Pyrrhocoridae

Red bugs, cotton stainers
Pyrrhocoris apterus (Spain) with reduced wings
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Superfamily:	Pyrrhocoroidea
Family:	Pyrrhocoridae Dohrn, 1859
Type genus
Pyrrhocoris Fallen, 1814
Genera
See text

Pyrrhocoridae is a family of insects with more than 300 species world-wide. Many are red-coloured and are known as red bugs and some species are called cotton stainers because their feeding activities leave an indelible yellow-brownish stain on cotton crops. A common species in parts of Europe is the firebug, and its genus name Pyrrhocoris and the family name are derived from the Greek roots for fire "pyrrho-" and bug "coris". Members of this family are often confused with, but can be quickly separated from, Lygaeidae by the lack of ocelli (simple eyes) on the top of the head.

The membrane of the forewing has one or two cells from which about 7-8 branching veins emerge that may have branches that fuse together (anastomose) while the main veins reach the margins of the wing. They have three tarsal segments. They can be very difficult to separate from some members of the family Largidae, which also share some of these characters and belong to the same superfamily. Largids tend to have the edge of the pronotum (the top of the first thoracic segment) rounded but the taxonomic feature for separating them is the found only in females; female largids have the sixth visible (actually the seventh) abdominal segment appearing to be split in the middle whereas female pyrrhocorids have this undivided. A few bugs in the family Rhopalidae have similar colours (e.g., Corizus hyoscyami) but they have ocelli, as do lygaeids. The scutellum is small and triangular. The antennae are made up of four segments with the second segment longer than the third. The beak-like mouthpart or rostrum has four segments and tip reaches at least the base of the middle pair of legs. Some species have the wing reduced so that the abdomen is visible from above. More detailed distinguishing features that are usually visible only under a microscope include a much reduced scent gland opening on the mid-thoracic segment. There are three sensory hairs or trichobothria on the abdominal segments 3 to 6 and two such hairs on the seventh segment.

Most species feed on seeds or fruits particularly of plants belonging to the Malvales but a few feed on rotting debris including dead animal matter. A few species are predatory; Raxa nishidai is a predator of another pyrrhocorid, Melamphaus faber while Antilochus coqueberti feeds on other bugs including Dysdercus cingulatus. A few are important crop pests. One species Dysdercus suturellus is well known in the southern cotton growing regions of the United States while Dysdercus cingulatus occurs on cotton in tropical Asia. They damage cotton bolls by staining as well as by cutting the fibres.

The genus Myrmoplasta is found in the African and Oriental regions and is somewhat unique in having highly reduced wings and appearing ant-like or myrmecomorphic. Males and females differ in their foreleg morphology, but such sexual dimorphism is also found in a few other genera.

Gallery

• Dysdercus cingulatus, mating.jpg

  Dysdercus sp., India

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  Red cotton stainer bug, Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand

• Dysdercus Cingulatus-Fabricius - Red cotton stainer bug (2).jpg

  Red cotton stainer bug, Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand

• DSC 6672c.jpg

  Pyrrhocoris apterus on fruit of Malva sylvestris

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  Dindymus rubiginosus a kind of red bug in from East Asia

Genera

There are numerous genera within the family and these include:

2

External links

• Dysdercus suturellus, cotton stainer on the UF / IFAS Featured Creatures Web site
• Illustrated key to Pyrrhocoroidea

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons Data related to Pyrrhocoridae at Wikispecies