Family OXYCARENIDAE

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Family OXYCARENIDAE

Compiler and date details

15 February 2002

Introduction

The Oxycarenidae are a cosmopolitan family of lygaeoid bugs comprising 23 genera and 147 species (Slater 1964a; Slater & O'Donnell 1995; Zoological Record 1995–2001). Four species of Oxycarenus Fieber are known from Australia.

Stål (1862) established the group at suprageneric level (as Oxycarenida). Lethierry & Severin (1894) first established the family Oxycarenidae. Most workers have ranked the group as a subfamily of Lygaeidae sensu lato. Some authors suggested that oxycarenids have affinities with the Idiostolidae (Schaefer 1966; Schaefer & Wilcox 1969) or Henicocoridae (Woodward 1968). Ashlock (1957) described the male genitalia and drew similarities with the Lygaeinae. Carayon (1964) described the female genitalia and suggested that reduction or loss of the spermatheca is characteristic for oxycarenids. Carayon (1984) reported the unique presence of abdominal sternal glands. Schaefer (1975) proposed monophyly of the group on the basis of reduced trichobothria.

Henry (1997) restored the family status of Oxycarenidae, establishing a sister-group relationship with the Artheneidae based on loss of abdominal laterotergites, presence of a phallothecal process and hexagonal eclosion fracture of the egg. This arrangement is followed in the Catalogue.

The Oxycarenidae are primarily an Eastern Hemisphere family, with most species found in the Palaearctic and Afrotropical Regions. Most genera comprise fewer than ten species. The nominotypical genus, Oxycarenus Fieber, has 54 species. The mostly Western Hemisphere genus, Anomaloptera Amyot & Serville, with 17 species, is the only other diverse genus (Ashlock & Slater 1988; Slater & O'Donnell 1995).

In the Australian fauna the family is represented by four species of Oxycarenus. Three of these are also found in New Caledonia or the Oriental Region (Slater 1975). Gross (1959) revised the Australian species and established the identity of the ubiquitous species, O. arctatus (Walker), O. bicolor Fieber and O. luctuosus (Montrouzier). Malipatil (1987) described O. westraliensis from the cool temperate areas of southern Western Australia. He also suggested that all species except O. bicolor are endemic. However, there is no evidence to support his notion that O. arctatus and O. luctuosus are not distributed extralimitally.

Oxycarenids have received surprisingly little taxonomic treatment. There is no monograph of the family and all works are regional in scope. Samy (1969) revised the African species of Oxycarenus and included an overview of morphology, distribution and host plants, and description of new subgenera. His subgeneric arrangement is followed by most workers. The Australian species belong to the nominotypical subgenus and this arrangement is followed in this Catalogue.

Péricart (1998) described the western Palaearctic fauna. Smaller regional works include Torre-Bueno (1946—Nearctic Region), Gross (1959—Australian Region), Slater (1964b—South Africa), Kerzhner (1964—former Soviet Union), Zheng et al. (1979—China) and Brailovsky & Barrera (1979—Mexico). Lethierry & Severin (1894), Slater (1964a) and Slater & O'Donnell (1995) catalogued the world fauna.

Oxycarenidae are seed-predators on plants (Sweet 1960). Péricart (1998) indicated that many species are xerophilic and polyphagous, and usually univoltine. He also provided detailed information on the biology and host associations of the western Palaearctic species. Many Oxycarenus species are found on plants belonging to the Malvaceae, Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae. Samy (1969) also reported species on plants of the Anacardiaceae, Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, Lamiaceae, Rosaceae and Solanaceae. A number of Oxycarenus species have been recorded as pests of cotton and other malvaceous crops (Samy 1969; Péricart 1998; Slater & Baranowski 1994). Péricart (1998) also reported that other extralimital oxycarenid genera are known from a range of plant families, including the Asteraceae (Metopoplax Fieber, Microplax Fieber), Cistaceae (Macroplax Fieber) and Rutaceae (Brachyplax Fieber). Kirkpatrick (1923) gave a detailed biology and an appraisal of the pest status of the Eastern Hemisphere species, O. hyalinipennis (Costa). Sweet (2000) reviewed the economically important species and described aspects of the biology of Australian Oxycarenus species.

The broadly distributed Australian Oxycarenus species are all found on cotton and are occasional economic pests (Froggatt 1923; Hargreaves 1948; Evans 1952; Hely et al. 1982). Oxycarenus arctatus and O. luctuosus have also been recorded from a range of other plants, including fruits such as oranges, Prunus species (plums, apricots and peaches), strawberries, and staples such as potatoes (Cantrell et al. 1983). Woodward (1984) reported O. arctatus feeding on cattle dung in drought conditions and Wilson & Flanagan (1990) reported O. luctuosus feeding on the seeds of introduced Sida Linnaeus species (Malvaceae).

Diagnosis

Oxycarenids are small, flattened species, that are sometimes ant-mimetic. The dorsum is punctate. The head is porrect. The hemelytra are explanate. The lateral margins of the pronotum are rounded. The hind wings possess intervannals and lack a hamus. The second abdominal spiracles are dorsal and the remainder are ventral. The abdominal sutures reach the lateral margins. The spermatheca is reduced or absent, and non-functional. (Samy 1969; Péricart 1998; Schuh & Slater 1995; Henry 1997)