New and little known West African Miridae (Capsidae) (Hemiptera Heteroptera)

Abstract

The following descriptions are based on material collected by Mr. H. E. Box in the Gold Coast, during his work on insect pests of the cocoa plantations, and submitted to me for identification by the Imperial Institute of Entomology. Owing to war-time difficulties in obtaining various scientific journals, it is not always possible to make certain that a species is undescribed, so that although Mr. Box has collected several others which may be new, they have not been described here for that reason. The species now dealt with, however, are of particular interest either from the point of view of new distribution or from remarkable structure or striking colouration. Type specimens are preserved in the British Museum. Family MIRIDAE. Subfamily Mirinae. Deraeocoris ostentans, Stal, nigroruber, var. nov.Head shining black with a short longitudinal line in front and a transverse line at base of vertex, yellowish white; antennae fulvous with apex of first segment, whole of second in male and base and apex of second in female, apex of third and whole of fourth segments, black or dark brown, second segment of male distinctly thickened throughout; rostrum black. Pronotum shining black with scattered fine punctures, anterior collar and posterior lateral angles narrowly, whitish. Female with a yellowish white triangular spot anteriorly in middle and a smaller one in middle of posterior margin. Pro-, meso-and meta-sterna and pleura, also coxae, black, the margins of the propleura and prosterna and the metasternal orifices, yellowish white. Scutellum shining black without punctures. Hemielytra shining with scattered punctures becoming evanescent on apical half of corium ; clavus and base of corium black ; inner apical angle of corium, behind apex of clavus, dark brown, this brown area more extensive in male than in female in which it forms a more or less distinct spot, apex of cuneus dark brown to black; remainder of corium and cuneus bright blood red. • Membrane smoky hyaline with the usual brown band along apices of cells and the broader brown arcuate band before apex of membrane. Femora fulvous orange, tibiae yellowish white with extreme base and two rings dark brown to black ; tarsi yellowish white with apical segment and claws dark brown. Venter sanguineous with genital segments dark brown to black.Habitat: GOLD COAST, Tafo, 2&J, 2 $9,21.xii. 1942 [H. E. Box, Coll. No. H. 123). This very strikingly coloured variety appears at first sight to be a distinct species with a neater, more convex, shining body. There appears to be no doubt, however, that it is specifically identical with D. ostentans, Stal, a very variable species widely distributed over the Ethiopian region.Subfamily Bryocorinae.This remarkable subfamily contains a number of species of economic importance both in Asia and Africa. The African genera and species were dealt with by Poppius in his " Die Miriden der Athiopischen Region " 1, 1912, and 2, 1914, in which great

Systematic revision and phylogeny of the plant bug tribe Monaloniini (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae: Bryocorinae) of the world

“…The node includes all monaloniine genera except for Arculanus , Chamus ‐complex and Mansoniella . This clade is not well supported, and it is possible that some genera, such as Eupachypeltis Poppius, and Poppiusia China, , are more closely related to node 3 ( Arculanus , Mansoniella and Chamus ‐complex). Those two genera have the ridges on the frons, which are similar to outgrowths of the Chamus ‐complex, but are much shorter.…”

“…8F, G in Namyatova et al ., in press) (24‐1). This clade includes Dimia inexpectata Kerzhner, 1988, Villiersicoris sessensis Odhiambo, , Lycidocoris Reuter & Poppius, , Pantilioforma China, , Odoniella ‐complex and Monalonion ‐complex. The position of Dimia Kerzhner, 1988 in this clade is questionable, as its ASIII–IV are only slightly clavate, and it also possesses three shallow ridges on the frons, which are similar to those found in Eupachypeltis and Poppiusia (Fig.…”

“…Only the last state is contradicted. This clade includes eight closely related genera, namely Bryocoropsis Schumacher, , Distantiella China, , Sahlbergella Haglund, , Pseudodoniella China & Carvalho, , Platyngomiriodes Ghauri, , Platyngomiris Kirkaldy, , Rhopaliceschatus Reuter, and Yangambia . The relationships between those groupings are obscure.…”

“…The most comprehensive generic review of the Monaloniini sensu stricto was undertaken by Odhiambo (), where he documented the taxonomy of 12 genera. A key to the West African genera was published by China (). Carvalho () provided a key to them on a worldwide basis, including 13 monaloniine and 18 odonielline genera.…”

A new interpretation of Westwood's genus Eucerocoris (Hemiptera: Miridae)

“…In the most recent review of the genus (Odhiambo, 1962), thirteen of these species were considered. One other species, E. westwoodi White, had already been dealt with by China (1944). From a review of previous work on these species, it appeared that Westwood's concept of his genus was not adequately crystallised to help subsequent taxonomists in its recognition.…”