains National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia | |
| 3 | Springbrook National Park | 🇦🇺 Australia |
Rare
Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bronze Orange Bug sighting in Melbourne on a given day, based on 16 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 480th most-seen of the 875 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 20%, if each day is a fresh chance.
Any time of year
In every month with enough records, under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Bronze Orange Bug in Melbourne on a given day, so our monthly data shows no clear season.
Between noon and 3 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Bronze Orange Bug sightings with a recorded time, and about 8 in 10 of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
3rd of 3
Of the 3 cities where we can rate Bronze Orange Bug sightings, Melbourne ranks 3rd at under 5%. The best odds are in Sydney (Australia, about 10%) and Brisbane (Australia, about 10%).
Same order: Hemiptera
The closest relatives of the Bronze Orange Bug that you can see in Melbourne (order Hemiptera, True Bugs, Hoppers, Aphids, and allies) are Passionvine Hopper (about 20%), European Firebug (about 10%) and Grey Planthopper (about 10%), with each one's daily chance of a sighting.
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Bronze Orange Bug is recorded against all the insects logged in Melbourne (16 verified sightings), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
