Halictophagus Curtis, 1832 : 433

Kogan, Marcos, 2012, Two New Species of Halictophagidae (Insecta: Strepsiptera) from the Brazilian Amazon Basin, Zootaxa 3517, pp. 79-87 : 80-81

Genus: Halictophagus Curtis, 1832: 433

Males: Antennae seven-segmented, segments III–VI with lateral flabellae; mandibles short, leathery; maxillae small; tarsi three-segmented, without claws; aedeagus hook- or anchor-shaped; 8th abdominal sternite often elongated. Hosts: Homoptera: Cercopidae , Cicadellidae , Delphacidae , Deltocephalidae , Dyctiopharidae, Eurybrachyidae , Flatidae , Fulgoridae , Hecalidae , Issidae , Ledridae , Lophopidae , Membracidae , Tettigometridae , and Tropiduchidae .

The genus includes over 70 species with a cosmopolitan geographic range. Twenty-three species are known from the Nearctic and Neotropical regions. Four of these species: H. callosus Bohart, 1941: 350 (Washington, USA); H. lappidae Oliveira & Kogan, 1960: 183 (Pará, Brazil); H. obtusae Bohart, 1943: 346 ( Costa Rica); and H. uhleri Pierce, 1909: 169 (‘Dacota’, USA), are known only from female descriptions. Of the remaining 19 species with known male descriptions, 11 are exclusively Nearctic: H. americanus Perkins, 1905: 105 (southern USA); H. barberi ( Pierce, 1908) : 84 (New Mexico, USA); H. bidentatus Bohart, 1941: 147 (central and western USA); H. forthoodiensis Kathirithamby & Taylor, 2005: 2 (Texas, USA); H. jordani ( Pierce, 1952) : 5 (southwestern USA); H. mackayi ( Bohart, 1937) : 103 (Saskatchewan, Canada, and Kansas, USA); H. omani Bohart, 1943: 345 (southwestern USA); H. oncometopiae ( Pierce, 1918) : 473 (southern and southwestern USA); H. philaroniae Bohart, 1946: 202 (Nebraska, USA); and H. serratus Bohart, 1943: 351 (central USA). Seven species were described from the Neotropical region: H. ararensis Trois, 1988: 466 ( São Paulo, Brazil); H. besucheti Luna de Carvalho, 1978: 355 (Sta. Catarina, Brazil); H. chilensis Hofman, 1965: 36 ( Chile) ; H. desantisi ( Remes Lenicov, 1970) : 36 ( Argentina); H. lopesi Oliveira & Kogan, 1959: 227 (Bahia, Brazil); H. naulti Kathirithamby & Moya- Raygoza, 2000: 1039 (Morelos, Mexico); and H. variatus Kinzelbach, 1971b: 154 ( Guatemala) . Two species were recorded from both zoological regions: H. acutus Bohart, 1943: 352 (North and Central America); and H. insularum ( Pierce, 1908) : 84 (central and western USA, West Indies and Argentina).