First record of the subfamily Psallopinae (Heteroptera: Miridae) from Australia and discussion of its systematic position and diagnostic characters

Abstract

Psallopinae are the smallest subfamily within the heteropteran family Miridae, including only two extant genera and 18 species. This group is widely distributed in the Old World but previously has never been recorded from Australia. In this work, Psallopinae is recorded for the first time from the Australian continent, with the description of three new species of Psallops Usinger 1946. A comparison of the Australian taxa with extralimital species is provided. The distribution of Psallops in Australia, the morphology of the genus and the systematic position of Psallopinae within Miridae are discussed. Dissections and terminologyThe specimen dissection techniques follow Kerzhner and Konstantinov (1999). The terminology for male genitalia follows *anna.

Diversification of the phytophagous lineages of true bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera) shortly after that of the flowering plants

“…Total‐evidence phylogenetic analyses of Heteroptera based on a comprehensive sampling (Weirauch et al., 2019) provided to date the most robust phylogenetic framework for Cimicomorpha and Pentatomomorpha at superfamily level. Various detailed parts in the family‐ and subfamily‐level phylogenetic relationships within the four major phytophagous superfamilies, however, still need to be further solved, especially for the early divergent groups of extant taxa for each superfamily, such as the position of Thaumastellidae within Pentatomoidea (Grazia et al., 2008; Lis et al., 2017; Weirauch et al., 2019; Wu et al., 2018), and Isometopinae, Psallopinae and Cylapinae within Miridae (Jung & Lee, 2012; Namyatova & Cassis, 2019; Schuh et al., 2009; Schuh, 1974, 1976).…”

Five new genera of the subfamily Cylapinae (Insecta, Heteroptera, Miridae) from Australia

“…A combination of characters similar to that possessed by the most cylapines was found in Isometopinae and Psallopinae . Isometopinae are different from Cylapinae in the presence of ocelli ( Namyatova and Cassis 2016b ), and Psallopinae are often very small (1–2 mm), fragile and have the vertex width shorter than eye diameter ( Namyatova and Cassis 2019b ). All genera described in this paper have the abovementioned structures of the pretarsus and do not fit the diagnoses of Isometopinae and Psallopinae , and, therefore, we place them into Cylapinae .…”

“…The Australian fauna of Cylapinae seems to be very little known, and currently it includes just 21 genera and 43 species from all tribes, except for Rhinomirini ( Cassis and Gross 1995 ; Wolski and Gorczyca 2014b ; Namyatova and Cassis 2016a , 2019a ; Namyatova et al 2019 ) and also four Psallopinae species ( Namyatova and Cassis 2019b ). It is estimated from museum collections, that Australian Cylapinae species diversity may reach at least 100 ( Namyatova and Cassis 2016a ).…”

Revisiting the Taxonomy of Cylapocoris Carvalho, 1954 (Hemiptera: Miridae: Cylapinae) with Descriptions of Five New Species and Morphology-Based Phylogenetic Analysis of the Genus

“…Cylapinae Kirkaldy, 1903 [ 1 ] is a small subfamily within the highly diverse family Miridae Hahn, 1831 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) currently including over 520 species [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ]. Most cylapine genera and species are known from the tropics and subtropics.…”

“…Currently, Cylapinae is classified into six tribes, including two large groupings, i.e., Fulviini Uhler, 1886 and Cylapini Kirkaldy, 1903 and four small tribes: Bothriomirini Kirkaldy, 1906, Rhinomirini Gorczyca, 2000, Psallopini Schuh, 1976, and Vanniini Gorczyca, 1997 [ 10 ]. However, the identity and placement of those groupings as well as the monophyly of the subfamily remain doubtful [ 6 , 9 , 11 ]. Our knowledge of the phylogenetic relationships within the family is restricted to a few papers focusing on taxa at the tribal level [ 4 , 5 , 9 ] or below [ 12 , 13 , 14 ] with no existing works covering the entire subfamily and most of these studies are based on morphological data, while molecular information is available for only a small number of cylapine taxa.…”