Cardiastethus affinis Poppius, 1909

Ballal, Chandish R., Akbar, Shahid Ali, Yamada, Kazutaka, Wachkoo, Aijaz Ahmad & Varshney, Richa, 2018, Annotated catalogue of the flower bugs from India (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae, Lasiochilidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 58 (1), pp. 207-226 : 212

Cardiastethus affinis Poppius, 1909

( Fig. 15 )

Cardiastethus affinis Poppius, 1909: 17 . SYNTYPES: 4 spec., Tanzania, Katona, Arusha-Chini (HNHM, MZHF).

Material examined. INDIA: KARNATAKA: Bangalore, 18.xii.2015, 1 ( TKPM); Kunigal, viii.2016, 1 ♀ ( TKPM) .

Distribution in India. Karnataka: Bangalore, Kunigal (this paper); Kerala: Kuzhalmannam, Palakkad ( YAMADA et al., 2008); Tamil Nadu: Madras [= Chennai] ( MURALEEDHARAN & ANANTHAKRISHNAN 1978a).

General distribution. Tanzania ( POPPIUS 1909), United Arab Emirates ( CARAPEZZA et al. 2014).

Biology. The species is known to inhabit onion, sesame, Ficus and mango plantations and is found associated mostly with Orthaga exvinacea Hampson, 1891; Opisinia arenosella, Corcyra cephalonica (Stainton, 1866); Thrips tabaci Lindeman 1889; T. palmi Karny, 1925, and Frankliniella schultzei (Trybom, 1910) ( POPPIUS 1909, YAMADA et al. 2008). Recorded feeding on colonies of Hemiberlesia lataniae infesting agave (this paper).

Figures

Figs 13–18. Habitus photographs of selected Indian Anthocoridae. 13 – Cardiastethus exiguus Poppius, 1913, feeding on papaya mealybug; 14 – Orius (Dimorphella) tantillus (Motschulsky, 1863), feeding on eggs of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner, 1808); 15 – Cardiastethus affinis Poppius, 1909, feeding on scale insects; 16–17 – Blaptostethus pallescens Poppius, 1909, feeding on thrips and Spodoptera litura eggs; 18 – Xylocoris (Arrostelus) flavipes (Reuter, 1875), feeding on mite. Photo credits: C. Ballal.