Auricillocorini Schuh, 1984

Yasunaga, Tomohide, 2012, Review of the phyline plant bug tribe Auricillocorini from Asia, with descriptions of a new genus and nine new species from Japan, Nepal and Thailand (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Phylinae), Zootaxa 3530, pp. 1-24 : 2-3

Tribe Auricillocorini Schuh, 1984

Diagnosis. Auricillocorini is principally recognized by the following diagnostic characters: body slender, more or less myrmecomorphic (except for Wygomiris with elongate-oval, conventional mirid shape); basic coloration yellow brown to fuscous; anterior margin of pronotum forming a flattened collar; metathoracic scent efferent system with weakly to strongly protruding auricule and with anterior and posterior evaporative areas usually slightly overlapping; hemelytron usually with pale bands and/or maculae (pale fascia or macula on anterior clavus just posterior to scutellum often present, except in Wygomiris ); cuneal fracture often at right angles to corial margin; cuneus broadly triangular; parempodia weakly fleshy, recurved, apically convergent; abdomen often constricted basally in myrmecomorphic species. The genitalia are of the phyline type, variable in form; secondary gonopore of the male endosoma is usually developed.

Discussion. This compact tribe group was proposed by Schuh (1984), placing 5 genera and 14 species, based on examinations of 204 specimens (but of these, 155 specimens belong to Cleotomiris chinensis or C. schneirlai , thus most species of Auricillocorini seem to be rare). All known members are reported from tropical and subtropical Asia, and some undescribed species appear to occur in New Guinea. The present study adds a new genus Artchawakomius and 9 new species, with the consequence that 6 genera and 23 species are included in the Auricillocorini , now known from India, Indonesia, Indochina ( Laos and Thailand), Japan (Ryukyus), E Malaysia (Borneo), Nepal, New Guinea, the Philippines, and SE China. The majority of auricillocorines are considered to be Sundaland elements, based on their distribution patterns.

Schuh (1984) assumed that the Auricillocorini is sister to the Hallodapini in his phylogenetic analyses. However, the genitalic structures of the Auricillocorini more closely resemble those of the Phylini , and some auricillocorines exhibit great similarity in superficial appearance to certain taxa of the Leucophoropterini (see Menard & Schuh, 2011). Based on the form of the male and female genitalia, the Auricillocorini is supposed to have a closer relationship to the Phylini rather than to other phyline tribes.

Inferred phylogenetic relationship of the Auricillocorini is shown in Fig. 12 . As mentioned by Schuh (1984), this Indo-Pacific group is regarded to be monophyletic by sharing five synapomorphies (11, 17, 18, 21, & 24 in Fig. 12 ). Now the 6 described genera are related and constitute the monophyletic tribe. Based on the four external characters (4, 5, 8 & 20), the Auricillocorini is currently assumed to be sister to the Hallodapini . Nonetheless, further investigations on characters including the genitalic structures of both sexes are required to reconstruct the more definitive tribal phylogenetic relationships in the subfamily Phylinae .

Figures

FIGURE 12. Inferred phylogenetic relationships of Auricillocorini, modified from Schuh (1984). Numbers of apomorphic states of characters corresponding to those mentioned in Appendix section; homoplasious characters indicated by italics.