Jadera haematoloma

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Jadera haematoloma
Red Shouldered Bug, Ant, Mum.jpg
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Heteroptera
Family: Rhopalidae
Genus: Jadera
Species:
J. haematoloma
Binomial name
Jadera haematoloma

Jadera haematoloma, the red-shouldered bug, goldenrain-tree bug or soapberry bug is a species of true bug that lives throughout the United States and south to northern South America. [1] It feeds on seeds within the soapberry plant family, Sapindaceae, and is known to rapidly adapt to feeding on particular hosts. The species is often confused with boxelder bugs and lovebugs.

Contents

Description

Jadera haematoloma are typically 9.5–13.5 millimetres (0.37–0.53 in) long and 3–4 millimetres (0.12–0.16 in) wide, though the short-winged form (brachyptera) usually is 7–8 millimetres (0.28–0.31 in) long. Color is mostly blackish (sometimes, bluish grey, or purplish, or bright red immediately after molting) except for red eyes, "shoulders" (lateral margins of pronotum), and costal margins and dorsal part of abdomen. Nymphs are mostly red with a black pronotum and wingpads. All appendages are blackish. [1]

Distribution

For most of the twentieth century, little was known about the range of J. haematoloma. Reports showed breeding populations to be present in Florida, Kansas, Colorado, Texas, Arizona, California, Alabama, Illinois, North Carolina, Missouri, Iowa, as well as Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Royal Oak, Michigan. [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] A study published in 1987 showed the distribution of J. haematoloma and "revealed the close correspondence of records for the bug with the ranges of the soapberry plants that serve as the insects native hosts." [7] In addition, isolated examples have been reported as far north as Minnesota. Outside of the United States, J. haematoloma is found south through Central America and the West Indies to Colombia and Venezuela. [8] [9]

Although native to the New World, the discovery of J. haematoloma populations in Taiwan in 2012 marked the first finding of the species and genus in Asia. [10]

Evolution

Two populations in southern Florida are particularly notable. The more southern of these two populations feeds on the seeds of a native host vine balloon vine ( Cardiospermum corindum ). This vine produces capsules of a fairly uniform size, which adult J. haematoloma feed on by inserting their mouthparts (beak) through the capsule's exterior and into the interior seeds. In the mid-1950s, a related southeast Asian tree, the Taiwanese Flamegold ( Koelreuteria elegans ), was introduced as an ornamental plant. It escaped domestication and naturalized. Significantly, the Flamegold was colonized by J. haematoloma, though its capsules are smaller and the seeds less deeply embedded than in the balloon vine.

In a seminal paper published in the scientific journal Genetica in 2001, it was shown evolution had taken place in this colonizing population of J. haematoloma on the Flamegold in a period of only a few decades. [11] They showed that the beak length, which in the ancestral type was about 70% the length of the body, was only about 50% the body length in the insects that had colonized the non-native tree, though the size of the bugs themselves had not changed. In addition, they found that: [12]

...derived bugs mature 25% more rapidly, are 20% more likely to survive, and lay almost twice as many eggs when reared on seeds of the introduced host rather than those of the native host. Fecundity is also twice as great as that of ancestral type bugs reared on either host, while egg mass is 20% smaller.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemiptera</span> Order of insects often called true bugs

Hemiptera is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from 1 mm (0.04 in) to around 15 cm (6 in), and share a common arrangement of piercing-sucking mouthparts. The name "true bugs" is often limited to the suborder Heteroptera.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Directional selection</span> Type of genetic selection favoring one extreme phenotype

In population genetics, directional selection is a type of natural selection in which one extreme phenotype is favored over both the other extreme and moderate phenotypes. This genetic selection causes the allele frequency to shift toward the chosen extreme over time as allele ratios change from generation to generation. The advantageous extreme allele will increase in frequency among the population as a consequence of survival and reproduction differences among the different present phenotypes in the population. The allele fluctuations as a result of directional selection can be independent of the dominance of the allele, and in some cases if the allele is recessive, it can eventually become fixed in the population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boxelder bug</span> Species of insect

The boxelder bug, also called box bug, maple bug or, inaccurately, box beetle, is a species of true bug native to eastern North America. The western boxelder bug Boisea rubrolineata is a relative of this species and is native to western North America. Boxelder bugs are found primarily on boxelder trees, as well as on maple and ash trees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Western conifer seed bug</span> Species of true bug

