An Illusion of Assortatiye Mating in Dysdercus Poecilus (Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoridae)

ABSTRACT

The cotton stainer Dysdercus poecilus shows considerable within-population variation in the size of dark spots on the corium of the fore wings, which makes some individuals appear overall much darker than others. Adults spend much of the time exposed in copula. The author's repeated impression that darker individuals tend to pair with darker, and lighter individuals with lighter, is subjected to a statistical test. This shows no significant departure from randomness. The results do not support a genetic basis for color variation in D. poecilus and in turn call into question the use of such variation in classifying the species into subspecies.