About Tectocoris diophthalmus (Thunberg, 1783)
Tectocoris diophthalmus, commonly known as the hibiscus harlequin bug or cotton harlequin bug, is the only species in the genus Tectocoris and the subfamily Tectocorinae. This is a brightly colored, convex, rounded shield-shaped bug with a metallic sheen, and it grows to around 20 millimeters in length. Adult females are mostly orange, while adult males have a mix of blue and red or orange; nymphs are typically metallic green and purple. This species has quite variable coloration, and experiments indicate that this color variation may reduce predation by birds, especially on immature individuals. Because of this extreme color variation, different taxonomists have described this species as multiple new species at least 16 times since 1781. Some of these extra, unnecessary names remained in use until 2006, when it was finally confirmed that all of these described forms were just different color variants of a single species. The hibiscus harlequin bug is common in Eastern Australia, New Guinea, and several Pacific Islands, where it lives in habitats ranging from urban areas to agricultural lands and coastal regions. Hibiscus harlequin bugs feed on many species in the plant family Malvaceae, including cultivated cotton. They also feed on flowers of the Illawarra flame tree, and on saplings of Grevillea and bottlebrush. They pierce the stems of young shoots to suck sap from the plant. Females lay clusters of eggs around the stems, most commonly of hibiscus plants, and then guard the eggs until they hatch.
