the essentials in brief
- Fire bugs neither bite nor are they poisonous
- Fire bugs are active between March and May and can appear too many
- Fire bugs can be fought with soapy water, fly tape, or essential oils; In most cases, however, control is not necessary and should be avoided
Are fire bugs poisonous?
Fire bugs pose no threat to humans. You don't have to worry about a bite if you pick up the insects. The animals are not poisonous. If dogs or cats accidentally touch the animals, the unpleasant taste will make them shrink back quickly. Even brave pets learn from such experiences.
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Fight fire bugs
Usually it is not necessary to fight the animals. The spook is often over after a few weeks, as the animals are only active between March and May. If the winters are particularly severe, most animals cannot survive. In many cases, the occurrence is limited in time.
Eliminate accumulations
In early spring, look for obvious hiding spots such as flagstones and piles of leaves on trees. If the sun has not yet warmed such retreats, fire bugs will not come out of their hiding place until later. So you can move the lumps of bedbugs into a bucket and release them again at a safe distance at the edge of the forest. Wear gloves to avoid getting the immune secretion of the animals on the skin.
In the house
Who one Fire bug in the house should be carefully carried outside
Occasionally, fire bugs crawl into the home through open windows or under door slits. But you don't have to worry about animals hogging your bed. Fire bugs are not comfortable in unnatural surroundings. They get lost there when they are distracted by smells or when they are looking for a retreat. You can guide individual animals onto a sheet of paper and take them outside.
Gentle variant for removal:
- Put the screw cap glass over the bug
- Slide a sheet of paper underneath
- Put the bug in the jar
- expose far from home
If you crush a fire bug in your apartment, you run the risk of unsightly stains and an unpleasant smell.
Chemical antidotes
You should refrain from using industrially manufactured products with aggressive ingredients. Such insecticides don't just fight the fire bugs as they don't work selectively. The means destroy the entire insect world in the garden, so that other useful animals are also killed. If the substances get into nearby bodies of water or into the ground, they affect other living beings. Chemical clubs create an imbalance in the ecosystem and should not be used if possible.
Natural control and home remedies
If the presence of the fire bugs is still undesirable, you can fight the animals naturally or scare them off. The methods protect the environment and are not hazardous to health. However, these methods should also be used with caution and solutions used sparingly.
Soapy water
An effective control agent that is environmentally friendly and has a targeted effect is a solution of biodegradable soap and water. Fill a spray bottle with water and squirt a few drops of detergent into the water. A little curd soap has the same effect. Shake the bottle well until the soap has dissolved.
You can then spray the solution on the bedbug clusters. A fine mist is enough for the animals to perish within a few minutes. The soapy water dissolves the protective layer of the armor. Without this protective layer, the bedbugs will dehydrate.
Sprayed with soapy water, the beautiful little animals die a painful death
Tips
You can also use diatomaceous earth. The fossil rock consists of aluminum, silicon and iron and has a similar but stronger effect than soapy water.
Sticky fly tape
Cover the window frames and door sills with double-sided adhesive tape. Special fly tape has a higher adhesive effect. If a bug tries to crawl into the apartment, it will stick to the tape. There is no escape from the insurmountable obstacle.
However, this variant is less animal-friendly, because the bed bugs slowly die from lack of food and exhaustion. In doing so, they secrete their scented secretions so that their conspecifics are warned of the danger. The accumulations in the vicinity will dissipate, at least for a short time. As soon as the smell subsides, the animals come back.
Tips
To prevent the bugs from getting lost in the apartment, you should use attractants at the other end of the garden. A bucket with Hollyhocks or hibiscus magically attracts fire bugs and distracts them from the house.
Balsam fir
American researchers discovered by chance that the wood of the balsamic fir (Abies balsamea) can be used to fight fire bugs. The wood contains a substance that is similar to a hormone found in the bed bug larvae. If the larvae came into contact with the substance, they could not perform the last molt to form the adult insect. The bedbugs died before they reached sexual maturity.
