| Latin Name | Observation date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Genus Dysdercus | December 05 2024 | Buket Alue Puteh, Aceh, Indonesia |
The Genus Dysdercus is a group of insects from the Pyrrhocoridae family or better known as cotton-sucking insects, these insects are often found in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, including Asia, Africa and America, the Dysdercus Genus insects have a role in the ecosystem but they also can be a very detrimental pest, this insect will be a threat to cultivated cotton plants and several other types of plants that produce seeds or fleshy fruit.
The main characteristic of Dysdercus is its bright color with several combinations of body colors such as red, orange and black, these striking colors usually function as a protective mechanism to deter predators because they indicate potential toxicity or unpleasant taste, while its body is oval in shape with a long which varies, for example if Dysdercus is small then the size is around 10 millimeters, but if Dysdercus looks bigger then the size is around 20 millimeters, on the insect's head there are two long antennae and it also has compound eyes, and they also have a proboscis which is often used to pierce fruit or plant seeds to suck sap.
from several observations I have made, I often find Dysdercus on biduri plants and they often suck the cotton and sap from the plant, apart from sucking the sap from the cotton plant, they are also predators, but I am still curious about how they can prey on the caterpillars. exceed their body size (you can see this case in the last photo), so their preying actions are still a mystery to me and of course I need to make a lot of efforts to reveal this behavior.
| Camera used | smartphone |
|---|---|
| Lens | - |
| Photography | Genus Dysdercus |
| Location | Buket Alue Puteh |
| Photographer | @lightofhope |
| Link to original | community |
|---|---|
| Link | https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/256491568 |
| Latitude Longitude | Map | |
|---|---|---|
| =5.080479 | =97.46383 | https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=5.0804793232&mlon=97.4638302997 |
