Review of the plant bug genus Prolygus and related mirine taxa from eastern Asia (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae)
Author
Yasunaga, Tomohide
Research Associate, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024, USA, c / o Nameshi
Author
Schwartz, Michael D.
- 33 -
Author
Chérot, Frédéric
Département de l’Etude du Milieu Naturel et Agricole, Service Public de Wallonie, Gembloux, BE- 5030, Belgium;
text
Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae
2018
Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae
2018-09-07
58
2
357
388
http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/aemnp-2018-0030
journal article
5802
10.2478/aemnp-2018-0030
16533e21-bbe3-46c1-a4ba-70fca1112446
1804-6487
4504807
D9893299-697F-4AA1-99D5-9575B313DB0D
Prolygus
Carvalho, 1987
Prolygus
Carvalho, 1987: 137
(original description),
type
species by original designation:
Lygus papuanus
Poppius, 1914: 353
.
Prolygus
:
SCHUH (1995)
: 941
(catalog);
KERZHNER & JOSIFOV (1999)
: 172
(catalog);
YASUNAGA (2001)
: 260
(diagnosis);
ZHENG et al. (2004)
: 560
(diagnosis, key to Chinese spp.).
Diagnosis.
Prolygus
is distinguished from other similar taxa of the
Lygus
complex by the following combination of characters: Body elongate oval, small to medium in size (3.0–
4.5 mm
); antenna uniformly linear, 0.66–0.75× as long as body; clavus at least basally with two or three rows of keeled lines parallel to claval vein (cf.
Figs 1–4
,
12, 16, 18
,
49, 50–52
); cuneus pale, sometimes median part darkened but not infuscate at apex; male with left paramere L- or C-shaped, with a flat, median projection at apex of hypophysis; right paramere long, not much shorter than left one (its total length usually greater than that of left paramere sensory lobe), with apical part of sensory lobe often inflated; endosoma composed of three lobes, usually with two lobal sclerites (PL and SL); secondary gonopore thick-rimmed, small; phallotheca slender, smooth; female with: sclerotized ring elongate ovoid, thick-rimmed, more or less narrowed medially; posterior wall with spinulate lateral and interramal lobes.
Biology.
Little is known about the biology. Specimens of most species were collected using UV light traps. Several Asian species were found on inflorescences of broadleaf trees or shrubs.
Distribution.
Known from the Oriental Region and across Wallacea east to New
Guinea
and several Pacific islands or atolls; at least three species occur in the eastern Palearctic Region (SW
Japan
and Taiwan).
Discussion.
Prolygus
was established by
CARVALHO (1987)
to accommodate sixteen New Guinean species. However, he included many species with irrelevant or questionable affinities which made the generic definition inadequate. Thirteen of the sixteen species (ca. 81%) placed in
Prolygus
by
CARVALHO (1987)
have, in our opinion, uncertain generic placements based on their original descriptions or subsequent redescriptions and illustrations:
Prolygus albocuneatus
Carvalho, 1987
,
P. biscutellatus
Carvalho, 1987
,
P. erimensis
(
Poppius, 1914
)
,
P. femoralis
(
Poppius, 1914
)
,
P. finisterrensis
Carvalho, 1987
,
P. kandanus
Carvalho, 1987
,
P. kebarensis
Carvalho, 1987
,
P. maai
Carvalho, 1987
,
P. nakanaiensis
Carvalho, 1987
,
P. punctialbus
Carvalho, 1987
,
P. quatei
Carvalho, 1987
,
P. stali
(
Poppius, 1914
)
, and
P. watutensis
Carvalho, 1987
. Definitive treatments for these taxa are beyond the scope of our current study. It would require additional material and further investigations of
Lygus
-complex and related taxa on a world-scale.
Prolygus
can now be defined by the characters mentioned in above diagnosis. Based on the possession of these characters, placements of a dozen species in
Prolygus
are now contradictive. Accordingly, we regard six species as genuine members of
Prolygus
, but more than a few unidentified congeners are evidently present in the Indo- Pacific Region.