Hotea

Hotea
Hotea curculionoides
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Hemiptera
Family:	Scutelleridae
Genus:	Hotea Amyot & Serville, 1843

Hotea is a genus of shield-backed bugs belonging to the family Scutelleridae.

Species

• Hotea acuta 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

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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, 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. ^[2]

References