Revision Of New World Plagiognathus Fieber, With Comments On The Palearctic Fauna And The Description Of A New Genus (Heteroptera: Miridae: Phylinae)
Author
SCHUH, RANDALL T.
text
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History
2001
2001-11-08
2001
266
1
267
http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1206/0003-0090%282001%29266%3C0001%3ARONWPF%3E2.0.CO%3B2
journal article
10.1206/0003-0090(2001)266<0001:RONWPF>2.0.CO;2
0003-0090
5381844
Plagiognathus
(
Zophocnemis
) Kerzhner, 1962
:
385 (n. subgen.).
TYPE
SPECIES:
Psallus bicolor
Jakovlev, 1880
.
Kerzhner (1962) recognized the distinctive nature of
Psallus bicolor
Jakovlev
among other species which at that time were placed in
Plagiognathus
; he created for it the subgenus
Zophocnemis
.
Schuh et al. (1995) stat ed that
bicolor
had typical
Plagiognathus
male genitalia, and that they were therefore placing the species in that genus. A closer comparative examination indicates that
bicolor
is not what might be called ‘‘typical’’ of
Plagiognathus
; indeed, the small size, delicate secondary gonopore, and weakly developed apical spines suggest a possible relationship closer to the
Atractotomus
group of genera (see Schuh, 2000). Furthermore, the short, rather broad head, the flattened body, and the flattened abdomen and small genital capsule are not typical of
Plagiognathus
species.
For these reasons I am elevating
Zophocnemis
to generic status.