AbstractPostembryonic development of abdominal colour patterns, both epidermal pigmentation and cuticular melanization, of two model species,Pyrrhocoris apterusandDysdercus cingulatus(Heteroptera: Pyrrhocoridae) is analysed with the aim of revealing morphological regularities involved in colour‐pattern organization. This analysis is supplemented with a comparative study of diversity of colour patterns among 90 species of the Pyrrhocoridae. Comparison of both these approaches suggests that epidermal and cuticular patterns are ontogenetically independent of each other; that the ventral cuticular melanization is paired and respects boundaries delineated by epidermal pigmentation; that the dorsal cuticular melanization is unpaired and does not respect epidermal‐colour boundaries; that the adult cuticular melanization develops almost independently of the larval one; and that the anterior and posterior regions of different segments are developmentally (and also evolutionarily) more tightly correlated than anterior and posterior parts of the same segment. These regularities are then compared with data concerning intrasegmental patterning ofDrosophilaand other insects.ZusammenfassungMorphologische Organbation des abdominalen Farbmusters der Feuerwanzen (Pyrrhocoridae, Hemiptera‐Heteroptera: Pentatomo‐morpha) tated outline of its systematic history. Eur. J. Entomol. 90, 105–122.Socha, R., 1993: Pyrrhocoris apterus L. (Heteroptera)