Diet

• Most adults and nymphs: Primarily plant-feeding, using piercing-sucking mouthparts to extract juices from leaves, stems, flowers, fruits and developing seeds.

• Feeding habits vary considerably between species. Some are generalist herbivores, while others have highly specific host-plant associations.

• A significant number are zoophytophagous, feeding mainly on plants but also consuming small insects, mites or other soft-bodied arthropods.

Range

• The family is cosmopolitan, occurring on every continent except Antarctica and occupying an enormous variety of terrestrial habitats.

• Around Zihua, Miridae can be expected to be common to very common, particularly in areas with abundant vegetation. The warm tropical climate and diversity of flowering plants provide habitat for a large variety of mirids.

Habitat

• Mirids occur in an extraordinary range of habitats, including tropical rainforest, tropical dry forest, scrub, grassland, wetlands, agricultural fields, orchards, gardens and urban vegetation.

• Most species live directly on or around their host plants.

• Species with specialised host plants may be restricted to particular plant communities, whereas generalist species can occur in many different habitats.

• In tropical regions, flowering plants, shrubs, grasses and young foliage can be especially productive places to search.

Size

• Most Miridae are small insects, generally between about 1.5 and 15 mm in adult length, although some tropical species are considerably larger.

• Body shape varies enormously, from slender and elongate to oval, broad or strongly flattened.

• Colouration ranges from inconspicuous green, brown and grey to striking combinations of red, orange, yellow, black and white.

• The antennae and legs are usually relatively long and slender.