Brachyplatys subaeneus

Brachyplatys subaeneus

Brachyplatys subaeneus

Daily sighting probability <5% · Rare
at Galápagos Islands

In 3 days ~10% in a week ~30%

10 Verified sightings at Galápagos Islands From 2019 to 2026
10 In 1 park
October Best month
☀️ Diurnal When it's spotted

About the Brachyplatys subaeneus

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 →

Global Distribution

Parks Where Found

# Park Country Daily sighting probability
1 Galápagos Islands 🇪🇨 Ecuador
<5%

More parks will be added in future updates.

Cities Where Found

# City Country Daily sighting probability
1 Santo Domingo 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic
~10%
2 Tuen Mun 🇨🇳 China
~10%
3 Panama City 🇵🇦 Panama
~10%
4 Guangzhou 🇨🇳 China
<5%
5 Hong Kong 🇨🇳 China
<5%
6 Miami 🇺🇸 United States
<5%
7 Singapore 🇸🇬 Singapore
<5%

Before you go

What are the chances of seeing a Brachyplatys subaeneus in Galápagos Islands?

Rare

Under 5% of wildlife watchers report a Brachyplatys subaeneus sighting in Galápagos Islands on a given day, based on 10 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 54th most-seen of the 83 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.

When is the best time to see a Brachyplatys subaeneus in Galápagos Islands?

August and October–November

In those months about 10% of wildlife watchers report a Brachyplatys subaeneus in Galápagos Islands on a given day, against under 5% in September and December–July, the lowest months. Those are among Galápagos Islands's driest months, with almost no rain against 50 mm in March.

What time of day is best to see a Brachyplatys subaeneus?

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.

Where else can you see a Brachyplatys subaeneus?

Only Galápagos Islands, in our data

Galápagos Islands is the only park on Wallace's Line with enough records to rate Brachyplatys subaeneus sightings: under 5% of wildlife watchers there report one on a given day.

Where does the Brachyplatys subaeneus sighting chance come from?

GBIF citizen-science records

It is estimated from how often the Brachyplatys subaeneus is recorded against all the insects logged in Galápagos Islands (10 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), 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.

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