Schizopteridae
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Schizopteridae | ||||||||||
| Reuter , 1891 |
The Schizopteridae are a family of bugs (Heteroptera) in the suborder Dipsocoromorpha . Of them, about 229 species in more than 42 genera are known, making them the largest family of their suborder. Slater (1982) assumes, however, that the majority of the species in this family, especially in the Indo-Pacific region, are still unknown to date and that there are probably over 1200 species.
features
The very small bugs are only 0.8 to 2 millimeters long. They usually have a convex, compact, sometimes flat and egg-shaped, often almost completely black body with usually - especially in the female - forewings built similar to the beetles , so that they partly resemble these insects, but also representatives of the Omaniidae . Their bodies are provided with pits, tubercles, a dense layer of Microtrichia or other sculptures, but unlike most of the other representatives of the Dipsocoromorpha, they lack noticeably longer body hair.
Your head is curved sharply downward. In some species, the relatively small to mostly very large compound eyes extend almost backwards along the entire lateral edge of the pronotum . Pointed eyes ( ocelli ) can be developed or absent. The first two segments of the antennae are short and approximately the same length, the third and fourth antenna elements are elongated. The labium is two to four members. It can be short and not reach behind the hips ( coxes ) of the front legs, but it can also be very long and extended well beyond the base of the abdomen. The metasternum often has a central thorn or a pair of V-shaped appendages that sometimes extend to the abdomen. The olfactory gland openings on the metathorax are unpaired and arranged in the middle. The propleurs are ventrally expanded and include the hips of the front legs and ventral parts of the head. The forewings are fully developed (macropter) to coleopteroid and thus resemble the cover wings of beetles. However, they are always tegminal and almost equally strongly sclerotized . As a rule, they lack medial or costal interruptions to the folding. The hind wings are absent in the non-macroporous animals and are otherwise developed. The hind legs are modified to form ankle legs; they have adhesive pads on the mesial margin. The tarsi have different numbers of members. For the males the tarsi formula is 2: 2: 3, 3: 3: 2 or 3: 3: 3, for the females 2: 2: 2, 2: 2: 3 or 3: 3: 3. In males, the sixth to eighth abdomen segment, typical for representatives of the Dipsocoromorpha, is often asymmetrically modified on the right side and only rarely symmetrical. The pygophores (the extension of the ninth abdomen segment in males) and the paramers are usually asymmetrical. In females, the ovipositor is either well developed, regressed, absent or asymmetrical (genus Pachyplagioides ). A spermatheca is formed.
The nymphs' scent gland openings on the back of the abdomen lie between the sixth and seventh tergum .
The typical spherical body, the short first two antennae segments, the thorn on the metasternum and the adhesive pads on the rear hips are characteristic features of the family.
Occurrence
Similar to the other families of the Dipsocoromorpha, the main distribution of the Schizopteridae is very predominantly in the tropics. You can also find species beyond, for example in Tasmania and in North America north to Michigan .
Way of life
Little is known about the way of life of the Schizopteridae. It is believed that all species predatory feed on small invertebrates. You can catch the animals regularly in the ground litter, in ground traps or in the light. Slater (1982) describes them as ground and litter dwellers, although most types of light catchers are known and could not be found directly in the habitats mentioned. The Hypselosomatinae are presumably closely tied to moist habitats such as rainforests and other moist forests, tropical palm swamps and raised bogs and live there in litter, moss, grass clusters and those of sedges and rushes and on grasses and ferns. Unlike the other representatives of the Dipsocoromorpha, the Schizopteridae do not run when disturbed, but jump and fly (if winged) away. Apparently only one egg develops in the females at a time, which fills almost the entire abdomen.
Taxonomy and systematics
Enzio Rafael Reuter first described the group in 1891 as a higher taxon with the name "Schizopterina" as a subgroup of the Ceratocombidae . In 1910 he recognized her as an independent family. All subsequent authors followed this opinion to this day. According to Schuh & Slater (1995), the family is divided into the following two subfamilies. A third subfamily, the Ogeriinae described by Emsley in 1969, is not further considered by them due to numerous genus that Emsley had not assigned to subfamilies as incertae sedis .
- Subfamily Hypselosomatinae
- Subfamily Schizopterinae
Fossil Finds
Fossil Schizopteridae exist exclusively as inclusions in amber . The oldest find so far comes from Lebanese amber, the species found there largely corresponds in its body shape to the more recent species and was assigned to the subfamily Hypselosomatinae. The family goes back at least to the Lower Cretaceous .
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ Robert G. Foottit, Peter H. Adler: Insect Biodiversity: Science and Society . Wiley-Blackwell, New York 2009, ISBN 978-1-4051-5142-9 , pp. 228 .
- ↑ a b c d Family Schizopteridae. Australian Biological Resources Study. Australian Faunal Directory, accessed June 11, 2014 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g R. T. Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York 1995, pp. 80ff.
- ^ Dany Azar & Andre Nel (2010): The earliest fossil schizopterid bug (Insecta: Heteroptera) in the Lower Cretaceous amber of Lebanon. Annales de la Société Entomologique de France (ns) 46 (1-2): 193-197.
literature
- RT Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York 1995.