The matador bug’s flashy leg-waving isn’t a mating ritual however a predator deterrent, revealing a shocking protection technique shared by a number of insect species and hinting at broader evolutionary patterns.
Walk through the forests of Panama and you might spot an insect that appears to wave at you. Scientists at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) have been examining this behavior for some time. The matador bug (Bitta alipes) carries vivid reddish “flags” on its hind legs and puts on a complex leg-waving display. Why it does this has remained unclear — until now.
An early idea focused on sexual selection: males might wave their flags to attract females. Tests did not support that view. Both males and females waved, and the display did not accompany courtship or competition. That raised a deeper question: if it is not a mating signal, why would such a conspicuous and apparently costly behavior evolve?
Scientists on the Smithsonian Tropical Analysis Institute in Panama found that the matador bug’s hind leg-waving show is greater than only a present — it helps defend it from predators. Credit score: Smithsonian Tropical Analysis Institute
A brand new examine printed in Present Zoology by STRI researchers Connor Evans-Blake, Juliette Rubin and Ummat Somjee provides a solution. These colourful “flags” seem to not entice mates, however to discourage predators. The staff uncovered matador bugs to 2 totally different arthropods: predatory praying mantids and innocent katydids. They recorded practically 3,000 leg waves. The outcomes had been hanging: on common, bugs elevated their waving conduct seven-fold within the presence of mantids, however barely responded to katydids. Much more telling, mantids by no means attacked bugs that had been actively waving.
An Evolutionary Technique Past One Species
The findings present that waving is an anti-predator conduct, deployed particularly when hazard looms. To doc whether or not comparable flag-waving conduct happens in different species throughout the household, researchers used direct observations in Panama and looked for movies on-line. They discovered that no less than 5 associated flag-legged species show comparable waving behaviors, hinting at a broader evolutionary technique amongst these plant-feeding bugs.
Matador bug, Bitta alipes performing the flag-waving conduct within the presence of a predatory mantis. Credit score: Connor Evans-Blake
All these flag-waving bugs feed on passionflower vines, identified to hold toxins, and should thus be promoting their very own chemical defenses with these daring actions. However how does waving cut back predatory assaults? The exact mechanism stays a thriller. Is the waving speaking the bugs’ doubtless toxicity, complicated predators’ imaginative and prescient, or intimidating attackers with exaggerated movement?
“We’re left with extra questions than solutions,” stated senior writer Ummat Somjee. “However that’s the great thing about learning bugs — there are a whole lot of hundreds of species, most of them fully unstudied, and each time we glance carefully we uncover behaviors that change the best way we take into consideration evolution.”
Analysis like this goes past fixing quirky puzzles. Bugs make up nearly all of Earth’s biodiversity and are foundational to terrestrial ecosystems worldwide, but most of their behaviors stay undocumented. Understanding how prey defend themselves offers perception into how animals evolve and diversify into the numerous kinds, generally weird, that make up advanced ecosystems.
Reference: “Flag-waving conduct in matador bugs is an antipredatory technique” by Connor Evans-Blake, Juliette J Rubin and Ummat Somjee, 1 August 2025, Present Zoology.
DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoaf047
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