New paper!

Liu Y., et al.: "A new species of the genus Sphedanolestes (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae) from Xizang Autonomous Region, China, with an updated key to Chinese species."

Sphedanolestes jilongensis Y. Liu, P. Zhao & W. Cai sp. nov. is described based on macropterous male and female specimens collected from Jilong County, Rikaze City, Xizang Autonomous Region, China, and compared with related species within the genus. Habitus images and figures of the male genitalia are provided. An updated key to Sphedanolestes species from China, totalling 18 as recognised in the present study, together with habitus images of all species are given.

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New paper!

Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W.: "Revision of the Ambrysus signoreti Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Ambrysinae). Section 3."

The Ambrysus signoreti Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Ambrysinae) has been recently diagnosed and artificially subdivided into three sections based on the morphology of the female subgenital plate. In the present study, the species in the third and final section, characterized by the posterior margin of the subgenital plate with the central lobe and posterolateral corners almost at the same level, are revised. The group includes 13 species: nine from Mexico (Ambrysus altiplanus Reynoso, A. colimanus Polhemus & Polhemus, A. hydor La Rivers, A. inecol Reynoso, A. magniceps La Rivers, A. quadracies La Rivers, A. scalenus La Rivers, A. signoreti Stål, A. sonorensis Usinger), one from Belize (A. cayo Sites & Shepard), one from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico (A. dyticus La Rivers), one from Guatemala and Mexico (A. sitesi Reynoso), and one from Mexico and the United States (A. occidentalis La Rivers). Supplemental descriptions are provided for eight species for which important features of the last abdominal segments of the male and female were unknown or poorly known. Also, A. portheo La Rivers and A. rotundus La Rivers are proposed as junior synonyms of A. signoreti. These changes bring the total number of species in the complex to 23, in the nominotypical subgenus to 59 species, and in Ambrysus Stål to 67. Furthermore, new state records from Mexico are presented for A. hydor, A. magniceps, and A. occidentalis, in addition to a compilatory checklist of the species in the genus Ambrysus. Also, we provide an illustrated key to the species complexes in the subgenus Ambrysus Stål, the sections in the A. signoreti complex, and the species in its Section 3. This work represents our final major contribution to clarify the taxonomy of species in the North American genus Ambrysus.

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New paper!

Cassis et al.: "An unexpected Australian piece of the palm bug puzzle (Heteroptera: Thaumastocoridae: Xylastodorinae): natural history, comparative morphology and systematics"

Palm bugs are an elusive group of true bugs, replete with conundrums, such as living fossils, transoceanic disjunctions, rarity, palm associations, and autapomorphic morphology. Knowledge of the group is historically slim, up until the recent documentation of a flux of new species in both the south-west Pacific and the Neotropical region. In this work we present a systematic treatment of the first palm bug from continental Australia, restricted to the wet tropics of Queensland. This taxon, Austrodiscocoris monteithi gen. nov., sp. nov., is described, as is its specialist association with the widespread Alexandra palm species, Archontophoenix alexandrae. This new palm bug species shares characters with both south-west Pacific xylastodorines as well as species of the Western Hemisphere genus Discocoris. To determine its systematic position we report on fine scale morphological observations, using optical and scanning electron microscopy, as well as X-ray microtomography (micro-CT), with the latter employed for the first time to disclose the internal anatomy of the reproductive systems of both sexes. This information is incorporated in an extended morphological-based phylogenetic analysis of the subfamily Xylastodorinae, for two data partitions: (1) complete taxon partition: all Recent plus fossil taxa (n = 39) and (2) trimmed taxon partition: recent taxa with sufficient data coverage (n = 29). The results verify a highly supported Thaumastocoridae and the two included subfamilies. Austrodiscocoris monteithi is imbedded in a clade that includes the Neotropical genera Discocoris and Xylastotylus. Separately, the Norfolk Island species Latebracoris norfolcensis is in a well-supported clade that includes the Neotropical genus Neolatebracoris and the Oriental genus Thaicoris. The work provides a rediagnosis of the subfamily and an identification key to all xylastodorine genera, fossil and extant. It concludes with a discussion on further puzzles on palm bug–palm associations, biogeographic implications, and the value of micro-CT in the search for new character systems in the suborder Heteroptera.

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