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Prytanes sp.
A small Seed Bug, 5 mm long of the Family Rhyparochromidae (which was previously a subfamily of the Lygaeidae). These are called Dirt Colored Seed Bugs. While this one seems to have raptorial front legs with strong spines on the underside of the femora (see pictures 2 and 3), the beak is not strongly sclerotized and this is not a predator. It has been theorized that the strongly developed femora are used to help them muscle seeds around. A new theory based on studying the interaction of live bugs proposes that the enlarged legs are used for intra-sexual aggression. (https://www.jstor.org/stable/25085936?se...).
Garden lights, semi-rural residential area, San Cristobal de Las Casas, Chiapas, Mexico, 2,200 meters.
https://elp.tamu.edu/ipm/bugs/true-bugs/... https://bugguide.net/node/view/1169609/b... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prytanes_(...)
Spotted on Oct 31, 2018
Submitted on Nov 2, 2018
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