The population ecology of Amorbus Dallas (Hemiptera : Coreidae) species inAustralia

Species of Amorbus Dallas (Hemiptera: Coreidae) appear to exhibit a tight l ink between oviposition preference and nymphal performance: females apparen tly select vigorous plant modules to facilitate the development of their of fspring. Such behaviour suggests that these insects should exhibit populati on dynamics consistent with the latent classification proposed by Price et al. (1990). While this empirical hypothesis is intuitively appealing it doe s not appear to incorporate current population dynamics theory. Berryman's ecodynamics (1992) offers the potential to describe a species' population d ynamics which is grounded in a quantitative theoretical framework. The popu lation ecology of Amorbus species from Australia is considered in relation to these hypotheses.