The King’s Lace Bug Recaredus rex Distant, 1909 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae): Systematic Position, First Palaearctic and Afrotropical Records, and Ecological Niche Modelling

Abstract

The systematic position and actual distribution of Recaredus rex, for a long time one of the most enigmatic lace bug genus and species, is very obscure because only the type specimen and three other individuals from India are known to date. In the present paper, we report the first records of R. rex from the Palaearctic region (Iran) and tropical Africa (Ghana). Based on the occurrence localities and climatic variables, we predict potentially useful ecological niches for this species using Maxent software. The areas with the best environmental conditions for R. rex indicated in our studies suggest its possible Palaeotropical distribution. Moreover, we regard these results as a good starting point for further searches for specimens of this species. This might help verify the hypothesis of the broad Palaeotropical distribution of R. rex and its oligo- or polyphagy. In addition, the lace bug genus Recaredus, based on the diagnostic characteristics provided for the tribe Acalyptaini, and the structure of aedeagus, is transferred from the tribe Ypsotingini to the Acalyptaini. A key to all genera currently included in the latter tribe is also provided.

Comparative Cytogenetics of Lace Bugs (Tingidae, Heteroptera): New Data and a Brief Overview

“…Based on morphological characters, paleontological data and molecular sequence data analysis, Tingidae are the most closely related to the largest true bug family Miridae [ 9 , 10 ]. Tingidae comprise more than 2600 described species in 318 genera and three subfamilies: Tinginae (approximately 2500 species) with tribes Phatnomini, Litadeini, Ypsotingini, Tingini, and Acalyptaini; Cantacaderinae with tribes Cantacaderini, Ceratocaderini, and Carldrakeanini; and Vianaidinae [ 8 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ].…”

Monitoring Research on Invasive Species of Bedbug (<i>Corytucha ciliata say</i>) in Green Areas of Kyiv

“…Family of lace bugs (Tingidae Laporte, 1832) includes from 2000 [Lis, 2013] to 2600 recent species. Many types of lace bugs are common in North America.…”

Tribe Acalyptaini (Hemiptera: Tingidae: Tinginae) Revisited: Can Apomorphies in Secondary and Tertiary Structures of 18S rRNA Length-Variable Regions (LVRs) Support Tribe Validity?

“…Recently [9], the phylogenetic affinity of the morphological and karyological characters of the genera Acalypta Westwood, 1840, Dictyonota Curtis, 1827, Kalama Puton, 1876, and Derephysia Spinola, 1837 were demonstrated through a comparative analysis, and these genera were then united into a single tribe under the resurrected valid name Acalyptini (Acalyptaini; ICZN Case 3813) [10]. Previously, these genera had been classified into three tribes: Acalyptini Blatchley, 1926, or Tingini Laporte, 1832, for Acalypta and Ypsotingini, Drake and Ruhoff, 1965, for Dictyonota, Derephysia, and Kalama [1,5,7,11].…”

“…Morphological character and genital structure analyses have recently resulted in the genus Recaredus Distant, 1909, which was allocated to the tribe Ypsotingini, to be included in the tribe Acalyptaini [13]. Thus, the tribe Acalyptaini presently contains five genera: Acalypta, Derephysia, Dictyonota, Kalama, and Recaredus [11].…”

“…Species of these genera are mainly Holarctic in distribution [1,5,7,9], but some have been identified in the tropical regions of Africa and Asia [5,7,11,13].…”