Hotea

Hotea
Hotea curculionoides
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Clade:	Pancrustacea
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.

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

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.