Dysdercus koenigii

The species is a pest of cotton crops, although cotton is not its preferred choice of hosts, as it prefers Alcea rosea and Hibiscus. As each host plant ages and becomes unsuitable, the winged adults migrate to new host plants of the same or different species. While migrating, they often feed on nectar from non-host plants and probe fruits with their rostra (beak-like mouthparts). These fruits are often citrus, perhaps because citrus and cotton are often grown in close proximity.^[2]

The female D. koenigii usually lays three batches of seventy or eighty eggs in damp soil, under plant litter or in crevices.^[3] The eggs are oval and creamy-yellow, and take about six days to hatch. The nymphs pass through five instar stages and become winged adults after fifty to sixty days. The adults survive for a few weeks and there are several generations throughout the year.^[4] The adults and later stage instars feed on immature cotton bolls and on the developing and ripening seed. By their presence in the bolls, they admit fungi such as Eremothecium gossypii which indelibly stains the lint.^[4]