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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Hemiptera |
Myodochidae
Ground Bugs, Seed Bugs.
Salient features of adults. Terrestrial.
Phytophagous (mainly, on herbs), or predacious (?). Tiny to small; 2–8 mm long; fliers, or non-fliers; emitting repugnatorial liquid as a defence reaction; relatively stout bodied, or with narrow-elongate bodies; not stilt-legged; with conspicuous dark-and-pale banding on the antennae and legs (the common Heterogaster urticae, on nettles), or without conspicuous dark-and-pale banding of antennae and legs. Rostrum clearly separated ventrally from the prosternum by a sclerotized gula; 4 segmented. Antennae from the lower part of the head; longer than the head, readily visible from above; 4 segmented; non-aristate. Ocelli present (but sometimes hard to see when the head is coarsely sculptured). Metathorax with a scent-gland opening, comprising a funnel surrounded by a dull patch of elaborately sculptured cuticle, visible laterally on either side. Fore-wings well developed to vestigial or absent; in the resting insect lying more or less flat over the abdomen; when macropterous, differentiated into a basally thickened and a distally membranous region; of macropters, with a clavus. Membrane of the hemelytron with 4 or 5 veins reaching or almost reaching the margin. Tarsi 3 segmented. Pulvilli present. The abdomen without ventral silvery pubescence.
Hard-bodied insects, with red or yellow ground colour; usually with four longitudinal veins in the membrane of the hemelytron; the last two antennal segments never more slender than the second.
Taxonomy. Suborder Heteroptera; Lygaeoidea.
British representation. About 65 species in Britain; genera about 35. Acompus, Aphanus, Beosus, Chilacis, Drymus, Emblethis, Eremocoris, Gastrodes, Graptopeltus, Henestaris, Heterogaster, Ischnodemus, Ischnocoris, Kleidocerys, Lamproplax, Lasiosomus, Lygaeus, Macrodema, Megalonotus, Metopoplax, Nysius, Ortholomus, Pachybrachius, Peritrechus, Pionosomus, Plinthisus, Pterometus, Raglius, Rhyparochromus, Scolopostethus, Stygnocoris, Taphropeltus, Trapzonotus, Tropistethus, Xanthochilus. E.g., Lygaeus equestris (Black-and-red Bug).
Comments. The family includes important pests of pastures and cereals in some parts of the world.
Illustrations. • Lygaeus equestris (Black-and-red Bug: B. Ent. 481). • Lygaeus equestris (detail: B. Ent. 481). • Lygaeus equestris (dissection+legends: B. Ent. 481). • Lygaeus equestris: B. Ent. 481, legend+text. • Lygaeus equestris: B. Ent. 481, text cont.. • Henestaris laticeps (Curtis): B. Ent 596. • Henestaris laticeps: B. Ent 596, legend+text. • Henestaris laticeps: B. Ent 596, text cont.. • Ischnocoris, Macrodema, Pionosmus, Plinthisus, Stygnocoris, Tropistethus (Southwood & Leston). • Aphanus, Beosus, Graptopeltus, Pachybachius, Raglius, Rhyparochromus (Southwood & Leston). • Drymus, Ischnodemus, Megalonotus, Scolopostethus, Trapezonotus (Southwood & Leston). • Chilacis, Heterogaster, Kleidocerys, Peritrechus (with Berytinidae: Southwood & Leston). • Chilacis, Heterogaster, Iscnodemus, Kleidocerys, Megalonotus, Pachybrachius: Saunders, 1892.. LYGAEIDAE. 1, Kleidocerys resedae. 2, Ischnodemus sabuleti. 3, Henestaris laticeps; 4, Henestaris halophilus. 5, Chilacis typhae. 6, Heterogaster artemisiae. 7, Pachybrachius fractii; 8, Pachybrachius luridus. 9, Megalonotus antennatus; 10, Megalonotus praetextatus. From Saunders, 1892. • Acompus, Ischnocoris, Lasiosomus, Megalonotus, Peritrechus, Tropistethus: Saunders, 1892.. LYGAEIDAE. 1, Megalonotus chiragra. 2, Tropistethus holosericeus. 3, Ischnocoris angustulus. 4, Macrodema micropterum. 5, Pionosomus varius. 6, Plinthisus brevipennis. 7, Lasiosomus enervis. 8, Acompus rufipes. 9, Stygnus arenarius, = ?. 10, Peritrechus geniculatus; 10a, P. geniculatus, lateral view. • Aphanus, Emblethis, Graptopeltus. Rhyparochromus, Trapezonotus: Saunders, 1892.. LYGAEIDAE. 1, Peritrechus nubilus; 2, Peritrechus distinguendus. 3, Trapezonotus ullrichii. 4, Aphanus rolandri. 5, Graptopeltus lynceus. 6, Rhyparochromus pini. 7, Aphanus quadratus Fab., = ? (cf. Trapezonotus dispar). 8, Aphanus pedestris Panz., = ?. 9, Emblethis verbasci. 10, Beosus luscus Fab., = ?. Saunders, 1892. • Drymus, Eremocoris, Gastrodes, Lamproplax, Scolopostethus, Taphropeltus: Saunders, 1892.. LYGAEIDAE. 1, Eremocoris fenestratus; 2, Eremocoris podagricus. 3, Scolopostethus pictus; 4, Scolopostethus decoratus. 5, Taphropeltus contractus. 6, Drymus brunneus; 7, Drymus pilipes; 8, Drymus pilicornis. 9, Lamproplax picea. 10, Gastrodes grossipes. From Saunders (1892). • Lygaeus equestris and Nysius ericae, with Berytinidae and Rhopalidae: Saunders, 1892.. RHOPALIDAE. 1, Myrmus miriformis, brachypterous; 1a, Myrmus miriformis, female with developed elytra. 2, Chorosoma schillingi. BERYTINIDAE. 3, Neides tipularius. 4, Berytinus crassipes; 5, Berytinus clavipes. 6, Metatropis rufescens. 7, Gampsocoris punctipes. 10, Cymus glandicolor. LYGAEIDAE. 8, Lygaeus equestris. 9, Nysius ericae. From Saunders (1892). • Gastrodes abietum, with assorted unrelated taxa: Saunders, 1892.. LYGAEIDAE. 1, Gastrodes abietum. PYRRHOCORIDAE. 2, Pyrrhocoris apterus. PIESMATIDAE. 3, Piesma quadratum; 4, Piesma maculatum. TINGIDAE. 5, Agramma laeta. 6, Campylostira verna. 7, Acalypta brunnea; 8, Acalypta cervina; 9, Acalypta nigrina; 10, Acalypta parvula, developed; 10a, A. parvula, undeveloped. From Saunders (1892).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the families of Hemiptera. Version: 27th July 2019. delta-intkey.com’.