Scatter chopped branches of the balsamic fir under deciduous trees and mallow trees. The wild species is difficult to find in garden centers, but the dwarf form 'Nana' is available from many nurseries.
Proven measures against stink bugs
There are a few remedies that declare war on related stink bugs. Since these are natural control methods, they can also be used against fire bugs. However, many methods have both advantages and disadvantages.
Essential oils
At least stink bugs are said to be sensitive to some intensely smelling oils, so that they run away. Various vegetable powders or oils can be used to make a spray solution. These are sprayed in places where the bed bugs are frequent. They have a deterrent effect and do not kill the insects. If you are not bothered by the intense smell, you can also spray the solution on window frames and door sills.
These plants are suitable:
- garlic: Spread oil for spray solution, garlic cloves in bed bugs
- mint: Spray solution from leaves
- Catnip: Plant in the garden as a permanent defense
| effect | disadvantage | |
|---|---|---|
| Pyrethrum | mortifying | deadly to all insects |
| Coffee grounds | mourning: bedbugs flee | not a permanent deterrent |
| Neem oil | irritating: mating is disturbed | interferes with the development of beneficial insects |
Prevent
Fire bugs settle where the living conditions are optimal. If you have many of your favorite food plants in your garden, it is very likely that they will spread. The animals often come back even after they have been successfully controlled. The only way out of this cycle is to redesign the garden. Avoid planting mallow plants or cut off dead shoots in good time before these seeds can develop.
Tips
- do not leave piles of leaves on the wall of the house
- Make the garden as versatile as possible
- Keep surfaces moist
The fire bug at a glance
In the realm of bedbugs, there is an entire family of around 340 different species known as fire bugs. The typical species associated with the name is the common fire bug (Pyrrhocoris apterus, English: firebug). Their striking coloring is characteristic and threatening, especially when the animals form large groups.
Popularly the species is mistakenly referred to as the fire or cobbler beetle. The term cobblestone is a common term for copulating in eastern Austria and indicates the high level of sexual activity of the animals in spring. The popular names are an indication that the bedbugs were once mistaken for beetles. However, there is a distant relationship between fire bugs and fire beetles, because fire beetles belong to the order of the beetles, while fire bugs belong to the order of the Schnabelkerfen.
general characteristics
Fire bugs grow to be between six and twelve millimeters long. Their oval-shaped body is flattened on the top, while the bottom is arched. The head looks triangular when viewed from above. It has four-part antennae that are comparatively short and thick. The trapezoidal pronotum is separated from the body by sharp sides. No difference between males and females can be seen based on the coloration. Unambiguous features that indicate gender are clearly visible when viewed under a microscope. They show up in the genital apparatus.
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The fire beetle family includes around 140 species worldwide, but only three occur in Germany. The family of fire beetles cover around 140 species in Germany but only 3 are found.
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coloring
The common fire bug cannot be confused with any other species due to its color pattern. The head, underside, legs and antennae are colored black. The pronotum glows red at the edge, while there is an almost rectangular black spot in the middle. This is delimited by a larger front spot and two smaller back spots. The shield and abdomen are black. The forewings appear fiery red with conspicuous circular points in black coloring and smaller black triangles. Long-winged fire bugs are sometimes confused with the knight bug.
Features of the knight bug:
- Similar back color, but red colored underside of the abdomen
- black spot on the forewing smaller than on fire bugs
- occurs only in southern Europe
way of life
Large groups of animals that are in different stages of development are typical of the common fire bug. They repel pheromones to hold the aggregation together. If there is a danger, the bugs release a secretion as a defense and as a warning and the accumulation dissolves. You can observe this behavior more often in the spring.
flight
In around 95 percent of all fire bugs, the wings are so shortened that they cannot fly. The scientific species name "apterus", which is translated as "wingless", indicates this phenomenon. Only five percent of the animals develop fully developed fore and hind wings that reach to the tip of the abdomen. Still, the fire bugs are unable to fly.
