''Hotea'' is a genus of African and Asian shield-backed bugs belonging to the family
Scutelleridae
Scutelleridae is a family of true bugs. They are commonly known as jewel bugs or metallic shield bugs due to their often brilliant coloration. They are also known as shield-backed bugs due to the enlargement of the thoracic scutellum into a con ...
.
Species
* ''
Hotea acuta
''Hotea'' is a genus of African and Asian shield-backed bugs belonging to the family Scutelleridae.
Species
* ''Hotea acuta'' Stål, 1865
* ''Hotea circumcincta'' Walker, 1867
* ''Hotea curculionoides'' (Herrich-Schäffer, 1836)
* ''Hotea de ...
'' Stål, 1865
* ''
Hotea circumcincta'' Walker, 1867
* ''
Hotea curculionoides'' (Herrich-Schäffer, 1836)
* ''
Hotea denticulata'' Stål, 1865
* ''
Hotea gambiae'' (Westwood, 1837)
* ''
Hotea nigrorufa'' Walker, 1867
* ''
Hotea redtenbacheri''
* ''
Hotea subfasciata'' (Westwood, 1837
Description
Male jewel bugs of the genus Hotea possess an unusually large, spiky, and heavily sclerotized genitalia. They are used in a mating practice known as
traumatic insemination
Traumatic insemination, also known as hypodermic insemination, is the mating practice in some species of invertebrates in which the male pierces the female's abdomen with his aedeagus and injects his sperm through the wound into her abdominal c ...
, a result of evolutionary sexual conflict. Male Hotea bugs tear through the female reproductive ducts to deposit sperm, inflicting substantial damage to the female in the process.
[Göran Arnqvist & Locke Rowe (2005)]
Sexual conflict
Princeton University Press. p. 129. .
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q20720713
Scutelleridae