Myochroocoris griseolus Reuter, 1909: 77

SCHUH, RANDALL T., 2001, Revision Of New World Plagiognathus Fieber, With Comments On The Palearctic Fauna And The Description Of A New Genus (Heteroptera: Miridae: Phylinae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2001 (266), pp. 1-267 : 249-251

Myochroocoris griseolus Reuter, 1909: 77 (n. sp.). Plagiognathus gleditsiae Knight, 1929c: 265 (n.

sp.). NEW SYNONYMY.

Reuter (1909) described Myochroocoris griseolus from an unspecified locality in Texas on the basis of two male and three female specimens; they were deposited in the Naturhistorisches Museum Wien. Subsequently, Knight (1929c) described Plagiognathus gleditsiae from College Station, Texas, on the basis of 10 females taken on Gleditsia triacanthos . Knight noted that gleditsiae was allied to Plagiognathus delicatus (Uhler) , but was distinguished from it by the wider head and shorter rostrum. Comparison of Reuter’s syntypes of griseolus with specimens of gleditsiae , including the holotype, indicates that these two nominal taxa are the same; griseolus is the senior synonym on the basis of priority.

Although this taxon is superficially similar in appearance to P. delicatus , the structure of the male genitalia (fig. 40) makes it clear that whereas delicatus obviously belongs to Plagiognathus , griseolus is much more closely allied with Atractotomus ; also, the sexually dimorphic antennae are an obvious feature of most Atractotomus species , but unknown in Plagiognathus . I have not located scalelike setae on the specimens I have examined, but it is already known that such setae occur in very limited numbers in some species easily assignable to Atractotomus on the basis of other characters (Stonedahl, 1990). Furthermore, few if any spicules appear to be present distally on the dorsal surface of the hind femur. This latter attribute was also considered as synapomorphic for Atractotomus by Stonedahl (1990). Further study may show that griseolus belongs to another generic group. For the meantime, however, its placement in Atractotomus is far superior to leaving it in Plagiognathus or as incertae sedis.

To ensure the uniform application of this name, I have selected one of the males of griseolus as the lectotype, and affixed the following label:

Lectotype, Myochroocoris griseolus Reuter , det. R. T.

Schuh, 2001

The synonymy of Myochroocoris griseolus Reuter with Plagiognathus gleditsiae Knight , and the transfer of that species to Atractotomus , makes Myocrhoocoris a junior synonym of Atractotomus new synonymy.