Digression
A look into evolution
The flight of the fire bugs has not been scientifically proven and yet these generations serve for the spread of the species over long distances. Studies have shown that these individuals are more active, enterprising, and experimental than the stunted winged bugs. They cover longer distances on foot and form new populations in more distant areas.
pairing
Mating occurs between April and May. Females mate with several males, with single copulations lasting several hours to days. There have been observations of pairings that extended over seven days. These long copulation times have an evolutionary reason. In this way, the males want to prevent females from mating with competitors.
However, this behavior only works in favor of the males. Females are so overstrained by sexual activity and subsequent egg production that their life expectancy is significantly lower than that of their sexual partners.
Egg laying
Shortly after mating, the females usually lay between 40 and 80, rarely up to 100 eggs. You will continue to monitor the clutch for some time. The hatched larva already closely resembles the adult insect. As a result, they do not have to go through a pupal stage, as is the case with butterflies or beetles.
Stages of development
The insects go through five stages to become a fully-grown bug in which they molt. It takes between two and three months for the egg to develop into a sexually mature insect. The development from the fifth larval stage to the adult animal takes most of the time.
Females lay their eggs here:
- in self-dug holes in the ground
- under stones
- between piled leaves
In the winter
Fire bugs dig into the substrate before winter sets in to protect themselves from the cold. The bugs live gregariously even during winter. Often more than a hundred bugs can be seen under stones and bushes or in piles of leaves, forming clumps. Temperatures of -5 ° C do not cause any problems for the animals in these aggregations. The insects overwinter in the sexually mature stage. Larval stages can very rarely be observed in the clusters. When the sun warms the ground, the bed bugs become active again. They go to sunny places to warm themselves.
Related species
The common fire bug is the most common family species that exists in Central Europe. There are two other species here that are far rarer. Most species develop red and orange or yellow to white warning colors. But there are also inconspicuously colored species.
| Pyrrhocoris niger | Pyrrhocoris marginatus | |
|---|---|---|
| German name | missing | occasionally monk bug |
| coloring | black with yellow wing edges | brownish to black with yellow wing edges |
| distribution | Crete | southern regions |
| habitat | on Cretan tragacanth | Steppe heaths |
| particularities | occurs only in Crete | lives as a solitary animal |
Where do fire bugs live?
Fire bugs live mostly on the ground. They seek out sunny places and can be seen more often at the base of the linden tree. More than a hundred animals gather here in spring. Horse chestnuts, acacias and other deciduous trees are also preferred habitats for fire bugs. Occasionally the insects crawl up the stems of the low vegetation or tree trunks.
Where fire bugs are native
As temperatures rise on average, fire bugs have increasingly been able to spread to more northerly regions. So far they haven't made it to Great Britain or Scandinavia. Schleswig-Holstein was conquered by the bugs during the 1940s. Fire bugs can be seen in the Alps at altitudes of 1,000 meters.
Natural range:
- Central Europe
- Mediterranean areas
- North africa
- central Asia to western Siberia, northern China and Pakistan
Natural enemies
The predators of fire bugs are primarily birds. But because of their warning colors, a hungry bird rarely shows any interest in the insects. When they eat their prey, they quickly notice an unpleasant taste. Fire bugs secrete a secretion in defense that deter birds and can paralyze insects. The strategies are showing great success so that the bugs can spread unhindered.
What do fire bugs eat?
Fire bugs belong to the seed suckers. They are looking for seeds that have fallen on the ground. The mallow family is the main source of nutrition. Occasionally the bugs suck up live and dead insects. In some cases, dead conspecifics are also sucked out.
The insects show social behavior when they develop food. They work together to open the seeds. Then several animals suck the juice from the grains at the same time, using mouthparts that have been converted into proboscis. They secrete a secretion that dissolves the nutrients in the seed.