The western conifer seed bug, sometimes abbreviated as WCSB, is a species of true bug (Hemiptera) in the family Coreidae. It is native to North America west of the Rocky Mountains but has in recent times expanded its range to eastern North America, to include Ontario, Québec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Michigan, Maine, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Ohio, Indiana, and Wisconsin, and has become an accidental introduced species in parts of Europe and Argentina.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coreidae</span> Family of insects

Coreidae is a large family of predominantly sap-sucking insects in the Hemipteran suborder Heteroptera. The name "Coreidae" derives from the genus Coreus, which derives from the Ancient Greek κόρις (kóris) meaning bedbug.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coreoidea</span> Superfamily of true bugs

Coreoidea is a superfamily of true bugs in the infraorder Pentatomomorpha which includes leaf-footed bugs and allies. There are more than 3,300 described species in Coreoidea.

<i>Jadera</i> Genus of true bugs

Jadera is a genus of true bugs in the soapberry bug subfamily. Members of this genus are only found in the Americas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Serinethinae</span> Subfamily of true bugs

Serinethinae is a subfamily of the hemipteran family Rhopalidae, sometimes known as soapberry bugs. They are brightly colored seed-eaters, comprising three genera and about sixty-five species. These bugs are specialists on plants in the soapberry family (Sapindaceae), which includes maples, balloon vines, and soapberry trees, among others. Seeds of the plants are the main resource used by adults for reproduction and nymphs for growth and development. Their diversity is the result of an adaptive radiation on these plants, who have co-evolved defenses such as having their seeds contain cyanide, fly out, or be contained in hollow chambers.

<i>Adelphocoris lineolatus</i> Species of true bug

Adelphocoris lineolatus, is commonly known as the Lucerne bug or the alfalfa plant bug, and belongs to the family Miridae. It is an agricultural pest causing vast amounts of damage to numerous crops, but primarily to alfalfa crops around the globe.

<i>Coreus marginatus</i> Species of true bug

Coreus marginatus is a herbivorous species of true bug in the family Coreidae. It is commonly known as the dock bug as it feeds on the leaves and seeds of docks and sorrels. It is a medium-sized speckled brown insect, between 13 and 15 mm long as an adult, with a broad abdomen. It occurs throughout Europe, Asia and northern Africa. It is often found in dense vegetation, such as hedgerows and wasteland.

<i>Rhopalus subrufus</i> Species of true bug

Rhopalus subrufus is a species of scentless plant bugs belonging to the family Rhopalidae, subfamily Rhopalinae. It is found in most of Europe, but not Ireland and northern Scandinavia.

<i>Boisea</i> Genus of true bugs

Boisea is the least speciose genus of the soapberry bug subfamily. Members of this genus are found in North America, India, and Africa. Unlike other serinethine genera, the distribution of Boisea is very patchy; it is speculated that its highly vicariant range is relictual of what was previously a much vaster, continuous range. The most well-known species of this genus are the North American boxelder bugs and African Boisea fulcrata. The US species mainly feed on the seeds of maple trees and are occasional nuisance pests around homes.

<i>Leptocoris</i> Genus of true bugs

Leptocoris is the largest genus of bugs in the subfamily Serinethinae. Species in this genus are distributed throughout Africa, South Asia, and Oceania and are thought to have originated in Africa, where the greatest diversity of Leptocoris species are found.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scott Carroll (biologist)</span> American biologist and ecologist

Scott P. Carroll is an American evolutionary biologist and ecologist affiliated with the University of California, Davis and the University of Queensland. Carroll's main interests are in exploring contemporary evolution to better understand adaptive processes and how those processes can be harnessed to develop solutions to evolutionary challenges in food production, medical care and environmental conservation. With Charles W. Fox, Carroll edited Conservation Biology: Evolution in Action, a book published by Oxford University Press in 2008 in which contributors, across the field of evolutionary biology and conservation, apply evolutionary thinking to concepts and practices in conservation biology, an area of research sometimes called evolutionary ecology. Carroll is founding director of the Institute for Contemporary Evolution.

