ABSTRACT
The general appearance of the slender cylindrical body held high by the very long, thread-thin legs of most species is aptly reflected in the common name “stilt bugs.” Adults and nymphs wander over plant surfaces and generally feed upon the sap from the tender growth, but in several instances adults and nymphs have been reported attacking and feeding on insect eggs or soft-bodied insects. Apparently this animal food is not essential to development, as caged specimens with access only to growing plants reach adulthood and lay fertile eggs. Eggs are glued to various parts of the plants. The names Neididae, long used by American workers, and Berytinidae, more recently used by several European heteropterists, have been unnecessarily proposed for the family. The genus Berytus Fabricius is available for the stem of the earliest proposed group names, even though it is a synonym under Neides Latreille as a result of both genera having the same type-species.