This is what fire bugs prefer:
- Linden, horse chestnut and black locust seeds
- Musk Mallow (Malva moschata)
- Shrub marshmallow or hibiscus (Hibiscus syriacus)
- Common marshmallow (Althaea officinalis)
- Common hollyhock (Alcea rosea)
Fire bugs in the garden
The insects are perceived by many hobby gardeners as "nuisances" because they occur in large numbers and appear frightening. Since their populations are hardly contained by natural predators, many feel helplessly exposed to the alleged plague.
If the range of plants in the garden is right, new generations of fire bugs settle here every year. However, they are not harmful to plants as they only target the fallen seeds. The supposed plant pests can even be useful, as they also suck in aphids and prevent their uncontrolled spread.
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In the cemetery
There are frequent reports of massive accumulations of fire bugs in cemeteries. Most visitors feel disgusted by these observations, and those who do not know the animals' way of life are quickly frightened.
But it is precisely in cemeteries that the bedbugs find ideal living conditions. There are often deciduous trees along the roadsides that produce masses of seeds and thus food for the insects. On the sun-exposed tombstones you will find ideal places to sunbathe. You don't have to worry about the grave planting.
miscellaneous
Fire bugs are interesting creatures that have been the focus of people for centuries. Fire bugs are one of the most popular crawling animals among children and are explored with great enthusiasm.
Fire bug - eternal youth
The early larval stages of the fire bug develop a special hormone that significantly influences the development of the larvae. It prevents premature ripening and ensures that all larval stages are lived through. In research by a Czech scientist, this phenomenon was observed in the last stage of development.
Only after some time did the researcher discover the reason. The pots in which the larvae were grown were equipped with special paper. The paper came from various tree species whose wood contains a development-inhibiting substance. In the last larval stage, this ensures that it cannot develop into an adult insect. The larvae continued to grow in the experiment until they finally died of old age.
These tree species contain the substance:
- Balsam fir
- American larch
- Hemlock
- yew
Fire bugs in kindergarten
It is not uncommon for the little ones to collect fire bugs in droves from the floor to keep them in the nursery. This does not always meet with enthusiasm among the parents, but the children are not harmed by playing with the strikingly colored insects.
You will deal with the way of life of insects and get to know nature. That's why fire bugs are also on the curriculum in kindergarten. With the help of discovery tours, the attempt is made to bring the children closer to biology in a playful way.
frequently asked Questions
Do fire bugs stink?
Fire bugs differ from other bed bugs in that they have regressed scent glands. Nevertheless, the bugs give off a characteristic odor when threatened. This scent is said to scare off robbers. At the same time, conspecifics are warned of the danger. A fire bug stinks when picked up and pressed.
At what temperatures do fire bugs die?
Fire bugs are able to survive below freezing temperatures. If the thermometer drops to -7 ° C, the bugs survive for about 120 days. They can also survive temperatures down to the double-digit minus range, whereby the mortality rate is then quite high. Studies showed that some fire bugs survived for around 35 days at -10 ° C.
Why are fire bugs so conspicuously red and black?
Experiments have shown that the coloring takes on a warning function and acts as a natural protection against predators. This is how fire bugs deceive their natural enemies. Although they are not tasty, they also have very little toxicity. Songbirds spurn the bugs anyway. Scientists assume that the birds see the similar-looking knight bugs as a danger and transfer this association to the fire bugs.
How long do fire bugs live?
The lifespan of insects depends heavily on environmental conditions. A sexually mature fire bug can live between two and twelve months. Occasionally, the bedbugs can reach two years of age.
How often do fire bugs multiply in a year?
That depends on the weather conditions. Usually only one generation develops per year in Central Europe, since the females have their eggs do not lay down until late spring and the development of the sexually mature insect takes up to three months take. In particularly warm years, this generation can multiply in the same year.
Why do fire bugs appear in large clusters?
Fire bugs love warmth and display social lifestyles. They live gregariously in groups and share food with one another. The background to living together is simple, because in the large gatherings the probability of survival of the individual is higher. It has been proven that temperatures in societies are higher than in the surrounding area. The insects warm themselves this way.
