Diet

• Adults and nymphs: Primarily fungus-feeding, using their piercing-sucking mouthparts to obtain nutrients from fungi and fungal growth associated with decaying wood.

• They are commonly associated with dead and decomposing wood, where fungi provide an important food resource.

Range

• Neuroctenus is a genus of flat bugs (Family Aradidae) in the Subfamily Mezirinae.

• The genus has a broad distribution, with species occurring primarily in tropical and subtropical regions, particularly in the Americas.

• Around Zihua, Neuroctenus would be expected to be occasional to locally common in suitable habitat, particularly where there is abundant dead wood, fallen branches and decaying vegetation.

Habitat

• Strongly associated with dead, decaying and fungus-infected wood.

• Adults and nymphs may be found beneath loose bark, inside cracks in dead branches, on rotting logs and among decomposing plant material.

• Fallen branches in humid forest environments can provide particularly suitable habitat.

• In seasonally dry regions such as the area around Zihua, searching beneath fallen logs, bark and shaded dead wood is likely to be more productive than looking on living vegetation.

Size

• Neuroctenus species are generally small to medium-sized flat bugs, usually several millimetres in length.

• They have the characteristic extremely flattened body of Aradidae, allowing them to occupy narrow spaces beneath bark.

• Colouration is generally brown, reddish-brown, greyish or nearly black, providing excellent camouflage against bark and decaying wood.

• The body surface is often roughly textured or sculptured, further contributing to their cryptic appearance.