Heteropteran

Heteropteran occurs to any insect belonging to the Heteroptera order, which includes the so-called true bugs. (Some authors refer to the Hemiptera as a single order, while others consider heteropterans and homopterans to be suborders of the Hemiptera.) An X-shaped pattern on the back, created by the wings at rest, distinguishes this vast group of insects, which includes over 40,000 species. The heteropterans are distinguished from all other insect orders by a combination of sucking mouthparts suited to penetrate plant or animal tissues and a hardened gula (underside of the head). 

The majority of Heteroptera species are terrestrial, although a few are aquatic. Some species that feed on plant fluids can be harmful to cultivated crops. Other predatory species assist people by eliminating certain pests. 

(image will be uploaded soon)

Heteropterans can also function as disease vectors. The water-dwelling Hydrocorisae (water boatmen, backswimmers, water scorpions, giant water bugs, and creeping water bugs) the surface-swimming and shore-dwelling Amphibicorisae (water striders, marsh and water treaders, shore bugs, and velvet water bugs) and the land-dwelling Geocorisae (geocorisae, a large group of land bugs) (plant bugs, bedbugs, assassin bugs, anthocorid bugs, lace bugs, ambush bugs, stinkbugs, burrower bugs, stilt bugs, and firebugs).

Heteropteran Insects

In the order Hemiptera, the Heteroptera are a group of around 40,000 insect species. They're sometimes referred to as "real bugs," but the term usually refers to the Hemiptera as a whole. Because heteropterans are most consistently and generally referred to as "bugs" among the Hemiptera, "typical bugs" could be a more clear alternative. Most species have forewings with both membranous and rigid parts (called hemelytra) members of the ancestral sub-group Enicocephalomorpha have fully membranous wings. "Heteroptera" is Greek for "various wings."

In modern classifications, the term "Heteroptera" is used in two different ways. It is generally classified as a suborder of the Hemiptera order in Linnean nomenclature, where it can be paraphyletic or monophyletic depending on its delimitation. 

(image will be uploaded soon)

It is classified as an unranked clade inside the Prosorrhyncha clade, which is part of the Hemiptera clade in phylogenetic nomenclature. This is because the Coleorrhyncha is "living fossil" cousins of the conventional Heteroptera, near enough to be grouped in with them.

(image will be uploaded soon)

Heteropteran Classification

Rainfall, host plant development, and internal cycles all influence heteropteran populations in tropical regions, where they are most numerous. Seasonal temperature changes affect heteropterans in temperate locations in addition to these factors. In temperate climates, heteropteran typically generates one or two generations per year. The latent period, which differs from species to species, is influenced to some extent by the species' food supply. 

(image will be uploaded soon)

A Heteroptera that feeds on perennial plants, for example, often lays eggs or on the host plant that stays dormant all through the winter. Some entomologists classify all insects with piercing-sucking mouthparts as members of the Hemiptera (also known as Rhyngota or Rhynchota), which is divided into two suborders, Homoptera and Heteroptera, based on the texture and resting position of the forewings, as well as the apparent origin of the beak. Other entomologists believe that, despite the closeness of the link between these two groups, the relationship is of superorder importance, and that the differences between the two groups are of sufficient significance to merit full ordinal rank for each.

Size Range and Diversity

Heteropterans, like any other biologically successful group of creatures, are abundant and have adapted to a wide range of environments. They have invaded environments ranging from dry ground to water, with lengths ranging from more than 100 mm (3.9 inches) to less than 1 mm (0.039 inches). Heteropterans are the only bug species that spend their lives on oceans far from land, and they are one of the few insect groups with aquatic adults capable of getting enough oxygen from the water. Blood from animals ranging from mites to humans is used to feed some heteropterans. 

(image will be uploaded soon)

Others feed on the sap of a wide range of plants, including enormous redwoods and algae. Some feed on surface fluids (e.g. honey), while others pierce tissues to feed on sap or blood, and yet others eat dry seeds. Many species dwell on open areas and avoid predators by running, flying, or keeping immobile. Others actively burrow into the earth or seek animal nests, while others look for food and shelter in natural crevices.

