On the Original Feeding Habits of the Hemiptera (Insecta): a Reply to Merrill Sweet

The paper comments upon the hypothesis of Sweet that Heteroptera and, implicitely, Hemiptera as a whole were plant-feeding insects from origin. A number of arguments pro ancestral carnivory in Heteroptera, mostly not used by Sweet, are summarized from the author's studies on egg-systems and feeding structures. Sweet's arguments and way of reasoning in order to support his hypothesis, are subsequently reviewed and criticized. The topics treated refer to: taxonomic frequency of predators and plant-feeders, ancestral habitat and ecological shifts, fossils, presence or absence of the salivary sheath. The present author unaltered upholds his view that Heteroptera, and presumably also Homoptera, arose from carnivorous ancestors.