| Hotea | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Hotea curculionoides | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Heteroptera |
| Family: | Scutelleridae |
| Genus: | Hotea Amyot & Serville, 1843 |
Hotea is a genus of African and Asian shield-backed bugs belonging to the family Scutelleridae.
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]