European Tortoise Bug

Eurygaster maura · Order: Hemiptera · Family: Scutelleridae

Damages trees, gardens or crops. It damages crops such as wheat, rye, barley and other grains.

The European tortoise bug is an oval, slightly convex shield bug about 8 to 11 mm long. It lives on calcareous grasslands where wild grasses grow.

How to recognize it

Its ground colour is usually brown, but can also be light gray or black.

It reaches a length of about 8 to 11 mm (0.31 to 0.43 in).

It is a sunn pest; both adults and larvae are very harmful to crops.

It prefers calcareous grasslands that have wild grasses.

The species has one generation per year (univoltine). After five molts the bugs are fully developed and spend the winter in leaf litter.

It resembles Eurygaster testudinaria but is slightly smaller, has a smoothly rounded shape and less protruding hind corners.

When are these bugs most likely to be seen?

They are present from May through August, with adults appearing from July onward.

What habitats should I check for them?

Look for them in calcareous grasslands that have wild grasses.

How can I tell this bug apart from similar species?

It is slightly smaller than Eurygaster testudinaria, has a smoothly rounded shape and less protruding hind corners.

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-24 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.