A checklist of Indian Assassin Bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Reduviidae) with taxonomic status, distribution and diagnostic morphological characteristics

Abstract

A checklist of 464 Indian species of assassin bugs under 144 genera and 14 subfamilies with their taxonomical status, their distribution in India and world over and their morphological characteristics are given. Members of the Harpactorinae are the most abundant group with 146 species and 41 genera followed by the Reduviinae and the Ectrichodiinae. The subfamilies such as the Physoderinae and the Ectinoderinae are represented each by two and lone species. Other characteristics of the family Reduviidae discussed in this overview include the rostrum structure, tibial pads, habitat characteristics, microhabitats and habits. Morphological characteristics are correlated with ecological, behavioural and biological manifestations of the reduviids.

<b>The first report of two thread-legged assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae) from India</b>

“…On the basis of size alone (reported length for male 10mm and female 15mm) we feel that this material must be re-examined because, as per the key and description of melinarthrum group of Wygodzinsky (1966), Gardena melinarthrum is "medium to large (18.5 to 25 mm), winged or apterous" insect; so it is likely that Mukherjee and Saha's species is something else. The only other species said to be present in India is Gardena muscicapa (Bergroth, 1906) as mentioned in the checklist of Ambrose (2006); however, there are no further reports or good photographs / illustrations of this species from India. Gardena bicolor Distant, 1903, described from Burma (=Myanmar), and so likely to be present in India, has been treated as a possible synonym of Gardena melinarthrum (see : Wygodzinsky 1966).…”

“…The only published checklist of Reduviidae for India by Ambrose (2006) does not include these species. Stål originally described these species from the Philippines (Stål 1871) and are also known from Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), as mentioned by Distant, cited above.…”

<b>A note on three interesting Heteroptera from Kolhapur, Maharashtra, India</b>

“…Ptilocerus montandoni was described from Kandy in Ceylon (=Sri Lanka) and has never been recorded from India (see Ambrose 2006), although we share many bugs and other insects with Sri Lanka. It is probably a rare and cryptic species as it has not been recorded for a long time even from Sri Lanka in recent years.…”

First record of Rhaphidosoma atkinsoni (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) from Maharashtra, India, with redescription and observations on its bionomics

“…Rh. atkinsoni was originally described from 'Trevandrum' (now known as Thiruvananthapuram) in South India (Bergroth 1893); Ambrose (2006) also listed it from localities in South India while Mukherjee & Hassan (2016) very recently recorded this species from Telangana. A checklist of the Reduviidae of Maharashtra (Sharma & Bano 2012) did not include Rh atkinsoni; this checklist is apparently an extract from volumes of the book series "Fauna of British India" and is not based on examination of any specimens.…”

“…The genus Rhaphidosoma Amyot & Serville, 1843 contains about 40 described species in Africa, four species in the Middle East (Maldonado Capriles, 1990), and three species in India (Ambrose 2006). The species reported from India are Rh.…”