Lichen bugs

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Lichen bugs
Loricula sp., Male

Loricula sp. , Males

Systematics
Class : Insects (Insecta)
Order : Schnabelkerfe (Hemiptera)
Subordination : Bed bugs (heteroptera)
Partial order : Cimicomorpha
Superfamily : Microphysoidea
Family : Lichen bugs
Scientific name of the  superfamily
Microphysoidea
Dohrn , 1859
Scientific name of the  family
Microphysidae
Dohrn , 1859
Loricula sp. , Females

The lichen bugs ( Microphysidae) are a family of bugs (Heteroptera) known with only 29 species . 27 species have been described from the Palearctic . Two types are found only in North America . In Europe they are represented with 17 species in two genera, Loricula and Myrmedobia .

features

The lichen bugs are very small and reach between 1.2 and almost 3 millimeters in length. The head of these bugs is roughly triangular. The males are always long-winged (macropter). The half-ceilings (hemielytres) are fully developed. They have point or forehead eyes ( Ocelli ) and resemble small representatives of the flower bugs (Anthocoridae) in their external appearance . The females have shortened wings without a membrane, their ocelles are stunted and the abdomen is usually enlarged, similar to that of aphids. They therefore have a completely different appearance than the males and mostly resemble small, spherical beetles . All tarsi (feet) are two-part. The proboscis ( rostrum ) is tripartite.

Way of life

The bugs live between lichens (lichen) and mosses (Bryophyta), on the trunks of older trees, and more rarely on the ground. Lichen bugs feed unspecifically on eggs, larvae and adult small arthropods such as bark , scale and aphids , springtails , fly larvae, fringed winged birds or mites .

The males are very active in flight during the breeding season. They are then also found on grasses, herbaceous plants or woody plants outside of the larval and female habitats. The wintering takes place in the ice stage. The bugs form one generation a year.

Systematics

The lichens bugs are divided into 5 recent genera and about 30 recent species. The genus Ciorulla is assigned to its own subfamily Ciorullinae, while the remaining genera are grouped together as Microphysinae. Myrmedobia is considered by some authors to be a subgenus of Loricula .

Individual evidence and references

  1. ↑ a b Family Microphysidae - Minute Bladder Bugs . bugguide.net. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  2. ^ A b c Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 2: Cimicomorpha: Microphysidae (lichen bugs), Miridae (soft bugs) (=  The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea according to their characteristics and their way of life . 75th part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2006, ISBN 3-931374-57-2 .
  3. ↑ a b Microphysidae in Fauna Europaea. Retrieved December 21, 2019
  4. ↑ Microphysidae . www.biolib.cz. Retrieved December 21, 2019.
  • E. Wagner: Heteroptera Hemiptera. - In: P. Brohmer, P. Ehrmann & G. Ulmer (eds.): Die Tierwelt Mitteleuropas. IV, 3 (Xa), 1959. - Leipzig, 173 pp.

further reading

  • E. Wachmann, A. Melber & J. Deckert: Bugs. Volume 1: Dipsocoromorpha, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha, Leptopodomorpha, Cimicomorpha (Part I) , revision of the bugs in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland, Goecke & Evers, Keltern, 2006. ISBN 3-931374-49-1

Web links

Commons : Lichenbugs (Microphysidae)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files