Anthocoridae

Xylocoris galactinus, copyright Dick Belgers.

Belongs within: Cimicomorpha.
Contains: Cardiastethus, Oriini.

The Anthocoridae, flower bugs, are a group of small bugs that mostly feed on insect eggs or haemolymph from other insects. They are characterised by the presence of a cuneus in the hemelytron, with the hemelytral membrane usually being veinless, the presence of ocelli, and an apparently three-segmented labium. Most species engage in haemocoelic insemination with the exception of the subfamily Lasiochilinae (Carver et al. 1991). Members of the subfamily Anthocorinae usually have the last two segments of the antenna short and fusiform, with only short pilosity, whereas Lyctocorinae have these segments long and filiform with long hairs (Gross 1954).

<==Anthocoridae
    |  i. s.: Bilia MM96
    |         Macrotracheliella laevis MM96
    |         Septicius G54
    |         Arnulphus G54
    |         Eulasiocolpus G54
    |--Lasiochilus Reuter 1871 G54 [Lasiochilinae CGW91]
    |    |--*L. pallidulus Reuter 1871 G54
    |    |--L. femoralis Gross 1954 G54
    |    |--L. fruhstorferi Poppius 1909 [=L. (Dilasia) fruhstorferi] G54
    |    |--L. misimae Gross 1954 G54
    |    |--L. solomonensis Gross 1954 G54
    |    `--L. vitiensis Gross 1954 G54
    |--Lyctocorinae [Dufouriellinae, Lyctocoraria, Lyctocoridae, Xylocoraria] C61
    |    |  i. s.: Eoanthocoris cretaceus Popov 1990 SP02, RJ93
    |    |         Physopleurella Reuter 1885 CGW91, G54
    |    |           |--*P. mundula (White 1877) [=Cardiastethus mundula] G54
    |    |           |--P. armata Poppius 1909 [incl. P. obscura Poppius 1909] G54
    |    |           |--P. australis Gross 1954 G54
    |    |           |--P. bribiensis Gross 1954 G54
    |    |           |--P. pacifica Gross 1954 G54
    |    |           `--P. pessoni RD77
    |    |         Falda Gross 1954 G54
    |    |           `--*F. queenslandica Gross 1954 G54
    |    |         Oplobates Reuter 1895 G54
    |    |           `--*O. femoralis Reuter 1895 G54
    |    |         Orthosoleniopsis Poppius 1909 G54
    |    |           `--*O. australis Poppius 1909 G54
    |    |         Scoloposcelis Fieber 1864 G54
    |    |           |--S. pulchellus [incl. *S. crassipes] G54
    |    |           `--S. parallelus (Motschulsky 1863) [=Anthocoris parallelus; incl. S. picicornis Poppius 1909] G54
    |    |         Lasiellidea Reuter 1895 G54
    |    |           `--*L. glaberrima Reuter 1895 G54
    |    |         Poronotellus G54
    |    |         Plochiocorella Poppius 1909 G54
    |    |           `--*P. elongata Poppius 1909 G54
    |    |--Lyctocoris Hahn 1835 G54 [incl. Nesidiocheilus Kirkaldy 1902 G54; Lycotocorini W77]
    |    |    |--L. campestris (Fabricius 1794) C61 [=Acanthia campestris C61; incl. *L. domesticus Hahn 1835 G54]
    |    |    `--L. subelegans Breddin 1928 C61
    |    |--Scolopini W77
    |    |    |--Lasiochiloides Champion 1901 C61
    |    |    `--Blaptostethus Fieber 1860 C61
    |    |         |--*B. piceus Fieber 1860 G54
    |    |         |--B. africanus (Carayon 1956) [=Lasiochiloides africanus] C61
    |    |         `--B. pleneti (Carayon 1958) [=Lasiochiloides pleneti] C61
    |    |--Almeidini W77
    |    |    |  i. s.: ‘Piezostethus’ machadoi Carvalho 1952 W77
    |    |    |--Almeida Distant 1910 W77
    |    |    |--Lippomanus Distant 1904 W77
    |    |    `--Australmeida Woodward 1977 W77
    |    |         `--*A. derricki (Gross 1954) [=Lasiochilus derricki] W77
    |    |--Cardiastethus W77
    |    `--Xylocorini W77
    |         |--Piezostethus galactinus W77, G89
    |         `--Xylocoris Dufour 1831 G54
    |              |  i. s.: X. discalis G54
    |              |         X. hirsutus Carayon 1961 C61
    |              |         X. queenslandicus Gross 1954 G54
    |              |--X. (Xylocoris) C61
    |              |    |--X. (X.) cursitans (Fallén 1807) C61 (see below for synonymy)
    |              |    |--X. (X.) afer (Reuter 1884) [=Piezostethus afer] C61
    |              |    `--X. (X.) galactinus C61
    |              `--X. (Arrostus) flavipes (Reuter 1875) (see below for synonymy) C61
    `--Anthocorinae C61
         |  i. s.: Wollastoniella bifoveata Carayon 1958 C61
         |         Maoricoris China 1933 G54
         |           `--*M. benefactor China 1933 G54
         |--Anthocoris Fallen 1814 G54 [Anthocorini C61]
         |    |--A. sylvestris [incl. *A. nemorum] G54
         |    |--A. arctatus Walker 1872 G54
         |    |--A. austropiceus Gross 1954 G54
         |    |--A. kingi RD77
         |    |--A. nemoralis C61
         |    |--A. pacificus Kirkaldy 1908 K08
         |    `--A. subcruciatus Walker 1872 C61
         `--Oriini C61

Xylocoris (Arrostus) flavipes (Reuter 1875) [=Piezostethus flavipes; incl. Triphleps frumenti Zacher 1922, T. ramae Narayanan & Chatterji 1953, T. sinui Narayanan & Chatterji 1952] C61

Xyloxoris (Xylocoris) cursitans (Fallén 1807) C61 [=Anthocoris cursitans C61; incl. *X. rufipennis Dufour 1831 G54]

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[C61] Carayon, J. 1961. Hemiptera (Heteroptera): Anthocoridae. In: Hanström, B., P. Brinck & G. Rudebeck (eds) South African Animal Life: Results of the Lund University Expedition in 1950–1951 vol. 8 pp. 533–557. Almqvist & Wiksell: Uppsala.

[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).

[G89] Gestro, R. 1889. Viaggio ab Assab nel Mar Rosso dei signori G. Doria ed O. Beccari con il R. Avviso “Esploratore” dal 16 Novembre 1879 al 26 Febbraio 1880.—IV. Coleotteri. Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale di Genova, Serie 2^a , 7: 5–72.

[G54] Gross, G. F. 1954. A revision of the flower bugs (Heteroptera Anthocoridae) of the Australian and adjacent Pacific regions. Part I. Records of the South Australian Museum 11 (2): 129–164.

[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.

[MM96] Mound, L. A., & R. Marullo. 1996. The thrips of Central and South America: an introduction (Insecta: Thysanoptera). Memoirs on Entomology, International 6: 1–487.

[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.

[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.

[W77] Woodward, T. E. 1977. The occurrence of Almeidini (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae) in Australia, with the description of a new genus. Systematic Entomology 2: 255–260.

Last updated: 13 May 2022.