Distinguishing Features

Heteropteran Legs

To serve specific functions, the legs can be changed in a variety of ways. Legs can be made longer or wider to help in camouflage. The hind femurs and the leg muscles that go with them are sometimes suited for jumping. For swimming, the middle and rear legs can be flattened, or their effective width can be enhanced by a marginal fringe of long hairs that spread during the power stroke and flatten against the leg during the recovery stroke. The tibia and tarsus have developed to fold snugly against a thicker femur when the front legs are specialised for grasping prey. Many species' males have thickened or spined hind legs to help them grip females during mating. 

Because they lack mandibulate mouthparts, many Heteroptera has a comblike set of hairs on the end of the front tibia through which the antennae can be slid to clean them. Long, folding claws are found in several genera (Nabidae, Reduviidae) that live hung sloth-like from the underside of spider webs.

(image will be uploaded soon)

Heteropteran Thoracic Features

Each of the thorax's three somites has a pair of legs, while the mesothorax and metathorax each have a pair of wings. The pronotum is the prominent region of the thorax between the head and the wings (i.e., the expanded top part of the prothorax). The scutellum is a triangular, often U-shaped projection from behind the pronotum's rear border. There may be a groove or fold along the scutellum's side margins (the frenum). The inner edges of the front wings hook onto the frenum in repose. There may be a pore (ostiole) on each side of the metathorax that serves as an outlet for a highly volatile, repellant fluid released by internal smell glands. An elevated ridge (peritreme) may surround the ostiole, which is thus surrounded by a large, roughened evaporative area.

Heteropteran Mouthparts

The piercing-sucking mouthparts are made up of four styles, which are modified mandibles and maxillae, and a troughlike, four-segmented labium. The median surface of each of the hairlike maxillae features two major grooves, as well as lesser grooves and ridges. The two major grooves form the left and right halves of two independent tubular canals that extend the length of the maxillae when brought together and locked by the minor grooves and ridges. The anterior canal is the feeding tube, through which a sucking pump draws fluids, the posterior canal is the salivary canal, via which digestive and other fluids may enter a food source. These fluids stun or kill the prey, prevent blood clotting, and start the digestion process.

(image will be uploaded soon)

Slender mandibles with serrated tips run along the sides of the maxillary styles. The mandibles and maxillae alternately move into the food tissue until the maxillae reach the proper fluid, at which point ingestion starts.

Heteropteran Wings

In heteropteran wings, the texture of each pair of wings is unique. The mesothoracic or forewings (also known as hemelytra, elytra, or tegmina) are stiff and have an oblique line that separates the leathery basal half from the membranous apical half, whereas the metathoracic or hindwings are thin, delicate membranes with an oblique line that separates the leathery basal half from the membranous apical. The forewings are folded over the hindwings when the butterfly is at rest. Heteropteran wings approach or extend beyond the apex of the abdomen in macropterous individuals with normal-sized wings.

(image will be uploaded soon)

Heteropterans Distribution

Heteropterans are most common in the tropics, declining northward to the Arctic Circle and southerly almost to the Antarctic Circle in terms of both numbers and species. Different species may be found on every major landmass, and migration to new habitats can be facilitated by natural forces (e.g. wind, birds, floating trash) or by people. Although heteropterans have been spread all over the world, only a few species have established themselves in numerous countries. Some water striders (Gerridae) are unique among insects in that they live on the open ocean between 40° north and 40° south latitude and may not return to land for multiple generations.

Reproduction

Reproduction occurs when spermatozoa stored in specific receptacles in the female fertilise eggs as they move through the female ducts. The bat bugs are a remarkable exception to this rule (Polyctenidae). In this instance, shellless, yolkless eggs are fertilised in the female ovariole and remain there, while the growing embryo is fed by specific maternal cells via a placenta-like structure made up of tissues from both the parent and the offspring. Only after reaching an advanced stage of development does the bat insect nymph depart its mother's body.

