The Minute Litter Bugs (Dipsocoromorpha)

Weirauch, Christiane; Fernandes, José Antônio Marin

doi:10.1007/978-94-017-9861-7_5

Cited by 10 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Dipsocoromorpha, the minute litter bugs, are classified into five families and now comprise ~430 described species (Schuh and Slater, ; Weirauch and Fernandes, ; Knyshov et al., ; Leon and Weirauch, ,b), with greatest morphological diversity found among the ~350 species of Schizopteridae, the largest family in the infraorder. The biology of Dipsocoromorpha is poorly documented, mostly because of the small size and cryptic habits of these bugs.…”

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confidence: 99%

Revisiting habitat and lifestyle transitions in Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera): insights from a combined morphological and molecular phylogeny

et al. 2018

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Heteroptera, the true bugs, are part of the largest clade of non-holometabolous insects, the Hemiptera, and include > 42 000 described species in about 90 families. Despite progress in resolving phylogenetic relationships between and within infraorders since the first combined morphological and molecular analysis published in 1993 (29 taxa, 669 bp, 31 morphological characters), recent hypotheses have relied entirely on molecular data. Weakly supported nodes along the backbone of Heteroptera made these published phylogenies unsuitable for investigations into the evolution of habitats and lifestyles across true bugs. Here we present the first combined morphological and molecular analyses of Heteroptera since 1993, using 135 taxa in 60 families, 4018 aligned bp of ribosomal DNA and 81 morphological characters, and various analytical approaches. The sister-group relationship of the predominantly aquatic Nepomorpha with all remaining Heteroptera is supported in all analyses, and a clade formed by Enicocephalomorpha, Dipsocoromorpha and Gerromorpha in some. All analyses recover Leptopodomorpha + (Cimicomorpha + Pentatomomorpha), mostly with high support. Parsimony-and likelihood-based ancestral state reconstructions of habitats and lifestyles on the combined likelihood phylogeny provide new insights into the evolution of true bugs. The results indicate that aquatic and semi-aquatic true bugs invaded these habitats three times independently from terrestrial habitats in contrast to a recent hypothesis. They further suggest that the most recent common ancestor of Heteroptera was predacious, and that the two large predominantly phytophagous clades (Trichophora and Miroidea) are likely to have derived independently from predatory ancestors. We conclude that by combining morphological and molecular data and employing various analytical methods our analyses have converged on a relatively well-supported hypothesis of heteropteran infraordinal relationships that now requires further testing using phylogenomic and more extensive morphological datasets.

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Revisiting habitat and lifestyle transitions in Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera): insights from a combined morphological and molecular phylogeny

et al. 2018

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“…Yet even free-living insects can be extremely miniaturized, with body sizes notably below 1 mm. Distinct size reduction often concerns entire groups specialized in unusual habitats, such as deep soil (e.g., leptotyphline rove beetles; Grebennikov & Newton, 2008), leaf litter (e.g., dipsocoromorph true bugs; Weirauch & Marin Fernandes, 2015) or specialized aquatic habitats (e.g., myxophagan beetles; Yavorskaya et al, 2018). Their small size makes some of these groups textbook examples of miniaturization, even though the species are very often overlooked in the field and largely neglected among researchers.…”

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confidence: 99%

Phylogeny and systematics of Sphaeriusidae (Coleoptera: Myxophaga): minute living fossils with underestimated past and present‐day diversity

Fikáček

Yamamoto

Matsumoto

et al. 2022

Systematic Entomology

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Sphaeriusidae (Coleoptera: Myxophaga) is a group of shiny, blackish and hemispherical riparian beetles, known for their miniaturized bodies. They are worldwide in distribution, but very limited information is available about taxonomic and morphological diversity, and natural and evolutionary history. The aim of this study is to help fill in these gaps. We examined the external morphology of modern representatives using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and reconstructed the phylogeny of the family using five DNA markers (cytochrome oxidase I, 18S rRNA, 28S rRNA, CAD and wingless). Our results suggest a larger morphological diversity than previously expected, corresponding to the deep genetic divergences of principal lineages. We also examined two inclusions in 99‐million‐year‐old Burmese amber. The integration of all evidence allows us to recognize three genera: the extinct genus †Burmasporum Kirejtshuk, the newly defined genus Bezesporum gen.nov. preserved in Burmese amber (B. burmiticum sp.nov.) and present in the modern fauna of Southeast Asia, and the genus Sphaerius Waltl with a world‐wide distribution. Sphaerius species are morphologically highly uniform, with the exception of species from Australia and South Africa, which share some characteristics with Bezesporum gen.nov. despite being resolved as deeply nested lineages of Sphaerius by DNA data. The presence of Bezesporum gen.nov. in Burmese amber and in recent fauna indicates that Sphaeriusidae largely maintained their specific morphology and specialized riparian lifestyle for at least 100 million years. Therefore, they can be considered an exceptionally conserved group, with a minimum of evolutionary changes over a long period. Our study also demonstrates that the species numbers and fine‐scale morphological diversity of Sphaeriusidae are larger than expected in both the past and present‐day faunas. Both were apparently underestimated due to the minute body size and cryptic habits of these beetles.

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“…Schizopteridae is composed of tiny (body length ~0.8-3.0mm) usually dull colored true bugs that are found mainly in cryptic habitats such as leaf litter, under bark of fallen trees, and forest canopies (Emsley, 1969;Weirauch & Štys, 2014;Weirauch & Fernandes, 2015;Schuh & Weirauch, 2020). This family is composed of about 60 genera and more than 350 described species distributed in all biogeographic regions, but with the greatest diversity in tropical and subtropical regions (Weirauch & Štys, 2014;Weirauch & Fernandes, 2015;Schuh & Weirauch, 2020).…”

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Description of a new species of Corixidea from Brazil (Heteroptera: Dipsocoromorpha: Schizopteridae)

Carvalho-Filho

Albuquerque

2021

Iheringia, Sér. Zool.

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The minute litter bug genus Corixidea Reuter, 1891 currently comprises nine valid American species. Herein, we describe Corixidea quaresmai sp. nov. from one of the last remaining remnants of Atlantic Forest in northeast Brazil. The new species is characterized by the distal extension of the anophoric process parallel and close to the left lateral margin of the tergites, and the elongated process of tergum 8, with a pectinate distal half and a filiform tip. We provide diagnosis, images of habitus and male genitalia.

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The Minute Litter Bugs (Dipsocoromorpha)

Cited by 10 publications

References 16 publications

Revisiting habitat and lifestyle transitions in Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera): insights from a combined morphological and molecular phylogeny

Revisiting habitat and lifestyle transitions in Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera): insights from a combined morphological and molecular phylogeny

Phylogeny and systematics of Sphaeriusidae (Coleoptera: Myxophaga): minute living fossils with underestimated past and present‐day diversity

Description of a new species of Corixidea from Brazil (Heteroptera: Dipsocoromorpha: Schizopteridae)

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