Plant-insect-microbe-interactions
Guides
Dysdercus concinnus
pale red bug, Turk's cap red bug
Dysdercus concinnus is a red bug in the family Pyrrhocoridae, commonly known as the pale red bug or Turk's cap red bug. It is a significant pest of cotton, feeding on developing bolls and deteriorating seed and fiber quality. The species exhibits notable sexual dimorphism in flight capability: males retain flight throughout life and become facultative migrants using hunger as a migration signal, while females undergo wing muscle histolysis at the reproductive stage, becoming permanently flightless. The species has been extensively studied in the context of transgenic crop impacts, showing that diet (transgenic vs. non-transgenic cotton) and sex influence gut microbial diversity and community structure.