Life History and Laboratory Rearing of Sehirus cinctus cinctus (Hemiptera: Cydnidae), with Descriptions of Immature Stages1

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Abstract
The life history of the burrower bug Sehirus cinctus cinctus (Palisot de Beauvois) was studied in Illinois, and the immature stages were described. The bug was also reared from egg to adult under laboratory conditions, and precopulatory behavior, and maternal care of eggs and young instars, were observed. The female occasionally provided her 1st instars with the seeds. Adults of this univoltine subspecies overwinter in soil associated with their mint host plant, Lamium purpureum Linn. They become active in early April and reproduce shortly thereafter. The female lays her eggs in a loose cluster in a chamber in the soil and guards them during incubation. The 1st instars are highly gregarious and often cluster around and on the female. Older nymphs are also gregarious but decreasingly so as they mature, and usually leave the chamber during the second stadium. Nymphs and adults fed on seeds of L. purpureum. On seeds of L. purpureum, and at 23.9 ± 1.1°C and 16L:8D, total developmental time averaged 53.21 days. The incubation period averaged 10.21 days. Durations of the five nymphal stadia averaged 5.29, 6.26, 6.53, 9.70, and 15.22 days, respectively.

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