About the Indian Cotton Stainer
Dysdercus cingulatus is a species of true bug in the family Pyrrhocoridae, commonly known as the red cotton stainer. It is a serious pest of cotton crops, the adults and older nymphs feeding on the emerging bolls and the cotton seeds as they mature, transmitting cotton-staining fungi as they do so.
Dysdercus cingulatus grows to a length of 12 to 18 mm (0.47 to 0.71 in). It is mainly red but has a white collar and black hemelytral spots. It is closely related and very similar to Dysdercus koenigii but D. cingulatus is slightly larger and the femora have varying amounts of black while D. koenigii has completely red femora.
D. cingulatus is reported to occur in Sumatra, Borneo, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, northern India, western Pakistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, and northern Australia. The exact distribution is difficult to ascertain because of historical confusion between this species and D. koenigii.
As well as cotton (Gossypium), D. cingulatus feeds on a number of other crop plants including okra (Abelmoschus esculentus), muskmallow (Abelmoschus moschatus), hibiscus, white jute (Corchorus capsularis),... Wikipedia →