Biology
Arocatus longiceps © Natural History Museum, London
Arocatus longiceps feeds on the seeds of various kinds of plane tree.
In the Museum wildlife garden it is very common on the London plane tree Platanus x hispanicus, which is a manmade hybrid between the Asian plane Platanus orientalis and the North American plane Platanus occidentalis.
London planes are specially bred for growing in cities, because they can tolerate pollution by storing toxins in their bark which then flakes off and is replaced.
The bug probably feeds on all species of the genus Platanus including hybrids.
Adult and immature bugs both feed on the seeds, using a piercing/sucking tube called a rostrum. The seeds of the plane tree are the distinctive ‘pom-poms’ and when these disintegrate, the tiny hairs that the seeds use for dispersal can be a nuisance, causing skin and eye irritation.
The adult bugs hibernate under the flaking bark of the plane trees, which forms a perfect winter refuge. Sometimes hundreds of specimens hibernate together in clusters under flakes of bark.
