Evidence for aposematism in the plant bug Lopidea nigridea Uhler (Hemiptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae)

The biology of the plant bug Lopidea nigridea is described, with particular focus on whether this red and black species can be considered aposematic. Lopidea individuals were rejected after attack in 92 of 112 feeding trials involving three of their five most common arthropod predator species. Compared to another syntopic plant bug species, L. nigridea is aggregated in distribution, and individuals are sedentary in their basic daily habits. These life-history features, coupled with the ability to survive most attacks by arthropod predators in the feeding trials, suggest that L. nigridea is protected to some degree by an aposematic defence. How L. nigridea may acquire its distastefulness is discussed, with special attention to host plant relations in L. nigridea and in the genus Lopidea as a whole.