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Abstract

Resin bugs are a group of reduviids which collect viscous substances from plants with their legs and use them as an aid in prey capture and to protect eggs against predators. We designed the present investigation to examine aspects of the natural history and biology of Heniartes stali (Wygodzinsky) in association with Rubus cf. adenotrichos (Schltdl.), an Andean wild blackberry covered with trichomes that secrete a sticky fluid. We surveyed the occupancy of this plant by the bugs in five localities in the Venezuelan Andes and the sticky material source was determined. Nymphs, and in minor proportion, adults were frequently found on the blackberry plants. We also document the harvesting and handling of this exudate by H. stali under laboratory conditions. The bugs invested several hours to gather the sticky material using the forelegs, transferred it to the midlegs, and subsequently stored it in a conspicuously hairy area of the hindlegs. Portions of the accumulated material were smeared on the genital area using the hind tibiae for coating the eggs during oviposition. We also observed the transfer from the hind to the forelegs. Our observations reveal a previously unsuspected interaction between Heniartes and trichome-bearing plants in the Neotropics. In addition, we report hitherto unknown substantial differences in the way resinous fluids are handled by Heniartes, in contrast with reports of other Apiomerini.

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