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| Red bugs - Melamphaus faber (as far as I can make out)- of the Pyrrhocoridae family, feasting on fruits of Sterculia foetida |
Flat shaped, and seeming to be permanently conjoined, these bugs are the same family as the cotton stainer bugs of the Dysdercus genus. Those bugs leave a red/yellow stain on cotton, as well as cut the strands, which basically makes the cotton useless for our human industrial use I guess.
I suppose they are all cousins, but I don't think this one is that one. There are supposedly some 300 types of these, with different kinds of markings. Uff! Now I need to peer at these things more closely as well.
In the meantime, the bugs in question were of course having a jolly feast of wild olive over ripe goo.
I suppose they are all cousins, but I don't think this one is that one. There are supposedly some 300 types of these, with different kinds of markings. Uff! Now I need to peer at these things more closely as well.
In the meantime, the bugs in question were of course having a jolly feast of wild olive over ripe goo.
Hi there! Where in Chennai did you exactly see them? Adyar area? I'm curious about them for sometime now. Please tell me how you narrowed down its identification to Melamphaus faber. Any specific characteristics? Quite a nice pic this is
ReplyDeleteHi Karthik - If I remember right, it was just by visual similarity that I chose the tentative id. They were seen in the compound of the erstwhile The School, if my memory serves me right.
DeleteHi I would like to know what tree / fruit it is
ReplyDeleteHi. It is the Wild Olive/ Java Olive. Sterculia foetida
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