Anisoscelini

Packauskas, Richard J., 2008, The position of the Leptoscelini and other taxonomic changes within the family Coreidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), Zootaxa 1696, pp. 63-68 : 64-66

The Tribe Anisoscelini Laporte

Many authorities ( Schaefer 1965, Osuna 1984, Froeschner 1988) have attributed the first use of the higher group name Anisoscelini to Amyot & Serville (1843), but the first use was actually by Laporte (1832), who described the family Anisoscélites, differentiating it from his family Coréites. At this time the family contained: Anisoscelis Latreille , Holhymenia La Peletier & Serville , Stenocephalus Latreille (now in Stenocephalidae ), Leptoscelis Laporte (later in Leptoscelini ), Nematopus Latreille and Pachylis La Peletier & Serville (both now in Nematopodini ), Leptocorisa Latreille , Micrelytra Laporte , and Alydus Fabricius (all now in Alydidae ), Acanthocephalus Laporte (now in Acanthocephalini ), Meropachus Laporte (now in Meropachyinae), and Pachymeria Laporte (= Lycambes Stål ). Laporte (1832) also placed Chondrocera Laporte (now in Anisoscelini ) in his family Coréites.

Costa (1838) described the family Anisoscelini , thus implying that it included Anisoscelis , presumably because he had seen Laporte (1832); but Costa included only Alydus Fabricius , Micrelytra Laporte (both now in Alydidae ), and Stenocephalus Latreille (now in Stenocephalidae ). Costa's description of the family was general, easily fitting all the presently known Coreoidea, without further explanation. Horváth (1911) cited Costa (1838) as the first user of the tribal name, overlooking the earlier use by Laporte (1832).

Amyot & Serville (1843) in their group Anisoscélides included only the genera Anisoscelis Latreille , Diactor Perty , Leptoscelis Laporte , and Tynotoma Amyot & Serville , an Old World genus later synonymized under Serinetha Spinola (Stål 1873) .

Stål in his 1867 key both expanded and restricted his group (not indicating the rank), given as Anisoscelidida, to include: Anisoscelis Latreille , Baldus Stål , Chondrocera Laporte , Copium Thunberg , Diactor Perty , Narnia Stål , Tarpeius Stål , and Theognis Stål. In Stål's (1867) key, the group Anisoscelidida was distinguished as having the hind tibia more or less expanded as opposed to simple (or terete) in the rest of Stål's Coreida grouping, the two being differentiated earlier in the key from Stål's Mictidida (now known as the tribes Nematopini and Acanthocerini ) and Stål's Placoscelidida (now the tribe Acanthocephalini ) by having the space between antenniferous tubercles wider than the width of one tubercle and the head produced or porrect anterior to the tubercles. Stål moved Leptoscelis Laporte into a new grouping, his Leptoscelidida, along with Phthia Stål and Malvana Stål. Within Stål's Coreida, Leptoscelidida were distinguished from Anisoscelidida by the lack of expanded hind tibiae, and from the rest of Stål's Coreida by possessing the combination of: all femora spinose; rostrum extending between or beyond hind coxae, first segment extending past eyes or behind base of head; head porrect or subporrect; bucculae shorter than head by more than half. For the rest of Coreidae Stål gives: femora unarmed and slender, but if spinose, then bucculae extending to middle of head. Stål (1870) subsequently published a list of genera and species in his division Anisoscelidina, synonymizing Copium Thunberg under Holymenia La Peletier & Serville (an unnecessary emendation, or a misspelling, of Holhymenia [the correct name] by Stål), and synonymizing Theognis Stål under Leptoglossus Guérin. Gibson & Holdridge (1918b) divided the tribe into two groups, the Anisoscelaria and the Chondroceraria, based on the lack, or presence, of antennal dilations, respectively. These divisions may indeed be valid and do show up in my cladistic analysis, but the affinities of the genera involved are not fully resolved at that level and the nymphs of Anisoscelis have an expanded third antennal segment (my observation), whereas adults do not. Gibson & Holdridge (1918b) also included two genera now excluded from Anisoscelini : Uranocoris Walker (included in the tribe by Lethierry & Severin [1894]) and Stenoscelidea Walker. Uranocoris has been shown by Osuna (1984) to be an Old World genus and provisionally placed by him in Homoeocerini . The tylar expansion and deflexed juga would clearly place Stenoscelidea in Acanthocephalini ; however, on the basis of a cladistic analysis, Packauskas (2006) placed it in the re-erected tribe Stenoscelideini Schaefer.

Osuna (1984) revised Anisoscelini , splitting a new genus, Bitta , from Anisoscelis , and also splitting four new genera, Fabrictilis, Stalifera , Theognis (re-erected), and Veneza , from the genus Leptoglossus . All these genera were relegated to group status by Packauskas and Schaefer (2001).

Schaefer (1968) discussed Leptoscelis and Phthia , and their cladistic arrangements with Anisoscelini and Acanthocephalini . However, his paper is flawed, in that he clearly shows (his Fig. 37) a metapleural supracoxal spine in his Phthia sp.; this does not occur in any of the species I have examined of this genus. Reexamination of the specimens used by Schaefer shows them to be of the genus Petalops (Acanthocephalini) . In his paper Schaefer proposes the removal of Phthia from Leptoscelini . On the basis of this paper, Casini (1984) looked at the relationship of his new genus, Coribergia , with Leptoscelini sensu strictu (that is, with Phthia removed), and noted the closeness of Leptoscelis and Coribergia . Brailovsky (1989) went one step further and tentatively placed Coribergia and Plunentis Stål (formerly in Coreini ) in the Leptoscelini .

During the course of this work, Brailovsky described six new genera which he placed in the Leptoscelini : Dalmatomammurius Brailovsky 1982 , Kalinckascelis Brailovsky 1990 , Leptopelios Brailovsky 2001 , Leptostellana Brailovsky 1997 b, Malvanaioides Brailovsky 1990 , Onoremia Brailovsky 1995 , and Sephinioides Brailovsky 1996 . I have not had the opportunity to examine these for characters that actually place them in Anisoscelini , but they all are tentatively placed under Anisoscelini until they can be further analyzed with respect to their proper placement.

The genus Ugnius was removed from the Coreini and placed in the Acanthocephalini by Casini (1983). Ugnius , however, shares a number of synapomorphies with Anisoscelini : the juga extend past the antenniferous tubercles, the extended tylus is more like an extended spine, the rostrum reaches the abdomen, the vesica has three long, tight coils, and there is a median lateral lobe on the conjunctiva (not found in the Acanthocephalini ). I have, on the basis of these shared apomorphies and as previously discussed in the tree, placed Ugnius in the Anisoscelini .

In addition, Brailovsky (1997a) also described the genus Bellamynocoris with two species and placed this genus in the Acanthocephalini . This genus also belongs in the Anisoscelini . The first antennal segment is shorter than the head (always longer in Acanthocephalini ), the juga extend past the antenniferous tubercles (not so in Acanthocephalini ), and the tylar expansion is similar to that of members of the genus Ugniu s and Leptoglossus clypealis . The paramere shape is unknown, but all members of the Acanthocephalini have an apical tooth (see Packauskas 1994b). The species of Bellamynocoris are also the smallest in the tribe Acanthocephalini and very similar in shape and aspect to members of the genus Leptoglossus (Anisoscelini) . The tibial expansions constitute less than 55 % of the length of the tibia while among Acanthocephalini species the expansions are over 75% of the length of the tibiae.

The following description of the tribe does not take into account the genera listed above as tentatively placed in the Anisoscelini .