Gren triangle thing!

[pickledtink]

Iv'e got this bug I don't recognise. I've found it for about the last 3 years but have no idea what it is.
It's quite a bright green, sort of triangle shaped and probably * guessing* beetle family. It's about 0.5 Cm long/wide. Very flat back and there were two today on the Aubergine and Pepper plants. By the time I'd hived off, found the camera, discovered it had no battery life left, sworn dire retribution at offspring for using it up, scrabbled through drawers to no avail and finally prised some out of the remote, it was gone!
I obviously don't want to sqaudge it if it's good. It might be scoffing black fly or something but I'd like to know if it's some horror or not.
Any ideas anyone?

[Jaxom]

does it look like this? http://www.english-country-garden.co...shield-bug.htm
if it does then its a harmless shield bug

[Slug]

Jax, I've seen a few of them in my garden - are they friends or foes?

[Lozzie]

I've had these in my garden when I used to grow raspberries. Shield Bugs (aka Green Stink Bugs, named because of the nasty smelling liquid they secrete) feed mainly on plant sap, kinda like aphids, so I guess they might be harmful.

[pickledtink]

Thanks all.
I've done a google and discovered mine is actually the new foreign import so should be kept off the beans.

The RHS says:
In 2003, another species of shield bug, the southern green shield bug (Nezara viridula) was found for the first time breeding in the London area. This recent arrival from elsewhere in Europe is slightly larger than the native green shield bug. The adults are uniformly green and lack the dark area at the rear end of the body. Immature southern green shield bugs are greenish black with many white or red circular markings on their upper surface. This species can cause damage to some vegetables, especially beans, but it remains to be seen whether it will become established to the extent that it becomes a pest.

[bramble]

I've had two in my garden on my container potatoes. I killed both of them. I'm afraid i belong to the society of "kill first and ask questiojns later"

[pickledtink]

They emit a nasty pong if you touch them too! I tried to pick one up to photograph it but lost it. Then when I went to eat a strawberry my fingers smelled like cat spray!
Apparantly they're called stink bugs in the States.

[Earthbabe]

I saw one that was the same size and shape but black It was on the car outside the allotment site so I let it be. Any ideas what that might be?

[SueA]

Hi Earthbabe, it was probably a different branch of the shield bug family, there are lots of different colours. Have a look at these on the Garden Safari website.
www.gardensafari.net/english/shieldbugs.htm

[Earthbabe]

Thanks Sue A, never knew there were so many. It may well have been a Forest Bug but what it was doing on a car in the middle of Southampton will no doubt remain a mystery.

[nick the grief]

came in from the New forest to do some shopping