July 2016. Pests of rice from Bangladesh. Please identify them.

I asked Gerry Cassis (PestNet Associate) for his opinion on your images, and this is what he wrote:

“The pic on the left is a Paromius sp. (family Rhyparochromidae). The picture on the right is another Rhyparochromidae, belonging to the tribe Myodochini, need specimens to identify it.”

The bug with white and red spots (below) is Callitettix versicolor.

The insects on the rice panicle in other two pictures (top) are most likely the rice bugs with common names, such as rice seed bug, slender rice bug, or gandhi bug in India, or probably gundi poka in Bengali. They damage rice grains during the milky stage. There are more than 14 species described but some are synonyms.

The three most common species found on rice in Asia are Leptocorisa acuta, L. chinensis and L. oratorius (Hemiptera: Alydidae). There is a key for identifying Leptocorisa spp. in a paper by Sri Suharni Siwi and P.H. Van Doesburg. 1984. Leptocorisa (Latreille) in Indonesia (Heteroptera-Coreidae Alydinae). Zool. Med., 58(7):117-129.

Another opinion was received that gave further information on the two bugs in the Rhyparochromidae. It was as follows:

Paromius – (Family Rhyparochromidae, tribe Myodochini) – there are at least 4 species of this genus that are occasional pests of rice in the oriental region, the most common one is the Paromius gracilis (of which another common species P. pallidus is a synonym). I think the species in this image is this one, i.e. P. gracilis.

The other Rhyparochromidae – is that of a species of Dieuches sp. (Tribe Rhyparochromini NOT Myodochini). This is a large genus with over 100 described species and with a very wide host range, only a few species are occasional pests of Fabaceae (Leguminosae), such as peanuts, and other seeds and fruits, and are not known to attack rice.