Deep in the rainforests of Panama lives a colourful animal with an extravagant trick: the matador bug (Bitta alipes), a small, leaf-footed insect with vivid red patches on its hind legs, which it raises into the air and waves in a striking display.
For a long time, scientists assumed this flamboyant performance was part of the bug’s courtship ritual. But a new study, published in Current Zoology, suggests it may instead be a highly effective defence mechanism used to ward off predators.
To test the anti-predator theory, researchers at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) collected matador bugs from around the small town of Gamboa in Panama and placed them in the presence of two other insects – predatory praying mantids and harmless katydids – to see how they would react.
During the experiment, they recorded 25 individuals performing 2,938 leg waves. On average, matador bugs waved their legs seven times more often when mantids were nearby, while showing little reaction to katydids. The scientists also noticed that the predatory mantids never attacked bugs that were actively waving. This discovery suggests the waving display is triggered specifically by danger.
Observations of related insects in Panama, combined with analysis of online footage, revealed at least five other species in the same family also perform similar flag-waving, pointing to a wider evolutionary pattern. All these insects feed on passionflower vines, which are known to carry toxins – the researchers suggest the waving could therefore be a warning from the bugs of their toxicity.
Another theory is that the waving might confuse predators’ vision and make an attack more difficult.
“We’re left with more questions than answers,” said senior author Ummat Somjee. “But that’s the beauty of studying insects — there are hundreds of thousands of species, most of them completely unstudied, and every time we look closely we uncover behaviours that change the way we think about evolution.”
Top image: Tropical rainforest near Gamboa in Panama. Credit: Getty
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