Baeochila Drake & Poor, 1937

Souma, Jun, 2020, Discoveries of the genera Baeochila and Idiocysta from Japan, with descriptions of two new species (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae), Zootaxa 4731 (3), pp. 388-402 : 389-390

Genus Baeochila Drake & Poor, 1937

Baeochila Drake & Poor, 1937: 400 (as subgenus of Cysteochila ; upgraded by Drake 1948: 151). Type species by original designation: Cysteochila elongata Distant, 1903 .

Diagnosis. Recognized among other tingid genera by a combination of the following characters: body oblong; head shorter than its maximum width across compound eyes, with five spines; antennal segments I close to each other at their bases; bucculae touching each other at anterior ends; pronotum convex in anterior part, tricarinate; pronotal disk covered with minute pubescence as other thoracic parts; hood semi-globose or semi-ellipsoid, higher than pronotal disk at highest part (except B. dehrana ); pronotal carinae ridge-shaped; paranotum reflexed, expanding inward, not bulged upward throughout its length, not forming a cyst; outer margin of paranotum resting on pronotal disk throughout its length; anterior margins of hemelytra nearly parallel to each other in rest; costal area distinct (except B. dehrana ); subcostal area subvertical; discoidal area flat; delimiting veins strongly carinate; hypocostal lamina with a single row of areolae throughout its length; ostioles well-developed, elongated, not widened outward; metasternum as wide as mesosternum; metasternal laminae nearly parallel to each other; abdominal sternites IV–VIII in male and IV–VII in female each with a transverse furrow throughout their width; pygophore elevated at center of venter; and ovipositor with well-developed ovivalvula at base.

Remarks. The genus Baeochila comprises four described species, namely, B. dehrana Drake & Maa, 1954 , B. elongata (Distant, 1903) , B. nexa (Distant, 1903) , and B. scitula Drake, 1948 . These species are all distributed in eastern Asia, including parts of the Oriental and Palaearctic Regions (cf. Distant 1903a, 1903b; Drake & Poor 1937; Drake 1948, 1958; Takeya 1951; Drake & Maa 1954; Drake & Ruhoff 1965a; Jing 1981; Péricart 1985; Duarte Rodrigues 1992; Péricart & Golub 1996; Guilbert 2007, 2015; Cho et al. 2018; Guilbert & Guidoti 2018; Guilbert et al. 2018). A key to the species of the genus was presented by Cho et al. (2018).

This genus strongly resembles Oncophysa Stål, 1873 in the anterior margins of hemelytra being nearly parallel to each other in rest, but the latter is distinguished from Baeochila by the following characters: hood roof-shaped, lower than pronotal disk at highest part; paranotum bulged upward throughout its length, forming a cyst; and costal area of hemelytron indistinct. However, based on a comparison of B. dehrana and O. vesiculata ( Stål, 1859) using the photographs of the holotypes ( Swedish Museum of Natural History 2007; United States National Museum of Natural History 2019), the original descriptions ( Stål 1859; Drake & Maa 1954) and the keys ( Cho et al. 2018; Guilbert et al. 2018), B. dehrana was found to present characteristics similar to Oncophysa species as follows: hood roof-shaped, lower than pronotal disk at highest part; and costal area of hemelytron indistinct. Therefore, the generic assignment of B. dehrana might be in need of reconsideration.

In general appearance, this genus also resembles Cysteochila Stål, 1873 , but the latter is easily distinguished from Baeochila by the following characters: hood roof-shaped, lower than pronotal disk at highest part; paranotum bulged upward throughout its length, forming a cyst; anterior margins of hemelytra not parallel to each other in rest; metasternum wider than mesosternum; and metasternal laminae not parallel to each other.