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Dysdercus mimulus
A dark Cotton Stainer with orange lateral wing margins. This is a different species, but with an overlapping distribution, from Dysdercus bimaculatus, spotted on the same night in the same place (see spotting: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/197...). The Cotton Stainers receive their common name because they can transfer fiber-staining microorganisms to cotton bolls. They can be pests of many species including Hybiscus plants and citrus. While supposedly a plant feeding species, this individual is clearly feeding on a small moth, something I haven´t seen reported previously. The third picture is of a different individual, also present that night. Family Pyrrhocoridae.
Came to the lights of a store, Axtla de Terrazas near Xilitla, San Luis Potosí, Mexico.
http://www.americaninsects.net/ht/dysder... http://bugguide.net/node/view/723701/bgi... http://bugguide.net/node/view/723698 http://naturalista.conabio.gob.mx/observ... http://www.backyardnature.net/yucatan/st... See the recent publication by Torsten van de Heyden: An unusual observation: A specimen of Dysdercus mimulus (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae) feeding on a moth. Arquivos Entomoloxicos 15:83-84 (2016).
Spotted on Apr 16, 2015
Submitted on Jan 13, 2016
2 Comments
Thank you Torsten, I am so glad you also thought this was unusual and interesting. Of course I will send you the pictures.
An interesting observation!