Abstract
The Lygaeidae (sensu lato) are a highly successful family of true bugs found worldwide, yet many aspects of their ecology and evolution remain obscure or unknown. While a few species have attracted considerable attention as model species for the study of insect physiology, it is only relatively recently that biologists have begun to explore aspects of their behavior, life history evolution, and patterns of intra- and interspecific ecological interactions across more species. As a result though, a range of new phenotypes and opportunities for addressing current questions in evolutionary ecology has been uncovered. For example, researchers have revealed hitherto unexpectedly rich patterns of bacterial symbiosis, begun to explore the evolutionary function of the family's complex genitalia, and also found evidence of parthenogenesis. Here we review our current understanding of the biology and ecology of the group as a whole, focusing on several of the best-studied characteristics of the group, including aposematism (i.e., the evolution of warning coloration), chemical communication, sexual selection (especially, postcopulatory sexual selection), sexual conflict, and patterns of host-endosymbiont coevolution. Importantly, many of these aspects of lygaeid biology are likely to interact, offering new avenues for research, for instance into how the evolution of aposematism influences sexual selection. With the growing availability of genomic tools for previously “non-model” organisms, combined with the relative ease of keeping many of the polyphagous species in the laboratory, we argue that these bugs offer many opportunities for behavioral and evolutionary ecologists.
Highlights
Insects of the family Lygaeidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera), commonly known as seed bugs, ground bugs or milkweed bugs, are found on every continent except Antarctica and are one of the three largest families within the Heteroptera
Given that work is underway to sequence the O. fasciatus genome, and much of our basic knowledge of lygaeid biology has come from studies of this species, it provides a valuable opportunity to explore the molecular mechanisms underpinning evolutionary ecology
Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
Summary
Insects of the family Lygaeidae (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera), commonly known as seed bugs, ground bugs or milkweed bugs, are found on every continent except Antarctica and are one of the three largest families (loosely defined; see below) within the Heteroptera. In many cases of apparent trophic egg production across insects, it is currently not clear whether unfertilized eggs are deliberately produced or are the result of other factors such as sperm limitation (Perry and Roitberg 2006) It is not clear whether trophic eggs, if deliberate, are produced as a form of offspring provisioning or are instead produced to limit sibling cannibalism. In order for this to be the case, we would expect these “trophic” eggs to be less costly to produce than a viable egg. to the authors’ knowledge, there are currently no studies that compare the structure and chemical composition of unhatched eggs and viable ones in the Lygaeidae. As with all hemimetabolous insects, the Lygaeidae do not undergo complete metamorphosis during their life cycle,
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