#4027 · 🦗 bugs, crickets & other insects
Birch Shield Bug
🇳🇱 Berkenkielwants ·Elasmostethus interstinctus
🦗 Bugs, crickets & other insects 📍 in the Netherlands
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Wayne Sayers · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 2. © Andrew Meeds · CC BY 4.0
- 3. © Tina Ellegaard Poulsen · CC BY 4.0
- 4. © Jakob Fahr · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Gitte Langgaard Jensen · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 6. © Erland Refling Nielsen · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 7. © Bryan Smith · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 8. © robertweeden · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Nikolai Vladimirov · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. © Guillaume Delporte · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
The birch shieldbug ( Elasmostethus interstinctus ) is species of shield bug in the Acanthosomatidae family. Shield bugs are often called "stink bugs" because they excrete a foul smelling liquid that is used to deter predators.
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 87 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 9,077 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Birch Shield Bug
- Nederlands
- Berkenkielwants
- scientific name
- Elasmostethus interstinctus
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Hemiptera
- family
- Acanthosomatidae
- in NL
- native
- sightings in NL
- 87
- sightings in Europe
- 4,868
- sightings worldwide
- 9,077
- GBIF records in NL
- 15,980
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
relatives· Acanthosomatidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 318507, Wikidata Q1009818, GBIF 2079270, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.