Superfamily ARADOIDEA
Compiler and date details
June 2012 - Professor Gerry Cassis, Anna Namyatova, Nikolai Tatarnic and Celia Symonds, University of New South Wales, Sydney
15 February 2002
Introduction
The Aradoidea is the most basal superfamily of the infraorder Pentatomomorpha. The group comprises two families: the bark bugs or Aradidae, and the inquilinous Termitaphididae. Both families are reported to be mycetophagous.
The superfamily was first aligned with the trichophoran Heteroptera by Leston et al. (1954), a taxonomic arrangement adopted by most subsequent authors (Usinger & Matsuda 1959; Slater 1982; Schuh 1986; Carver et al. 1991; Schuh & Slater 1995; Henry 1997). Unlike the remainder of the Pentatomomorpha, the Aradoidea lack abdominal trichobothria (Schaefer 1975), but share with them, homologous character states of the egg, male genitalia and pretarsus (Usinger & Matsuda 1959) and molecular character states (Wheeler et al. 1993).
Schaefer (1981, 1993) regarded the placement of the Aradoidea within the Pentatomomorpha as contentious. Although giving qualified support to this classification, he also postulated an alternative hypothesis that the Aradoidea may represent the sister-group to the Cimicomorpha + Pentatomomorpha. He based this view on the morphology of the labrum and presumably on the specialised feeding and ground-dwelling/bark-inhabiting behaviour. Sweet (1996) proposed that the Aradoidea constitute a new infraorder, the Aradomorpha. He provided little empirical evidence for this classification although it is inferred that the absence of abdominal trichobothria and his model concerning abdominal spiracle bearing hypopleurites are fundamental to this hypothesis. He proposed an alternative sister-group relationship for the Pentatomomorpha sensu stricto: Leptopodomorpha + Pentatomomorpha, but did not offer any sister-group relationship for his Aradomorpha. Schuh (1996) rejected the proposal on the basis of unsound cladistic reasoning and strong character support for the inclusion of the aradoids in the Pentatomomorpha. Kumar (1967) also suggested an alternative arrangement, namely that the Aradoidea represent an early offshoot in the evolution of terrestrial Heteroptera. These alternative hypotheses are not well supported and the inclusion of the Aradoidea within Pentatomomorpha is followed in this Catalogue.
The two aradoid families have the following character states in common: elongate, coiled labial stylets, undifferentiated primary accessory salivary glands, gastric caeca absent, basally fused Malpighian tubules, ileum present, and ejaculatory bulb plesiomorphic (Kumar 1967; Slater 1982; Carver et al. 1991).
General References
Carver, M., Gross, G.F. & Woodward, T.E. 1991. Hemiptera (bugs, leafhoppers, cicadas, aphids, scale insects, etc.) [with contributions by Cassis, G., Evans, J.W., Fletcher, M.J., Hill, L., Lansbury, I., Malipatil, M.B., Monteith, G.B., Moulds, M.S., Polhemus, J.T., Slater, J.A., Štys, P., Taylor, K.L., Weir, T.A. & Williams, D.J.]. pp. 429-509 in CSIRO (ed.). The Insects of Australia. A textbook for students and research workers. Melbourne : Melbourne University Press Vol. 1 xiii 542 pp.
Henry, T.J. 1997. Phylogenetic analysis of family groups within the infraorder Pentatomomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), with emphasis on the Lygaeoidea. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 90(3): 275-301
Kumar, R. 1967. Morphology of the reproductive and alimentary systems of the Aradoidea (Hemiptera), with comments on relationships within the superfamily. Annals of the Entomological Society of America 60: 17-25
Leston, D., Pendergrast, J.G. & Southwood, T.R.E. 1954. Classification of the terrestrial Heteroptera (Geocorisae). Nature (London) 174: 91-92
Schaefer, C.W. 1975. Heteropteran trichobothria, (Hemiptera-Heteroptera). International Journal of Insect Morphology and Embryology 4: 193-264
Schaefer, C.W. 1981. The morphology and relationships of the Stenocephalidae and Hyocephalidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Coreoidea). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 74: 83-95
Schaefer, C.W. 1993. The Pentatomomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera): an annotated outline of its systematic history. European Journal of Entomology 90: 105-122
Schuh, R.T. 1986. The influence of cladistics on Heteropteran classification. Annual Review of Entomology 31: 67-93
Schuh, R.T. 1996. Book Review of "C.W. Schaefer (ed.) 1996. Studies on Hemipteran Phylogeny. Proceedings. Thomas Say Publications on Entomology. 244 pp. Entomological Society of America. Lanham, Maryland". Journal of the New York Entomological Society 104(3–4): 231-235
Slater, J.A. 1982. Hemiptera. pp. 417-447 in Parker, S.P. (ed.). Synopsis and Classification of Living Organisms. New York : McGraw Hill Book Co.
Sweet, M.H. 1996. Comparative External Morphology of the Pregenital Abdomen of the Hemiptera. pp. 119-157 in Schaefer, C.W. (ed.). Studies on Hemipteran Phylogeny. Lanham : Entomological Society of America 244 pp.
Wheeler, W.C., Schuh, R.T. & Ranhy Bang 1993. Cladistic relationships among higher groups of Heteroptera: congruence between morphological and molecular data sets. Entomologica Scandinavica 24: 121-137
History of changes
| Published | As part of group | Action Date | Action Type | Compiler(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15-Aug-2012 | 15-Aug-2012 | MODIFIED | ||
| 12-Feb-2010 | (import) |