Review of the phyline plant bug tribe Auricillocorini from Asia, with descriptions of a new genus and nine new species from Japan, Nepal and Thailand (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Phylinae)
Author
Yasunaga, Tomohide
text
Zootaxa
2012
3530
1
24
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.214852
a8c0634c-5ac1-492c-9e4f-186169aaafbf
1175-5326
214852
Tribe
Auricillocorini
Schuh, 1984
Diagnosis.
Auricillocorini
is principally recognized by the following diagnostic characters: body slender, more or less myrmecomorphic (except for
Wygomiris
with elongate-oval, conventional mirid shape); basic coloration yellow brown to fuscous; anterior margin of pronotum forming a flattened collar; metathoracic scent efferent system with weakly to strongly protruding auricule and with anterior and posterior evaporative areas usually slightly overlapping; hemelytron usually with pale bands and/or maculae (pale fascia or macula on anterior clavus just posterior to scutellum often present, except in
Wygomiris
); cuneal fracture often at right angles to corial margin; cuneus broadly triangular; parempodia weakly fleshy, recurved, apically convergent; abdomen often constricted basally in myrmecomorphic species. The genitalia are of the phyline
type
, variable in form; secondary gonopore of the male endosoma is usually developed.
Discussion.
This compact tribe group was proposed by
Schuh (1984)
, placing 5 genera and 14 species, based on examinations of
204 specimens
(but of these,
155 specimens
belong to
Cleotomiris chinensis
or
C. schneirlai
, thus most species of
Auricillocorini
seem to be rare). All known members are reported from tropical and subtropical Asia, and some undescribed species appear to occur in New
Guinea
. The present study adds a new genus
Artchawakomius
and 9 new species, with the consequence that 6 genera and 23 species are included in the
Auricillocorini
, now known from
India
,
Indonesia
, Indochina (
Laos
and
Thailand
),
Japan
(Ryukyus), E
Malaysia
(Borneo),
Nepal
, New
Guinea
, the
Philippines
, and SE
China
. The majority of auricillocorines are considered to be Sundaland elements, based on their distribution patterns.
Schuh (1984)
assumed that the
Auricillocorini
is sister to the
Hallodapini
in his phylogenetic analyses. However, the genitalic structures of the
Auricillocorini
more closely resemble those of the
Phylini
, and some auricillocorines exhibit great similarity in superficial appearance to certain taxa of the
Leucophoropterini
(see
Menard & Schuh, 2011
). Based on the form of the male and female genitalia, the
Auricillocorini
is supposed to have a closer relationship to the
Phylini
rather than to other phyline tribes.
Inferred phylogenetic relationship of the
Auricillocorini
is shown in
Fig. 12
. As mentioned by
Schuh (1984)
, this Indo-Pacific group is regarded to be monophyletic by sharing five synapomorphies (11, 17, 18, 21, &
24 in
Fig. 12
). Now the 6 described genera are related and constitute the monophyletic tribe. Based on the four external characters (4, 5, 8 & 20), the
Auricillocorini
is currently assumed to be sister to the
Hallodapini
. Nonetheless, further investigations on characters including the genitalic structures of both sexes are required to reconstruct the more definitive tribal phylogenetic relationships in the subfamily
Phylinae
.