<i>Stictopleurus punctatonervosus</i> Species of true bug

Stictopleurus punctatonervosus is a species of scentless plant bugs belonging to the family Rhopalidae, subfamily Rhopalinae.

<i>Stictopleurus crassicornis</i> Species of true bug

Stictopleurus crassicornis is a species of scentless plant bugs belonging to the family Rhopalidae, subfamily Rhopalinae.

Stictopleurus punctiventris is a species in the family Rhopalidae, in the order Hemiptera . The distribution range of Stictopleurus punctiventris includes Central America and North America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Niesthreini</span> Tribe of true bugs

Niesthreini is a tribe of scentless plant bugs in the family Rhopalidae. There are at least 2 genera and about 17 described species in Niesthreini.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harmostini</span> Tribe of true bugs

Harmostini is a tribe of scentless plant bugs in the family Rhopalidae. There are at least two genera and about eight described species in Harmostini.

<i>Harmostes reflexulus</i> Species of true bug

Harmostes reflexulus is a species of scentless plant bug in the family Rhopalidae. It is found in the Caribbean Sea, Central America, North America, and South America.

References

  1. 1 2 Mead FW, Fasulo TR. Scentless plant bugs, Jadera spp. Featured Creatures. July 2007. Last accessed 2008-08-08
  2. Van Duzee; E. P. (1917). "Catalogue of the Hemiptera of America north of Mexico excepting the Aphididae, Coccidae, and Aleurodidae" (PDF). University of California Publications, Technical Bulletins, Entomology. 2: i–xiv, 1–902. doi: 10.5962/bhl.title.29381 . hdl:2027/mdp.39015048441029.
  3. Blatchley, W.S. (1926). Heteroptera or True Bugs of Eastern North America, with Especial Reference to the Faunas of Indiana and Florida. Indianapolis: The Nature Publishing Company. p. 1166.
  4. Brimley, C.S. (1938). The Insects of North Carolina, Being a List of the Insects of North Carolina and Their Near Relatives. Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Agriculture. p. 560.
  5. Froeschner, Richard C. (1944). "Contributions to a synopsis of the Hemiptera of Missouri, pt. III. Lygaeidae, Pyrrhocoridae, Piesmidae, Tingididae, Enicocephalidae, Phymatidae, Ploriaridae, Reduviidae, Nabidae". American Midland Naturalist. 31 (3): 638–683. doi:10.2307/2421413. JSTOR   2421413.
  6. Slater, J.A.; R.M. Baranowski (1978). How to Know True Bugs. Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown. p. 256.
  7. Carroll, S.P.; E. Loye (1987). "Specialization of Jadera species (Hemiptera: Rhopalidae) on the seeds of Sapindaceae (Sapindales), and coevolutionary responses of defense and attack". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 80 (3): 373–378. doi:10.1093/aesa/80.3.373.
  8. Hoffman, Richard L.; Steiner, Warren E. (2005). "Jadera haematoloma, Another Insect on its Way North (Heteroptera: Rhopalidae)". Banisteria. 26. Virginia Natural History Society: 7–10. hdl:10088/24685. ISSN   1066-0712.
  9. Carroll, S.P. (1988): Contrasts in reproductive ecology between temperate and tropical populations of Jadera haematoloma, a mate-guarding Hemipteran (Rhopalidae). Entomological Society of America, 81, 54-63.
  10. Jing-Fu Tsai; Yi-Xuan Hsieh; Dávid Rédei (2013). "The soapberry bug, Jadera haematoloma (Insecta, Hemiptera, Rhopalidae): First Asian record, with a review of bionomics". ZooKeys (297): 1–41. doi: 10.3897/zookeys.297.4695 . PMC   3689129 . PMID   23794880.
  11. Scott P. Carroll; Hugh Dingle; Thomas R. Famula; CharlesW. Fox (2001). "Genetic architecture of adaptive differentiation in evolving host races of the soapberry bug, Jadera haematoloma" (PDF). Genetica . Contemporary Issues in Genetics and Evolution. 112–113: 257–272. doi:10.1007/978-94-010-0585-2_16. ISBN   978-94-010-3889-8. PMID   11838769.
  12. Carroll, S.P., Klassen, S.P. & Dingle, H (1998): Rapidly evolving adaptations to host ecology and nutrition in the soapberry bug. Evolution and Ecology, 12, 955-968.