Cimicomorpha

Damsel bug Nabis kinbergii, photographed by Denis Crawford.

Belongs within: Panheteroptera.
Contains: Reduviidae, Tingoidea, Miridae, Anthocoridae, Cimicidae, Polyctenidae.

The Cimicomorpha is a group of terrestrial bugs characterised by a reduced number of cells in the forewing membrane, and the reduction of the spermatheca to a vermiform gland (Shcherbakov & Popov 2002). The clade includes both phytophagous (Miridae, Tingoidea) and predatory (Reduviidae, Cimicoidea) representatives. The Reduvioidea usually have a powerful, three-segmented labium that curves away from the ventral surface of the head at rest (Richards & Davies 1977).

Members of the Cimicoidea have a phallus that punctures a membrane in the female abdomen, either puncturing the vaginal walls as in the Nabidae, allowing the sperm to migrate to the ovaries through the haemolymph rather than through the oviduct, or puncturing the abdomen wall externally as in Cimicidae and Anthocoridae, through a process known as traumatic insemination (Grimaldi & Engel 2005). The Nabidae, damsel bugs, are relatively long and slender and mostly larger than other cimicoids. The Velocipedidae are a group of medium-sized oval bugs found in the Oriental region (Richards & Davies 1977).

<==Cimicomorpha [Anthocoroidea]
    |--Reduvioidea CGW91
    |    |--Pachynomidae CGW91
    |    |--Reduviidae SP02
    |    `--Elasmodema [Elasmodemidae] RD77
    `--+--+--Tingoidea SP02
       |  `--Miroidea CGW91
       |       |--Miridae SP02
       |       `--Microphysidae CGW91
       `--Cimicoidea CGW91
            |  i. s.: Plokiophilidae CGW91
            |           |--Plokiophilinae R00
            |           `--Embiophila [Embiophilinae] R00
            |                `--E. africana [=Acladina africana] R00
            |         Medocostidae CGW91
            |         Electrocoris Usinger 1942 P92
            |--+--Anthocoridae G75
            |  `--+--Cimicidae G75
            |     `--Polyctenidae G75
            `--+--Velocipedidae G75
               |    |  i. s.: Velocipeda RD77
               |    |         Scotomedes RD77
               |    `--Darniopseinae SP02
               `--Nabidae G75
                    |  i. s.: Arachnocoris GE05
                    |         Reduviolus B27
                    |           |--R. biformis Bergroth 1927 B27
                    |           |--R. capsiformis [incl. R. saundersi] B27
                    |           |--R. maoricus B27
                    |           |--R. maracandicus B27
                    |           `--R. quadripunctatus Bergroth 1927 B27
                    |         Sinanabis brevipes Zhang 1986 RJ93
                    |         Himacerus apterus HW96
                    |--Prostemmatinae CGW91
                    |    |--Phorticus CGW91
                    |    |--Prostemma CGW91
                    |    |    |--P. guttula H01
                    |    |    `--P. sanguineum H01
                    |    `--Alloeorrhynchus CGW91
                    |         |--A. flavipes WP99
                    |         |--A. flavolimbatus B27
                    |         |--A. myersi Bergroth 1927 B27
                    |         `--A. queenslandicus WEE74
                    `--Nabinae CGW91
                         |--Arbela telomi CGW91
                         |--Stenonabis CGW91
                         |--Gorpis [Gorpinae] CGW91
                         |    `--G. cribraticollis Stal 1859 K08
                         `--Nabis Latreille 1802 L02
                              |  i. s.: N. brevis H01
                              |         N. capsiformis CGW91
                              |         N. ferus H01
                              |         N. flavomarginatus H01
                              |         N. guttula [=Reduvius guttula] L02
                              |         N. limbatus H01
                              |         N. myrmicoides BM76
                              |         N. rugosus BM76
                              `--N. (Tropiconabis) M83
                                   |--N. (T.) kinbergii M83
                                   `--N. (T.) maoricus M83

Cimicomorpha incertae sedis:
  Pterocimex [Pterocimicidae] GE05
  Lygaenocoris GE05
  Mesopentacoridae [Protocoridae] GE05
    |--Mesopentacoris GE05
    |--Corienta transbaicalica Popov 1990 RJ93
    `--Pallicoris firmis Lin 1986 RJ93
  Miridoides GE05
  Scutellifer GE05
  Cymocoris GE05
  Coriopachys GE05

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[B27] Bergroth, E. 1927. Hemiptera Heteroptera from New Zealand. Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute 57: 671–684.

