Medocostes lestoni
| Medocostes lestoni | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the family | ||||||||||||
| Medocostidae | ||||||||||||
| Štys , 1967 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Medocostes | ||||||||||||
| Štys , 1967 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Medocostes lestoni | ||||||||||||
| Štys , 1967 |
Medocostes lestoni is the only described species of the family Medocostidae within the bedbugs suborder Cimicomorpha . The genus name is an anagram of Scotomedes , the type genus of the family Velocipedidae .
features
The bugs are 8.3 to 9.5 millimeters long. Your head is relatively short and pointed moderately downwards. Point eyes ( Ocelli ) are formed. There is a prepedicellite on the antennae . The bucculae , the laterally delimiting the cheek plates, are large and cover the base of the labium . The gula is short. The labium extends backwards between the hips ( coxes ) of the hind legs. Your first segment is practically invisible, the fourth segment is longer than the second and third combined. The pronotum is flattened and has a narrow collar. The scutellum is large. The mes epimeron and the met episternum are almost completely taken up by the evaporation area of the olfactory gland. The medial fold on the hemielytres is long and there is no costal fold. The membrane carries three long basal cells, many of which arise from simple or bifurcated veins. At the base of the basal cell, which extends furthest to the wing tip, there is a stub called the “corial process”. In the adult animals there are scent glands on the front edge of the fourth to sixth mediotergit. On the second to eighth sternum on the abdomen are stigmata .
Characteristic for the species are the striking proportions of the segments of the labium, which is unique within the Cimicomorpha and probably also the entire subordination of the bedbugs.
Occurrence and way of life
The way of life of the animals has hardly been researched. Apparently they live on the bark of dead trees, which is why it is concluded that they feed on insects that live under the bark. The species is only known from the tropical west of Africa and the Congo Basin .
Taxonomy and systematics
In 1967 Pavel Štys described the family Medocostidae and assigned two species to it, which were finally synonymous in 1989 by Kerzher , so that the family is monotypical today. Although Kerzhner placed the group (from then still two species) in the family Velocipedidae in 1971 and Carayon (1970) and again Kerzhner (1981) saw them as a subfamily of sickle bugs (Nabidae), Schuh & Slater (1991) followed the view of Štys and confirmed the independent family status.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e R. T. Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York 1995, pp. 184ff.
literature
- RT Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York 1995.