Spilostethus hospes

Spilostethus hospes, the darth maul bug, is a species of seed bug in the family Lygaeidae. It is found in Asia, Australasia, and Oceania.[1][2] Its common name is a reference to the Star Wars character Darth Maul, who shares similar markings.

Spilostethus hospes
Spilostethus hospes, darth maul bug
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Heteroptera
Family: Lygaeidae
Subfamily: Lygaeinae
Genus: Spilostethus
Species:
S. hospes
Binomial name
Spilostethus hospes
(Fabricius, 1794)

Ecology

Females tend to be more frequent than males. To date, only one population of Spilostethus hospes has been identified to carry a male-killing endosymbiotic bacterium.[3] This bacteria has been shown to only kill males in this population, which may be one of the reasons that show a higher frequency of females.

References

  1. "Spilostethus hospes". GBIF. Retrieved 2021-10-06.
  2. Dellapé, Pablo M.; Henry, Thomas J. (2021). "species Spilostethus hospes (Fabricius, 1794)". Lygaeoidea Species File. Retrieved 2021-10-05.
  3. Burdfield-Steel, Emily R.; Shuker, David M. (2014). "The evolutionary ecology of the Lygaeidae". Ecology and Evolution. 4 (11): 2278–2301. doi:10.1002/ece3.1093. PMC 4201440. PMID 25360267.
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