Diet

• Adults and nymphs: Feed by piercing plant tissues and sucking plant sap, particularly from developing shoots, leaves, flowers and seeds.

• Recorded host plants include cotton (Gossypium herbaceum), Boerhaavia diffusa, coffee (Coffea arabica), Waltheria and four-o'clocks (Mirabilis jalapa). The species is frequently associated with plants in the Nyctaginaceae family.

• As with other coreid bugs, feeding can sometimes cause discolouration, distortion or damage to developing plant tissues, particularly when populations are high.

Range

• Catorhintha selector is a leaf-footed bug (Coreidae) in the subfamily Coreinae, tribe Hypselonotini.

• It has a broad Neotropical and subtropical distribution, with records extending through Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean and parts of North and South America.

• It is occasionally sighted in Zihua, where the warm climate and abundance of suitable vegetation provide appropriate habitat.

Habitat

• Associated with tropical dry forest, tropical deciduous forest, woodland, scrub, forest edges, gardens and disturbed vegetation.

• Adults and nymphs are generally found on shrubs, herbaceous plants and other vegetation, particularly plants producing flowers, seeds or tender new growth.

• Around Zihua, check low vegetation and flowering plants, especially members of the Nyctaginaceae, such as Boerhaavia and Mirabilis.

• Their relatively slender shape and subdued colouration can make them easy to overlook among stems and foliage.

Size

• Adult length: approximately 10–15 mm (0.4–0.6 in).

• Body relatively slender and elongated, with the characteristic form of a coreid.

• Usually brownish or greyish-brown, with subtle contrasting markings.

• The hind tibiae are sulcate (grooved) rather than broadly expanded, an important characteristic of Catorhintha.