Hawthorn shield bug Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale

The hawthorn shield bug is the shield bug species that you are most likely to encounter. This handsome invertebrate can be found wherever suitable shrubby foodplants are available - from garden to woodland. Eggs are laid in spring and, over the summer, the nymphs feed on ripening red berries, particularly hawthorn, but also rowan, whitebeam and cotoneaster. The adults appear from late August and will often wander quite far from their foodplant, occasionally being attracted to lights at night, when they may turn up in moth traps. The adults go into hibernation in the late autumn, emerging again in the spring to breed.

Conservation status

Common.