Polytoxus Spinola, 1850

Rédei, Dávid & Tsai, Jing-Fu, 2010, A survey of the saicine assassin bugs of Taiwan (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (1), pp. 15-32 : 18

Polytoxus Spinola, 1850

Acanthothorax Costa, 1842: 11 . Type species by monotypy: Acanthothorax siculus Costa, 1842 . Junior homonym of Acanthothorax Gaede, 1832 (Coleoptera) . Synonymized by REUTER (1890b): 250.

Polytoxus Spinola, 1850: 47 . Type species by subsequent monotypy ( MULSANT & REY 1873: 28): Acanthothorax sanguineus Costa, 1842 .

Leptomera Montrouzier, 1865: 238 . Type species by monotypy: Leptomera jurdani Montrouzier, 1864 .Synonymized by LETHIERRY & SEVERIN (1896): 78 (tentatively); SCHOUTEDEN (1907): 117.

Costiella Reuter, 1890a: 241 . Type species by monotypy: Acanthothorax siculus Costa, 1842 . Synonymized by REUTER (1891): 27.

References. DOHRN (1859): 47 ( Acanthothorax , catalogue); PUTON (1869): 35 ( Acanthothorax , catalogue, Europe); MULSANT & REY (1873): 27 ( Acanthothorax , redescription, fauna of France); STÅL (1874): 91 ( Acanthothorax , in key, synopsis); PUTON (1875): 52 ( Acanthothorax , catalogue, Europe); PUTON (1880): 169 ( Acanthothorax , fauna of France); PUTON (1886): 37 ( Acanthothorax , catalogue, Europe); LETHIERRY & SEVERIN (1896): 78 (catalogue); PUTON (1899): 46 (catalogue, Europe); DISTANT (1903): 217; DISTANT (1910): 182 (redescription, fauna of India, Ceylon and Burma); OSHANIN (1908): 512 (catalogue, Palaearctic); OSHANIN (1912): 49 (catalogue, Palaearctic); VILLIERS (1942): 106 (diagnosis, revision of the fauna of Africa); VILLIERS (1943b): 320 (catalogue); HOFFMANN (1944): 2 (catalogue, China); VILLIERS (1948): 422 (revision of the fauna of Subsaharan Africa); DISPONS & STICHEL (1959): 107 (fauna of the West Palaearctic, key); VILLIERS (1957): 310 (fauna of Madagascar, key); STICHEL (1960): 367 (catalogue, Palaearctic); WYGODZINSKY & USINGER (1960): 267 (fauna of the Pacific Region, key); HSIAO (1965): 112 (fauna of China, key); VILLIERS (1969): 1187 (redescription, revision of the fauna of Africa); RIBES (1974): 14 (fauna of the Mediterranean, key); VILLIERS (1979): 14 (redescription, revision of the fauna of Madagascar); HSIAO & REN (1981): 403 (redescription, revision of the fauna of China); MALDONADO CAPRILES (1990): 474 (catalogue); CASSIS & GROSS (1995): 356 (catalogue, Australia); PUTSHKOV & PUTSHKOV (1996): 205 (catalogue, Palaearctic); YANO & ISHIKAWA (2001): 19 (feeding behaviour); ISHIKAWA & YANO (2002): 342 (revision of the fauna of Japan); ISHIKAWA & OKAJIMA (2003): 133 (fauna of Vietnam, key).

Diagnosis. Diagnosed within the Saicinae by the following combination of characters: clypeus unarmed; head ventrolaterally, labium dorsolaterally and femur and tibia of fore leg ventrally at most with stiff setae or tufts of setae, never with distinct spiniferous processes; anterior lobe of pronotum unarmed, posterior lobe with 1+1 spine-like humeral processes; meso- and metanota each with a single erect spine-like process; fore wing with basal cell.

Diversity and distribution. The genus currently contains nearly 80 species occurring in the Afrotropical, Oriental and Australian Regions and in the adjoining areas of the Palaearctic Region (southern Europe, Middle East, East Asia). Specimens representing six species were examined from Taiwan.