Family HETEROGASTRIDAE

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Family HETEROGASTRIDAE

Compiler and date details

15 February 2002

Introduction

The Heterogastridae are a family of lygaeoid bugs comprising 24 genera and100 species. Most species are found in the Eastern Hemisphere; there are two Nearctic species in the nominotypical genus, Heterogaster Schilling (Slater & O'Donnell 1995; Zoological Record 1995–2001; Henry 2009). The family is represented in Australia by three genera and five species.

Stål (1862) first recognised the group at suprageneric level (as Phygadicida). It has been considered variously as a family, subfamily, tribe and subtribe and has often been classified with the Pachygronthidae (Slater 1964). Scudder (1957, 1962) revised the limits of heterogastrids, removing the idiostolids (Idiostolus Berg and Trisecus Bergroth) and the obscure genus Meschia Distant. He did not establish any further intrafamilial division among heterogastrids.

Henry (1997) restored familial ranking, considering the Heterogastridae as the sister-group of the Pachygronthidae. He based this on the presence of the elongate ovipositor and the reduced, non-inflatable phallus (Ashlock 1957).

Most heterogastrid genera are found in the Afrotropical and/or Oriental Regions, with Dinomachus Distant and Parathyginus Scudder also occurring in Australia and New Guinea. Heterogaster and Platyplax Fieber are found primarily in the Palaearctic Region (Péricart 1998). Most of the heterogastrid genera comprise five or less species and are confined to one zoogeographic region.

The Australian fauna is depauperate. Dinomachus, the most speciose heterogastrid genus, is represented by one Australian species, D. australis (Carpenter), found in coastal Queensland and the Torres Strait Islands, as well as New Guinea. Parathyginus comprises six species, three of which are known from coastal Queensland, with P. signifier (Walker) also occurring in New Guinea and the Philippines. Slater (1981) described a monotypic ant-mimetic genus, Woodwardothignus Slater, for a species confined to the western side of Cape York. Slater (1981) argued that this taxon has no relationship with the other described Australian heterogastrids and has greater affinity with the Afrotropical genus Hyginellus Distant.

The biology of heterogastrids is not well known. Sweet (1960) considered them to be 'up-on-plant' seed-predators. Péricart (1998) reported that a number of species are associated with plant species belonging to the Lamiaceae and Urticaceae. Slater (1972) found that a number of Afrotropical heterogastrids are seed-predators of Ficus Linnaeus (Moraceae). He reported that they are often abundant on the fig syconium, which they are able to penetrate with their elongate labium. No biological information has been recorded for Australian heterogastrid species.

Diagnosis

Heterogastrids are elongate to elongate-ovoid bugs, sometimes with an ant-mimetic appearance. The bucculae are short. The hemelytral membranes have 1 or 2 closed cells. All adult abdominal spiracles are ventral. The phallus is simple with the vesica reduced. The spermatheca is elongate, coiled and simple. The larval dorsal abdominal glands are between terga III/IV, IV/V and V/VI. (Scudder 1957; Scudder 1962; Slater 1981; Schuh & Slater 1995; Henry 1997; Péricart 1998)