Brachyplatys subaeneus, also referred to as the black bean bug,Brachyplatys subaeneus (Westwood), black bean bug, detected in South Florida is a species of shield bugs belonging to the family Plataspidae, occurring throughout much of Asia, and invasive elsewhere.Rédei, D. (2018). The identity of the Brachyplatys species recently introduced to Panama, with a review of bionomics (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Plataspidae). Zootaxa 4136: 141–154. It is known to be a pest, particularly in legume crops, but infests a wide range of plant species.Añino, Y.J., Santos Murgas, A., Henríquez Chirú, G.N., Carranza, R., and Villareal, C. (2018). Distribución especial del chinche invasor Brachyplatys subaeneus (Westwood, 1837) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Plataspidae) en Panamá. Insecta Mundi 0630: 1–6.Añino, Y.J., Sumba-Zhongor, M.B., Naranjo-Morán, J.A., Rodríguez, R. Santos-Murgas, R., and Zachrisson, B. (2020). Primer reporte de Brachyplatys subaeneus (Westwood) (Heteroptera: Plataspidae) en Ecuador y el listado sinóptico de sus plantas hospedantes. IDESIA (Chile) 38(1): 113–118.
Distribution 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,Aiello, A., Saltonstall, K., and Young, V. (2016). Brachyplatys vahlii (Fabricius, 1787), an introduced bug from Asia: first report in the Western Hemisphere (Hemiptera: Plataspidae: Brachyplatidinae). BioInvasions Records 5: 7–12. though initially misidentified. There have been additional verified reports subsequently from Costa Rica,Carmona-Rios, M.G. (2019). Primer registro de Brachyplatys subaeneus (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Plataspidae) en Costa Rica. Revista Chilena de Entomología 45: 583–586. the Dominican Republic,Perez-Gelabert, D.E., Abud-Antún, A., and Nolasco, C. (2019). First record of the introduced Asian plataspid Brachyplatys subaeneus (Westwood) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Plataspidae) in the Dominican Republic. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 121: 135–138. Ecuador, and the United States (in the state of Florida, in 2020).
Biology 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 families, such as corn, hemp, sweet potato, potato, sugarcane, and rice. Given the wide range of hosts and the economic value of several of these crops, the potential economic consequences of the spread of this insect are considered significant.
References
External links Brachyplatys subaeneus - iNaturalist