Revision Of Leucophoropterini: Diagnoses, Key To Genera, Redescription Of The Australian Fauna, And Descriptions Of New Indo-Pacific Genera And Species (Insecta: Hemiptera: Miridae)
Author
Menard, Katrina L.
Author
Schuh, Randall T.
text
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
2011
2011-11-23
2011
361
1
159
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/361.1
journal article
10.1206/361.1
0003-0090
5410834
4CE18A11-140F-4C45-BBC8-D397EA03510D
Porophoroptera
Carvalho and Gross
Porophoroptera
Carvalho and Gross, 1982: 51
(n. gen., descr., disc.).
DISCUSSION: The monotypic genus
Porophoroptera
(
P
.
elegans
Carvalho and Gross
,
type
species) was described from
Australia
by
Carvalho and Gross (1982)
, and placed in the
Leucophoroptera
Group (
Leucophoropterini
) based on it being putatively ant mimetic. The overall habitus and coloration of
Porophoroptera
are similar to many of the genera included in
Leucophoropterini
, but there are several unique abdominal and genitalic features that suggest that it does not belong to the tribe. First, the endosoma is flat and box shaped (
Carvalho and Gross, 1982
: fig. 82) rather than elongate or tubular. Second, the pygophore is relatively large compared with those in the
Leucophoropterini
, at least
M
the total length of the abdomen. For these reasons it is unlikely that
Porophoroptera
belongs to the
Leucophoropterini
and it is therefore tentatively placed in the
Phylini
. We would also note that in
Porophoroptera
both males and females have small, white sclerotized structures extending dorsally from the dorsolateral margins of the second abdominal sternites, which have thus far not been found in any other
Miridae
species.