Mating bugs Cercopis arcuata with warning colours, on a sage plant. The bright red and black colour- ation of these bugs make them deliberately conspicuous to predators. Warning (aposematic) colouration indicates that the animal so coloured has built-in defences such as poisonous or distasteful flesh or the capacity to strike back in some way. These Cercopis arcuata bugs are inedible; their flesh is extremely distasteful to predators. An in-experienced predator will attack and taste this bug, reject its flesh, and be warned in future by the bright colours.