Synonymy of the New World anthocorid genus Ameroscolopa Carpintero and Dellapé with Scoloposcelis Fieber (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Anthocoridae: Lyctocorinae: Scolopini)

Authors: CLARK, AARON - University Of Wyoming; HAIMOWITZ, LARRY - University Of Wyoming; Henry, Thomas

Submitted to: Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/25/2019
Publication Date: 8/6/2019
Citation: Clark, A., Haimowitz, L., Henry, T.J. 2019. Synonymy of the New World anthocorid genus Ameroscolopa Carpintero and Dellapé with Scoloposcelis Fieber (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Anthocoridae: Lyctocorinae: Scolopini). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington. 121(3):372-381. https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.121.3.372.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.121.3.372

Interpretive Summary: The true bug family Anthocoridae, often called flower bugs or minute pirate bugs, are an important group of predatory bugs that feed on aphids, mites, scales, thrips, and other arthropods, their eggs, and larvae. These bugs occupy a wide range of habitats, including on and beneath lose or dead bark, in decaying vegetation, stored grain, insect galleries, and bird nests, mammal burrows, and flowering plants. The species treated in this paper have been associated with bark beetles infesting various species of coniferous trees in the United States, making them potentially useful in biological control programs. In this paper, we discuss the taxonomic placement of two North American species and provide diagnostic and detailed descriptive information to help distinguish them from other closely related pirate bugs. This information will be of great interest to wildlife managers, foresters and other researchers involved in controlling bark beetles and other pests associated with coniferous forests in the U. S. and Canada.

Technical Abstract: The New World anthocorid genus Ameroscolopa Carpintero and Dellapé is synonymized with Scoloposcelis Fieber (syn. nov.) based on similarities in the shape of the ostiolar peritreme and the absence of mid and hind femoral spines in Ameroscolopa and most species of Scoloposcelis. Two New World species, Ameroscolopa flavicornis (Reuter) and A. basilica (Drake and Harris), are restored to their previous position within the Old World Scoloposcelis (comb. nov.). An expanded description of the putative rare western North American anthocorid Scoloposcelis basilica is provided based on additional specimens from Wyoming. The bifid paramere of S. basilica is described allowing males to be distinguished from the sympatric, more common and widely distributed S. flavicornis as well as Old World Scoloposcelis. New U.S. state records from California, Nevada, and Wyoming and the first Canadian record from British Columbia are reported for S. basilica.