Immature coreid bugs, probably Thasus acuatngulus, form aposematic feeding aggregations on twigs of the legume tree, Pithecellobium dulce, during the dry season in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. Nymphs are bright orange-, yellow, and black, and, if disturbed, individuals of the aggregation pulsate, spray jets of anal fluid into the air, and exude a defensive secretion over the abdominal terga. An aggregation pheromnone, perceived by receptors on the distal segment of each antenna, enables bugs displaced from aggregations to reaggregate. Alarm behavior was never observed when an open bottle of (E)-2-hexenal was held below an aggregation; only mechanical disturbance released the aposematic display. Adults of T. acutangulus are migratory and conspicuously large, but are not aposematically colored. DURING THE DRY SEASON in Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica, conspicuous feeding aggregations of an immature coreid bug, probably Thasus acutangulus, are exposed on twigs of a leguminous tree, Pithecellobium dulce. Each nymph is vividly colored orange, yellow and black, rendered all the more obvious by the compact orientation of several bugs with their heads directed inward and their bodies radiating out
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Aldrich et al. (1978) studied this question.
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