Bug FAQSoot sprite
Coptosoma scutellatum · Order: Hemiptera · Family: Plataspidae
Also called: Trapezium Shieldbug
The soot sprite is a tiny true bug about 4 to 5 mm long, almost spherical or trapezoidal and glossy black, sometimes showing green, blue or bronze tones, with yellow edges on the abdomen.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Adults are shiny deep black, sometimes with a green, blue or bronze gloss, and have yellow side edges on the abdomen.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
They reach about 4 to 5 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
They prefer dry, warm areas with moderate herbaceous cover, such as lawns, limestone, clay and sandy soils. In the Alps they are especially common in valleys and can be found up to 1000 m when conditions are suitable.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It feeds mainly on legumes such as alfalfa, birdsfoot trefoil, milkvetch, vetch, sainfoin, broom and restharrows.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The bug overwinters as a larva in the third or fourth instar and becomes an adult in May or June. Adults are present from summer through September, and they lay eggs in midsummer.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
The species occurs throughout most of southern Europe and extends from North Africa across Siberia to China, Korea and Japan. It is one of only four European Coptosoma species, the others being mainly Asian or Ethiopian.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
Questions people ask
Same family (Plataspidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coptosoma_scutellatum
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.