The species was described by Heidemann in 1914[1] after it aroused attention a year earlier in the United States as an eggplant pest around Norfolk, Virginia.

[4] Adults have been found year-round in Missouri, sometimes while hibernating in clumps of grass or under bark or the leaves of mullein (Verbascum thapsus).

[8] Further observation has shown that guarding eggs and protecting offspring after they hatch has a significant cost to the mother, reducing her future reproductive potential in terms of fecundity and clutch number.

Douglas Tallamy found that maternal defensive behaviour in this species is consistent with the theory, since mothers became more aggressive in their clutch defense as they got older (less future reproduction at risk) and as the nymphs in each clutch matured (greater investment lost/higher survival potential as they get bigger).

However, females can reduce costs to themselves by laying in the egg masses of conspecifics (i.e. other mothers) who will then take care of their offspring for them (similar behaviour occurs in other species; see brood parasite).