(image will be uploaded soon)

Heteropteran eggs are usually moderate to large compared to adults, with a smooth to finely sculpted surface, occasionally with a colour pattern and sometimes with thin protrusion. The embryo can grow into a free-living, sexually immature, wingless nymph if the egg contains enough nutrition. The shell of an egg becomes transparent just before it hatches, revealing the nymph's segmentation and brightly coloured organs (e.g. eyes).

(image will be uploaded soon)

Based on the variety, eggs might be deposited individually or in clusters. Plant-eating species eggs are often attached to a surface or implanted into the tissues of a chosen host plant. Predatory forms eggs are frequently deposited near prey. Aquatic bugs can lay their eggs on the water's surface or below it. Some insects have unusual behaviours, such as glueing eggs in a big cluster to the back of a heteropteran male (Belostomatidae) or the body of a crayfish (Corixidae).

Sound Production and Reception

Heteropterans are small in size, they cannot produce the conspicuous sounds typical of katydids, crickets, and cicadas. Sonification (also known as stridulation) is a frequent sound produced by specialised body parts in heteropterans, but it is rarely loud enough to draw human attention. Heteropterans make noises by rubbing one roughened member against a roughened body surface. A strigose region, strigil, file, or rasp is a sequence of minute, closely-set, parallel furrows or ridges that can be seen on both roughened portions. The second half of the mechanism is sometimes made up of a succession of minute pegs (called a plectrum), setigerous tubercles, or an upturned edge of a sclerite (hard body plate). 

The plectrum can be found on either a mobile or stationary body part. A species' stridulation can occur in one or both sexes, as well as nymphs. Some noises appear to be associated with courtship. The existence and shape of sound-producing devices aid in Heteropteran classification. The whirring or buzzing noise common to heteropteran flying is generated by the quickly moving flight mechanism, although many contain comparable sound-producing components.

Feeding

Heteropterans are primarily single insects. Plant-feeding (phytophagous) nymphs, for example, may stay together for a brief period after hatching, clinging to the shells of the eggs from which they hatched. Most predatory heteropterans, on the other hand, come across their prey by chance, and dispersion enhances individual chances of locating prey and avoiding other predatory heteropterans in this case. A sudden disappearance or collapse of a food supply is usually the cause of apparently coordinated migrations reported for chinch bugs.

(image will be uploaded soon)

Heteropteran Habitats

The independence of aquatic Heteropteran from atmospheric oxygen varies.  Nonswimmers (Nepidae) submerge just below the water's surface and breathe through a narrow, terminal breathing tube that breaks the surface layer. Some swimming families (Corixidae, Notonectidae) dive deep but must surface to replace air supplies stored in chambers created by folded wings on body surfaces or entrapped by rows of thick hairs folded against the body. 

To overcome the buoyancy of the new air supply, these insects swim, grasping underwater objects to anchor themselves. Heteropterans with air storage chambers are unaffected by dissolved oxygen in the water, allowing them to live in warm springs or dirty waters that are nearly empty of oxygen. Another family (Naucoridae) comprises animals that dwell entirely under the ocean's surface and may acquire oxygen from dissolved oxygen in the surrounding water. Water protects its occupants from cold temperature extremes, allowing aquatic animals to engage in the year-round activity.

(image will be uploaded soon)

Terrestrial heteropteran species are more numerous than aquatic or semiaquatic species, and they have a diverse range of behaviours and life cycles. Some species prefer open places such as crevices and the underside of foliage, rocks, logs, and loose bark, while others prefer shaded locations such as crevices and the underside of foliage, rocks, logs, and loose bark. Some species that are active at night hide exclusively during the day, whereas others (such as the Aradidae) dwell in hidden habitats and only depart if the environment becomes unsuitable.

Conclusion

Heteropteran refers to any insect belonging to the Heteroptera order, which includes the so-called true bugs. The majority of Heteroptera species are terrestrial, although a few are aquatic. Some species that feed on plant fluids can be harmful to cultivated crops. Heteroptera is a group of insects with piercing-sucking mouthparts. Heteropterans are the only bug species that spend their lives on oceans far from land. They are one of the few insect groups with aquatic adults capable of getting oxygen from the water.