Studies on the taxonomy of the Alydidae with special reference to the subfamily Leptocorisinae (Heteroptera)

• Main Author: Ahmad, Imtiaz
• Published: Imperial College London 1963
• Subjects: 595.7
• Online Access: https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.602268

Taxonomy of the family Alydidae has been in confusion in the past. Some of the recent authors (e.g. China and Miller, 1959) have not accepted its family rank and its lower categories have been virtually ignored. During the present studies the abdomen and its appendages (the genitalia) of the various representatives of the family Alydidae have been examined to evaluate their importance in the classification of higher and lower categories. Prior to this revision the subfamily Leptocorisinae Stal (Div. Leptocorisaria of the subfamily Alydina) contained eight genera and thirty eight species including major rice pests of the Far East. There was confusion over the identities of many species and since Stal (1873) no world wide revisional work had been undertaken and in his work only fourteen species (including some synonyms) ware covered. During the present studies three new tribes, one new genus, two new subgenera, twenty one new species have been described and one species, on account of its homonymy, has been renamed. Stenocoris Burmeister (1839) (subgenus sensu Stal, 1873) has been given generic rank and has been separated from Leptocorisa Latreille 1829, an application has been made to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to supress Leptocorixa. Rhabdocoris Kolenati 1845 (subgenus of Leptocorisa Latreille sensu Stk, 1873) has been synonymised with Leptocorisa. The undescribed misidentified type species of the subgenus Erbula has been renamed and described and a request has been made to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to use its plennary powers to retain the subgeneric concept unchanged (see Appendix 2). Nine previously described species have been considered synonyms, whilst four of the species regarded as synonyms by earlier workers have been reinstated. Three of Bergroth's genera, formerly included in the Leptocorisinae have been transferred to the tribes of the subfamily Coreinae (sensu Stal 1873). They have been redescribed and figured and two new species described from within them.