Entoma
Trivial plant bug, Closterotomus trivialis, plate

Plant bugs

Closterotomus trivialis

Trivial plant bug

This sap-feeding bug switches diet with the seasons, moving from weeds like nettle onto olive and citrus trees, where it can damage the crop.

WhereWeedy ground, orchards and hedgerows
Size7 to 8 mm body length
WhenMay to June

This mirid bug is variably coloured, with yellow-green females and males that show black and red toward the wing tips; the pronotum carries a pair of dark central spots plus a dark mark at each corner.

It feeds on sap from nettles and related weeds as well as olive and citrus trees, and lays its eggs in bark cracks that stay dormant over winter. A single generation develops each year, with adults active for only a couple of months in late spring.

Traits

Habitat

Farmland

Colour

Green, Yellow, Red

Active

Day

To people

Does not bite or sting people; it feeds only on plant sap through piercing mouthparts.

Activity through the year

Often confused with

Potato miridOpen entry ›
Closterotomus norvegicus

Its pronotum carries only two dark spots at the centre, without the extra dark mark at each corner that the Trivial Plant Bug also shows.

Questions

Is the Trivial plant bug dangerous to people?

Does not bite or sting people; it feeds only on plant sap through piercing mouthparts.

When can you see the Trivial plant bug?

The Trivial plant bug can be seen from May to June, by day.

Plate retouched from a photo by Gino Brignoli, CC BY 4.0, iNaturalist Licence

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True bugs›Plant bugs›Closterotomus

Last updated 2026-09-26. Every entry is checked against published sources.