Lyctocoridae

Lyctocoridae range in length from 2 mm to 6 mm. They have tarsi 3-segmented, forewing with a costal fracture and with weakly developed veins in the membrane, laterotergites on all abdominal terga, and male genitalia strongly asymmetrical (left paramere larger than the right).^[2]

Overall they resemble the related family Anthocoridae, but can be distinguished by:

• In males, the left paramere is flat, with a single-sheet form, and without a median sulcus. The phallus is tubular and well visible, with ductus seminis striated transversely and extended apically by a needle-shaped acus.^[4]
• In females, there are genital apophyses in the anterior region of abdominal sternum 7.^[4]

Lyctocoridae are mostly predators of small, soft-bodied arthropods, though L. campestris occasionally feeds on mammal (including human) blood^[2][3] and L. ichikawai is only known to feed on sap of sawtooth oak (Quercus acutissima).^[5] Adults and nymphs have similar diets.^[4]

This family of bugs occurs under tree bark and in decaying plant matter, animal nests and burrows, manure piles, poultry houses, granaries and stored food products.^[2][3]

Lyctocoridae practice traumatic insemination in which the male pierces the female (using the acus of his phallus) between terga 7 and 8 on the right side of her abdomen. The male's sperm migrate through the haemocoel or through specialized structures in the female to the ovaries, then fertilise the eggs within the vitellarium.^[3]

Some species of Lyctocoridae are biological control agents that feed on pest insects. Lyctocoris attack beetle and moth pests in stored food products, and also attack bark beetle pests.^[3]