Adults display aposematic coloration, consisting of black overall coloring with an orange-red patch on the dorsal surface of the thorax.
In many insects they also are important in camouflage and in displays, especially defensive display, where the tegmina are drab, but cover aposematic displays that that are startling when suddenly uncovered.
In some species however, wings that are vestigial in the sense of not retaining any function related to flight, may have other functions, such as organs of aposematic display in some Orthoptera and Phasmatodea.
Many adult Cercopidae can bleed reflexively from their tarsi, and the hemolymph appears to be distasteful; they are often aposematically colored (see photos).