Brachyplatys subaeneus
In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%
Brachyplatys subaeneus, also referred to as the black bean bug, is a species of shield bugs belonging to the family Plataspidae, occurring throughout much of Asia, and invasive elsewhere. It is known to be a pest, particularly in legume crops, but infests a wide range of plant species.
This species occurs over much of Asia, from India eastward to Japan and Southeast Asia. Black bean bugs were found for the first time in the Western Hemisphere in 2012 in Panama, though initially misidentified. There have been additional verified reports subsequently from Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and the United States (in the state of Florida, in 2020).
Females produce 300–400 eggs, laid over a period of several months, deposited in hidden locations on or near host plants. Nymphs and adults tend to aggregate on stems or on petioles under leaves, where they feed on plant fluids. Black bean bugs show a clear preference for Fabaceae (legumes), attacking cosmopolitan crops such as common beans (Phaseolus spp.), cowpeas (Vigna spp.), soybean (Glycine max) and pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan), but they also are reported to damage crop plants in several other plant... Wikipedia →
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Galápagos Islands | 🇪🇨 Ecuador |
More parks will be added in future updates.
| # | City | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Santo Domingo | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | |
| 2 | Tuen Mun | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 3 | Panama City | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 4 | Guangzhou | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 5 | Hong Kong | 🇨🇳 China | |
| 6 | Miami | 🇺🇸 United States | |
| 7 | Singapore | 🇸🇬 Singapore |
With luck
About 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brachyplatys subaeneus sighting in Panama City on a given day, based on 8 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data. It is the 59th most-seen of the 131 insects we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 10%, and over a week to about 30%, if each day is a fresh chance.
January, March–May and August–September
In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brachyplatys subaeneus in Panama City on a given day, against under 5% in February, June–July and October–December, the lowest months.
Between 9 am and noon
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Brachyplatys subaeneus sightings with a recorded time, and nearly all of them come between 6 am and 6 pm: it is a daytime animal.
Among the best
Of the 7 cities where we can rate Brachyplatys subaeneus sightings, Panama City ranks 3rd at about 10%, level with the leaders once rounded. The best odds are in Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic, about 10%) and Tuen Mun (China, about 10%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Brachyplatys subaeneus is recorded against all the insects logged in Panama City (8 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.
