Stilt bugs
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| Fever , 1851 |
The stilt bugs (Berytidae) are a family of bugs from the suborder Pentatomomorpha . The stilt bugs occur in all major zoogeographical regions . There are about 170 species known in about 36 genera. There are 30 species in Europe.
features
The animals are 2.5 to 11 millimeters long and usually have an elongated and slender physique, with thin legs and antennae. At first glance, many species look like pond creepers (Hydrometridae) or predatory bug species of the subfamily Emesinae . They can be easily distinguished from the latter due to their lack of fangs. Most stilt bugs are dull yellowish or reddish brown in color and have no appendages or the like. However, some species have bizarre thorns and protuberances on their bodies. The apical part of the thighs ( femora ) and the first part of the antennae are often thickened in the shape of a club.
The head of the bedbugs is almost spherical, with the frontal plate ( clypeus ) often pulled forward. The antennae are above an imaginary line at the level of the middle of the compound eyes and have receded tubercles. Their fourth link is usually short and somewhat thickened. The distal ends of the legs ( femora ) are also thickened. The scutellum is pointed towards the back. The peritrema (the protruding opening of the spiracles ) of the olfactory gland of the metathorax is usually characteristically protruding and often ear-shaped or drawn out into an elongated thorn. The corium of the hemielytras is usually partly not sclerotized . The abdomen spirals are all on the back (dorsal) side. The adults usually have three (sometimes just two) trichobothria on the third sternum of the abdomen. In addition, the mediotergites are fused on the abdomen. In the nymphs , the openings of the scent glands on the abdomen are between the third to fifth or only between the third and fourth tergite. The nymphs usually have hairs (setae) on their glands. The ovipositor of the females has regressed. The seventh sternum is whole in the females. The apical, pear-shaped part of the spermatheca is large and egg-shaped. The distal part of the spermatheca, which resembles a pump flange, is well developed, the proximal part is receded or absent.
The shape of the peritremata on the metathorax, the elongated and slender body appendages and in particular the setae on the glands in the nymphs are rarely or not at all in other groups of bedbugs.
Way of life
The bugs move slowly. If you disturb them, they put their extremities close to the body and pretend to be dead. The animals feed mainly on plants and live on them. Many species prefer plants with sticky glandular hair secretion, which the animals also suckle on. This applies in particular to the families of the cranesbill family (Geraniaceae), evening primrose family (Onagraceae), figwort family (Scrophulariaceae) and nightshade family (Solanaceae). However, some species also live geophilically on the ground. Several species of the genus Jalysus , envy and Berytinus but live at least partially predatory, for example, aphids . Other species saprophagus feed on dead organic substances.
Taxonomy and systematics
The stilt bugs were seen in the course of their taxonomic research as an independent family (as currently), but also as a subfamily of the edge bugs (Coreidae) and the ground bugs (Lygaeidae), or as a tribe of ground bugs in the subfamily Cyminae . For a long time the group was considered to be closely related to some subgroups of ground bugs (especially the subfamily Cyminae). This subfamily was even integrated into the family Berytidae by Southwood & Leston (1954), which was later recognized as flawed, since many common characteristics apparently developed in parallel.
According to Henry (1997), the Colobathristidae are the sister group of the family, which is divided into the following monophyletic subfamilies and tribe on the basis of 82 morphological features :
- Subfamily Berytinae (mainly eastern hemisphere)
- Tribe Berytini (11 genera, 24 species; one genus USA, otherwise Old World)
- Tribus Berytinini (1 genus, 12 species; Palearctic)
- Subfamily Gampsocorinae
- Tribe Gampsocorini (4 genera, 21 species; eastern hemisphere)
- Tribe Hoplinini (8 genera 33 species; western hemisphere)
- Subfamily Metacanthinae
- Tribus Metacanthini (11 genera, 70 species; worldwide, but mainly in the eastern hemisphere)
- Tribus Metatropini (1 genus, 12 species; China and Korea)
The following species occur in Europe:
- Apoplymus pectoralis fever , 1859
- Berytinus clavipes ( Fabricius , 1775)
- Berytinus hirticornis ( Brullé , 1836)
- Berytinus minor ( Herrich-Schäffer , 1835)
- Berytinus biclavatus ( Geoffroy , 1785)
- Berytinus consimilis ( Horvath , 1885)
- Berytinus crassipes ( Herrich-Schäffer , 1835)
- Berytinus distinguendus ( Ferrari , 1874)
- Berytinus geniculatus ( Horvath , 1885)
- Berytinus montivagus ( Meyer-Dür , 1841)
- Berytinus setipennis ( Saunders , 1876)
- Berytinus signoreti ( Fever , 1859)
- Berytinus strangulatus ( Rey , 1888)
- Berytinus striola ( Ferrari , 1874)
- Gampsocoris culicinus Seidenstucker , 1948
- Gampsocoris enslini Seidenstucker , 1953
- Gampsocoris gatai Günther , 1997
- Gampsocoris gomeranus Wagner , 1965
- Gampsocoris lilianae Josifov , 1958
- Gampsocoris panorminus Seidenstucker , 1965
- Gampsocoris punctipes ( Germar , 1822)
- Metacanthus annulosus ( fever , 1859)
- Metacanthus lineatus ( Jakovlev , 1875)
- Metacanthus maghrebinus Pericart , 1977
- Metacanthus meridionalis ( A. Costa , 1843)
- Metatropis rufescens ( Herrich-Schäffer , 1835)
- Neides aduncus fever , 1859
- Neides brevipennis Puton , 1895
- Neides gomeranus Heiss , 1978
- Neides tipularius ( Linnaeus , 1758)
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f R. T. Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1995, p. 246.
- ↑ a b c d e Family Berytidae. Australian Biological Resources Study. Australian Faunal Directory, accessed December 23, 2013 .
- ↑ a b Berytidae. Fauna Europaea, accessed December 21, 2013 .
- ^ A b c Ekkehard Wachmann , Albert Melber, Jürgen Deckert: Bugs. Volume 3: Pentatomomorpha I: Aradoidea (bark bugs), Lygaeoidea (ground bugs, etc.), Pyrrhocoroidea (fire bugs) and Coreoidea (edge bugs, etc.). (= The animal world of Germany and the adjacent parts of the sea according to their characteristics and their way of life . 78th part). Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2007, ISBN 978-3-937783-29-1 , p. 179 .
- ^ TJ Henry 1997: Monograph of the stilt bugs, of Berytidae (Heteroptera) of the Western Hemisphere. Memoirs of the Entomological Society of Washington 19: pp. 1-149.
literature
- RT Schuh, JA Slater: True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Classification and Natural History. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, 1995.
- E. Wachmann, A. Melber, J. Deckert: Bugs. Volume 3: Pentatomorpha I, Aradidae, Lygaeidae, Piesmatidae, Berytidae, Pyrrhocoridae, Alydidae, Coreidae, Rhopalidae, Stenocephalidae. Redesign of the bugs in Germany, Austria and German-speaking Switzerland. Goecke & Evers, Keltern 2007, ISBN 978-3-937783-29-1 .
