Rice pests: Cletus trigonus and Cletus pugnator

Scientific names: Cletus trigonus (Thunberg) and Cletus pugnator, both belonging to Hemiptera, family Coreidae. They are distributed in the Yangtze River basin, Jiangsu, Henan, Yunnan, Guizhou and other provinces.

Hosts include rice, amaranth, prickly amaranth, alternanthera, Mexican tea, strawberry, corn, soybean, etc.

Damage characteristics: adults and nymphs pierce and suck the sap of rice and other plants, or damage strawberry berries.

Morphological characteristics: adult Cletus trigonus body length 7.5-8.8 mm, width 4-5 mm; antennal segments 1-3 dark brown, equal in length, segment 4 blackish brown with a reddish-brown tip. The front half of the pronotum is lighter in color; the lateral angles extend outward on both sides as thin spines, do not curve upward, and are black; the white spot in the discal cell of the corium's inner angle is distinct. The scutellum has coarse punctures; the foreleg and midleg coxae each have 2 small black spots, and the hindleg coxa has 1; the underside of the body is lighter in color, and the abdomen has 4 black spots, with the middle 2 small or indistinct. Eggs are nearly diamond-shaped, initially milky white, gradually turning yellow, and semi-transparent. The final-instar nymph is yellowish brown, with small black markings on the dorsal surface of the abdomen; the lateral angles of the pronotum extend backward and outward into needle-like points; the wing pads reach the posterior margin of abdominal segment 3. Cletus pugnator is similar to Cletus trigonus, with body length both under 9 mm, but Cletus pugnator has short lateral pronotal spines, and the width between the lateral angles is less than half the body length, which distinguishes it.

Life habits: 2-3 generations per year in the Yangtze River basin, overwintering as adults in dead branches, fallen leaves or dry grass; oviposition begins between March and April the following year, with eggs mostly laid on leaves, panicles or stems.