Morphological types of spermatheca in Coreidae: bearing on intra-familial classification and tribal-groupings (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

Abstract

The morphology of the spermatheca is described in 109 species of 86 genera representing all four currently recognised subfamilies of Coreidae, covering the undivided Hydarinae, both tribes of Pseudophloeinae, all three tribes of Meropachyinae and 27 of the 32 tribes of Coreinae. Three types of spermatheca are recognised. Type I is bipartite, consisting only of a simple tube differentiated into distal seminal receptacle and proximal spermathecal duct and lacks the intermediate part present in most Pentatomomorpha, in which it serves as muscular pump. Type II is also bipartite but more elaborate in form with the receptacle generally distinctly wider than the duct. Type III is tripartite, with receptacle, duct and an often complex intermediate part. Four subtypes are recognised within type III. Type I is found only in Hydarinae and type II only in Pseudophloeinae. Type III is found in both Coreinae and Meropachyinae. Subtype IIIA (“Coreus-group”) unites many tribes from the Eastern Hemisphere and only one (Spartocerini) from the Western Hemisphere. Subtypes IIIB (“Nematopus-group”) and IIID (“Anisoscelis-group”) are confined to taxa from the Western Hemisphere and subtype IIIC (“Chariesterus-group”) is found in tribes from both hemispheres. The polarity of several characters of the intermediate part and some of the spermathecal duct is evaluated, suggesting autapomorphies or apomorphies potentially relevant to the classification of Coreidae at the sufamilial and tribal levels. Characters of the intermediate part strongly indicate that the separation of Meropachyinae and Coreinae as currently constituted cannot be substantiated. The tribes Anisoscelini, Colpurini, Daladerini and Hyselonotini are heterogeneous, each exhibiting two subtypes of spermatheca, and probably polyphyletic. Two tribes, Cloresmini and Colpurini, requiring further investigation remain unplaced. This study demonstrates the great importance of characters of the spermatheca, in particular its intermediate part, for research into the phylogeny and taxonomy of Pentatomomorpha.

Diversification of the phytophagous lineages of true bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera) shortly after that of the flowering plants

“…Within the Coreoidea, recent phylogenomic results recovered Hydarinae and Pseudophloeinae as clades nested within the Alydidae, resulting in a rejection of the monophylies of both Alydidae and Coreidae (Forthman et al., 2019). This hypothesis is further supported by a recent morphological study of coreoid spermatheca (Pluot‐Sigwalt & Moulet, 2020) and the metathoracic scent gland peritreme (Hemala et al., 2021). Therefore, the higher classification of Coreoidea should be revised, with two equally sound alternative solutions: (i) incorporating Alydidae into a broadly defined Coreidae; or (ii) transferring Hydarinae and Pseudophloeinae into Alydidae sensu lato .…”

Drawing the Excalibur bug from the stone: adding credibility to the double-edged sword hypothesis of coreid evolution (Hemiptera, Coreidae)

“…Coreinae has repeatedly been recovered as paraphyletic with regards to Meropachyinae and based upon the typical Meropachyinae leg morphology we expect these fossil coreids do not fall within this clade but likely somewhere else within the Coreinae (Forthman et al 2019(Forthman et al , 2020Kieran et al 2019). Review of spermatheca within Coreidae by Pluot-Sigwalt and Moulet (2020) found that Hydarinae and Pseudophloeinae are morphologically unique but that Coreinae and Meropachyinae were similar, adding credibility to phylogenetic results which don't recover Coreinae and Meropachyinae as unique (Kieran et al 2019;Forthman et al 2019Forthman et al , 2020.…”

Taxonomic review of Manocoreini with description of a new species from China (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Coreidae)

“…Based on our examinations of specimens of these two tribes, Manocoreini has the following characteristics that are significantly different from the latter: (1) head with a small dentate or plate-like process in front of antenniferous tubercles, whereas without such process in Gonocerini ; (2) plica of female sternum VII with triangular, or rectangular depression, covered by sternum VI, whereas the posterior margin of plica depressed and near the anterior margin of sternum VII in Gonocerini ; (3) genital capsule has median ventroposterior process, whereas the posterior margin of genital capsule concave in Gonocerini ; (4) basiconjunctivum moderately sclerotized, whereas strongly sclerotized in Gonocerini . According to recent seminal research on the morphology of spermatheca in Coreidae ( Pluot-Sigwalt and Moulet 2020 ), the spermatheca of coreids was divided into three types (I, II, III), and type III could be subdivided into four subtypes (A, B, C, D). Based on our study, the spermatheca of Manocoreini belongs to type III, subtype A, and is closely related to Dasynini , Gonocerini , and Homoeocerini .…”

“…Photographs of the genitalic structures were taken using a Canon EOS 7D Mark II camera equipped with a LAOWA 25 mm F2.8 macro 2.5–5× macro lens, or equipped with a tube lens and a Mitutoyo M Plan Apo 10× objective lens. Morphological terminology follows Hsiao (1964) , Ren (1993) , Brailovsky (2007a , b ), Yi and Bu (2015) , Zhou and Rédei (2020) , and Pluot-Sigwalt and Moulet (2020) .…”