Stahle (1981) found that the Harlequin bug feeds on a very wide range of plants, including weeds, and also on dead animals and even live insects in a vulnerable state, including it's own species. He did not state what part of the plant they fed on, except that they preferred ripe Sunflower seeds over all of the other foods he tested. The insects photographed above were on a Horehound plant, where they were feeding on flowers, as you can see in the second photo.
Classification
from Australian Faunal Directory
Order Hemiptera - bugs, hoppers and scale insects
Suborder Heteroptera - true bugs, 2806 named species in Australia
Family Pyrrhocoridae - Red Bugs, 14 named species in Australia
Genus Dindymus
Species Dindymus versicolor
References
- Stahle, P.P. (1981) Food preference in the harlequin bug Dindymus versicolor (Herrich-Schaffer) (Hemiptera: Pyrrhocoridae), a minor pest of fruit in south eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 6:375-382.