Green Shield Bug (Palomena prasina)

Bright green from spring through summer, the green shield bug turns bronze-brown as autumn arrives and the foliage around it does the same. It overwinters in that colour, tucked into leaf litter, and turns green again in spring. Most people who see it in both states assume they are looking at two species.

It feeds by piercing plants and drinking sap, favouring beans, raspberries and hazelnuts, though it rarely does enough damage to trouble a gardener. At 12 to 14 millimetres it is one of the larger shield bugs in Britain and among the most common.

Courtship happens through the plant rather than the air. Shield bugs sing by vibrating their abdomens against the stem they are standing on, sending low-frequency signals along the stalk to any bug on the same plant - a private channel we cannot hear without instruments. Disturb one and the other defence arrives instead: a pungent aldehyde cocktail from glands on the thorax, unpleasant enough that the smell stays on your fingers for hours and gives the family its other name.

A vector illustration of the green shield bug in dorsal view, drawn for the Bugs series of insect art prints.

Bugs is a collection of natural history illustration prints drawn from the insect world - beetles, flies, bugs, butterflies, and moths selected for the strangeness, beauty, and variety of their forms.

Each illustration is adapted from Simon Tyler's book Bugs, published by Pavilion in 2017 and subsequently published in French and Chinese. The series draws on the tradition of scientific natural history illustration - precise, considered, and attentive to the details that make each species distinctive.

Insects account for the majority of all known animal species on Earth. This collection is a small survey of what that diversity looks like.

All prints are produced to order on 250gsm archival matte paper using pigment-based inks, chosen for colour accuracy and long-term stability.

Each print is rolled in acid-free tissue and shipped in a rigid cardboard tube, sealed for moisture protection, ready for framing on arrival.

Large · 50 × 70 cm · 20 × 28 in

XLarge · 70 × 100 cm · 28 × 40 in

UK: Free · 3-5 working days

Europe: €8.50 · 3-7 working days · No customs charges

USA & Canada: $8.95 / $12.00 CAD · 5-10 working days

Australia: $14.00 AUD · 5-10 working days

Rest of World: £14.95 · 7-14 working days

All prints are produced to order and dispatched within 1-3 working days. Orders placed before 5pm GMT ship the same day. You'll receive tracking information by email once dispatched.

Orders outside Europe may be subject to local customs charges on delivery - these are the responsibility of the recipient.

Full delivery information →

Returns accepted within 30 days. Email returns@axisophy.com with your order number and we'll provide return instructions.

Return postage is the customer's responsibility except where the print arrives damaged or there's been an error - in which case we'll arrange a replacement or refund immediately, no return needed.

Full returns policy →