ABSTRACT

Cydnids are known popularly as “burrower bugs” (or “burrowing bugs”); most of these bugs are black or brown, usually 2 to 20 mm long, live deep in the soil, and are root-feeders. However, some are not fossorial and may be seed-feeders (Schaefer 1988). Although the family is regarded as quite primitive in the superfamily Pentatomoidea, its species possess some derived characters (broad and flattened head, often armed with rows of strong setae or spines, broadened and heavily spinose anterior tibiae, tarsi reduced or even absent in a few taxa, for example), which make them very well adapted for digging in the ground.