G.G.E. Scudder. 1998. Heteroptera in Smith, I.M., and G.G.E. Scudder, eds. Assessment of species diversity in the Montane Cordillera Ecozone. Burlington: Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network, 1998.

HETEROPTERA

G.G.E. Scudder

GENERAL BIOLOGY

All of the aquatic and semiaquatic Heteroptera are predators, so may have a key role near the top of both the lentic and lotic food chain. All have special adaptations for either living on or in water, and some are especially adapted to live in extremely saline inland waters (Scudder 1976).

Most terrestrial Heteroptera are phytophagous, and a number are pests of crops (Beirne 1972), coniferous (Ruth et al. 1982) or deciduous trees or fruit crops (Kelton 1982). However, others have been useful in the biological weed control, but this has not always been successful (de Vol and Goeden 1973).

A number of the terrestrial taxa are predaceous, and the bed-bugs (Cimicidae) and assassin bugs (Reduviidae) suck the blood of warm-blooded vertebrates. However, those occurring in the Montane Cordillera are not serious vectors of disease. A few of the terrestrial predators are useful in biological control (Burgess 1982; Perkins and Watson 1972; Culliney 1986), those in the orchard industry being especially important (Fields and Beirne 1973).