Curalium cronini
| Curalium cronini | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Curaliidae | ||||||||||||
| Schuh , Weirauch , & Henry , 2008 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Curalium | ||||||||||||
| Schuh , Weirauch , & Henry , 2008 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Curalium cronini | ||||||||||||
| Schuh , Weirauch , & Henry , 2008 |
Curalium cronini is the only described species of the family Curaliidae within the bedbugs suborder Cimicomorpha . The specific epithet honors J. Eric Cronin , who at the time of the first description was able to discover all previously known individuals of the species in the capture of light traps with the exception of three animals. All of them were males; Females and nymphs are still unknown.
features
With a length of around 1.5 (maximum 1.75) millimeters, the males are among the smallest types of bed bugs. They are strikingly ruby red in color on the head, thorax and cuneus of the hemielytras . When viewed from above, your head is more or less pentagonal and has almost hemispherical compound eyes . When viewed from above, these are anterolateral, when viewed from below or from the side they are ventrolateral. The point eyes ( ocelli ) are large and have a large distance from one another. The labium at the front of the head is four-part. The antennae are also four-part; the third and fourth links are slightly fusiform. The pronotum is short, collar-shaped and has no lobe behind. The mesonotum is not swollen and is completely exposed. The hemielytres are leathery only at the costal margin and the cuneus. The tarsi of all three pairs of legs are two-part. The pygophore , the ninth abdominal segment of the males, is only visible from the ventral side and when viewed from above it is completely covered by a Proctiger , the modified 10th and the remains of the 11th abdominal segment .
The species is assigned to the Cimicomorpha based on the form of the pretarsi. All pretarsi lack a ventral arolium and their dorsal arolium is formed as a pin-like dorsomedian sensillum . In size, body shape and because of the two-part tarsi, the species is similar to those of the genus Joppeicus of the family Joppeicidae , the genus Loricula of the lichen bug family (Microphysidae) and the genus Embiophila of the family Plokiophilidae . They can be distinguished from all of these by the collar-shaped pronotum, the exposed, swollen mesonotum, the severely receded, asymmetrical genitalia of the males, and the large proctiger at the end of the abdomen. The species is also similar to small species of the flower bugs (Anthocoridae), Lasiochilidae and Lyctocoridae , the males of which, however, have large, sickle-shaped left paramers, thread-like third and fourth antennae and normally built pronota, which cover most of the mesonotum.
Occurrence and way of life
Curalium cronini is previously known from northern Florida and Louisiana . The 19 male specimens known at the time of the first description were attracted to light traps by means of UV light between the end of June and the beginning of July and between the end of July and the beginning of August. The rostrum is believed to have predatory food.
Taxonomy and systematics
Due to the unusual combination of features such as the large point eyes, the hemispherical compound eyes, the collar-shaped pronotum and the two- part tarsi , Curalium cronini could not be assigned to any previously described family of bugs . The suborder Cimicomorpha is characterized, among other things, by one to three open membranes on the hemielytres, 10 to 20 free wing veins that arise from closed cells and by forward-facing parameters. All these features are also present in Curalium cronini , albeit in a modified form, so that the family can be assigned to this suborder. Her sister group is the Velocipedidae family . This relationship is supported by the four or five closed cells in the membrane of the hemielytres, the numbers of which are only known in these two taxa . The basal position of the taxon within the Cimiciformes is based on morphological features that have a sufficiently strong homoplasia within the Cimicomorpha and Curalium .
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Randall T. Schuh, Christiane Weirauch, Thomas J. Henry & Susan E. Halbert: Curaliidae, a New Family of Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera) from the Eastern United States. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 101 (1): 20-29, 2008, doi : 10.1603 / 0013-8746 (2008) 101 [20: CANFOH] 2.0.CO; 2 .