[BM76] Bohart, R. M., & A. S. Menke. 1976. Sphecid Wasps of the World. University of California Press: Berkeley.

[CGW91] Carver, M., G. F. Gross & T. E. Woodward. 1991. Hemiptera (bugs, leafhoppers, cicadas, aphids, scale insects etc.) In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers 2^nd ed. vol. 1 pp. 429–509. Melbourne University Press: Carlton (Victoria).

[GE05] Grimaldi, D., & M. S. Engel. 2005. Evolution of the Insects. Cambridge University Press: New York.

[G75] Gross, G. F. 1975. Plant-feeding and Other Bugs (Hemiptera) of South Australia. Heteroptera—Part I. Handbook of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia.

[HW96] Hoebeke, E. R., & A. G. Wheeler, Jr. 1996. Meligethes viridescens (F.) (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae) in Maine, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island: diagnosis, distribution, and bionomics of a Palearctic species new to North America. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 98 (2): 221–227.

[H01] Horváth, G. 1901. Hemipterák [Hemiptera]. In: Horváth, G. (ed.) Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazása [Dritte Asiatische Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] vol. 2. Zichy Jenő Gróf Harmadik Ázsiai Utazásának Állattani Eredményei [Zoologische Ergebnisse der Dritten Asiatischen Forschungsreise des Grafen Eugen Zichy] pp. 245–274. Victor Hornyánszky: Budapest, and Karl W. Hierseman: Leipzig.

[K08] Kirkaldy, G. W. 1908. A catalogue of the Hemiptera of Fiji. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 33: 345–391, pl. 4.

[L02] Latreille, P. A. 1802. Histoire Naturelle, générale et particulière des crustacés et des insectes vol. 3. Familles naturelles des genres. F. Dufart: Paris.

[M83] Martin, N. A. 1983. Miscellaneous observations on a pasture fauna: an annotated species list. DSIR Entomology Division Report 3: 1–98.

[P92] Poinar, G. O., Jr. 1992. Life in Amber. Stanford University Press: Stanford.

[RD77] Richards, O. W., & R. G. Davies. 1977. Imms' General Textbook of Entomology 10^th ed. vol. 2. Classification and Biology. Chapman and Hall: London.

[RJ93] Ross, A. J., & E. A. Jarzembowski. 1993. Arthropoda (Hexapoda; Insecta). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 363–426. Chapman & Hall: London.

[R00] Ross, E. S. 2000. Embia: Contributions to the biosystematics of the insect order Embiidina. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 149: 1–53, 1–36.

[SP02] Shcherbakov, D. E., & Yu. A. Popov. 2002. Superorder Cimicidea Laicharting, 1781: Order Hemiptera Linné, 1758. The bugs, cicadas, plantlice, scale insects, etc. [=Cimicida Laicharting, 1781, =Homoptera Leach, 1815+Heteroptera Latreille, 1810). In: Rasnitsyn, A. P., & D. L. J. Quicke (eds) History of Insects pp. 143–157. Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht.

[WP99] Walter, D. E., & H. C. Proctor. 1999. Mites: Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

[WEE74] Woodward, T. E., V. F. Eastop & J. W. Evans. 1974. Hemiptera (bugs, leafhoppers, etc.) In: CSIRO. The Insects of Australia: A textbook for students and research workers. Supplement 1974 pp. 52–57. Melbourne University Press.

Last updated: 14 May 2022.