Oak Catkin Mirid Bug

The Oak Catkin Mirid Bug is of the family Miridae who are inflorescence specialists on European trees, feeding on the staminate catkins of a variety of deciduous trees. Harpocera thoracica is a specialist of the oak catkin and is very common throughout Britain on oak trees.

The adults are sexually dimorphic and very different in appearance. The males are more elongated in shape, with longer tibiae and their second antennal segment is enlarged.

Their colour ranges from black to dark brown to orange to pale brown, with the males usually darkerin colour than the females. The nymphs are reddish in colour and covered in dark hairs and the two basal antennal segments are thickened.

Adults can be found from late April or May to the middle of June at the latest and males live for only one month, with females living a bit longer.

The species spends almost all the year in the egg stage with larval development taking only 2 weeks.