Enicocephalidae

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Enicocephalidae
HEMI Enicocephalidae Phthirocoris magnus f.png

Enicocephalidae

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Subclass : Flying insects (Pterygota)
Order : Schnabelkerfe (Hemiptera)
Subordination : Bed bugs (heteroptera)
Partial order : Enicocephalomorpha
Family : Enicocephalidae
Scientific name
Enicocephalidae
Stål , 1860

The Enicocephalidae are a family of bugs (Heteroptera) within the suborder Enicocephalomorpha . About 405 species in 55 genera are described. The representatives of the family look similar to small to medium-sized predatory bugs (Reduviidae) and make up around 95% of all species of the Enicocephalomorpha.

features

The bugs are 1 to 17 millimeters long and, like the close relatives of the Aenictopecheidae, are usually not very vividly colored and usually monochrome yellow, brown or blackish. Only a few species have contrasting color patterns, sometimes with strong red.

The pronotum is usually divided into three clearly recognizable lobes by two oblique constrictions, deviating only in the genera Megenicocephalus and Alienates (here only two praise). Often the wings are developed differently within a species (wing polymorphism). The males of most species have enlarged (macroptere) wings, the females shortened (brachyptere) wings, or they are not developed at all (apter). Individuals with receding wings often lack the ocelli, have smaller compound eyes and a slightly differently shaped pronotum, in the genus Alienates the eyes are completely absent in the females. Microptere or aptere females are usually also significantly larger than macroptere males ( sexual dimorphism ); in the species in which both sexes have polymorphic wings, the sexual dimorphism is less developed. The interruption of the Costa loader is missing and is only weakly indicated in the subfamily Megenicocephalinae . The wing systems of the older nymphs are large and border one another. Sometimes they overlap a little along the center line. The animals have scent glands on the sterna of the metathorax , but their openings are often receded. The forelegs are modified to fang legs and usually thickened. The splints ( tibia ) are normally widened apically and, depending on the species, have different types of plate-like appendages, thorns, tubercles and bristles. There are one or two segments of the tarsi, the front tarsi are always one-segment, the rear tarsi are usually two-segment ( single -segment in alienates ).

In contrast to all other bugs, the phallus of primitive species of the Enicocephalidae is formed by structures such as paired elements that are homologous to the genital plates of the cicadas . The paramers are always immobile, basal overgrown or regressed to flat sclerites . In the females external genitalia are absent at all; in the tribe Systelloderini of the Megenicocephalina they are recognizable as remains. The female genital opening is covered by a large subgenital plate formed by the eighth sternum .

The division of the pronotum into three praises, the lack of interruption in the costalader, and the heavily modified and often regressed genitals of both sexes are autapomorphies of the family.

Occurrence

The family is distributed worldwide, the main range of the family includes the humid tropics and subtropics. Most species in the family live in litter or loose soil, in mosses, rotting wood, under bark and similar microhabitats . The species of the arid zones and the temperate latitudes presumably live mainly in crevices. Some species, such as the Australian Oncylocotis tasmanicus, are associated with ants.

Way of life

The Enicocephalidae are probably all less specialized predators, even if this is only documented for a few species. It is preferred to hunt weakly armored arthropods, especially springtails (Collembola) and pygmy paws (Symphyla). Adult animals can be caught by reading funnels and floor traps and attracted by artificial light. All species in which both sexes are able to fly swarm either during the day or at dusk. The sometimes very large swarms either consist of animals of both sexes or just one of them (then always the males). The details of the mating behavior are otherwise unknown and the mating has not yet been observed in any species.

Taxonomy and systematics

The following subtaxa are currently recognized:

The Aenictopecheidae were formerly also regarded as a subfamily of the Enicocephalidae, but raised by Štys in 1989 to the family rank that is still accepted today, although Wygodzinsky & Schmidt 1991 did not consider the separation in their work on the Enicocephalomorpha .

supporting documents

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Family Enicocephalidae. Australian Biological Resources Study. Australian Faunal Directory, accessed October 24, 2013 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j R.T. Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1995.
  3. ↑ a b c d Pedro W. Wygodzinsky & Kathleen Schmidt (1991): Revision of the New World Enicocephalomorpha (Heteroptera). Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History no.200 download

literature

  • RT Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1995.