Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Pentatomomorpha » Lygaeoidea

Superfamily Lygaeoidea

Birch Catkin Bug - Dorsal - Kleidocerys resedae

Xyonysius californicus (Stål) - Xyonysius californicus

Small Milkweed Bug nymph - Lygaeus kalmii

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)

Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)

Infraorder Pentatomomorpha

Superfamily Lygaeoidea

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

most of the families included used to be treated as subfamilies of Lygaeidae prior to T.J. Henry's seminal 1997 work: Artheneidae, Blissidae, Cymidae, Geocoridae, Heterogastridae, Ninidae, Oxycarenidae, Pachygronthidae, Rhyparochromidae, and 3 minor exotic families

Numbers

ca. 340 spp. in >100 genera of 12 families in our area, ~4,300 spp. in >700 genera of 15 families worldwide(1)(2); the vast majority of families are still treated sometimes as parts of Lygaeidae(3)(4)

Identification

best illustrated keys to most NA genera in(3)

Range

Worldwide

Food

Mostly seed- and sap-feeders; a few are predators(5)

Print References

(6)

Works Cited

1.	Dellapé P.M., Henry T.J. (2016) Lygaeoidea species file. Version 5.0

2.	Biodiversity of the Heteroptera Henry T.J. 2009. In: Foottit R.G., Adler P.H., eds. Insect biodiversity: Science and society. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell: 223-263.

3.	The Lygaeidae of Florida (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae). Slater & Baranowski. 1990. Florida Dept. of Ag. and Consumer Services, Gainesville. xv + 211 pp.

4.	Phylogenetic analysis of family groups within the infraorder Pentatomomorpha (Heteroptera), with emphasis on the Lygaeoidea Henry T.J. 1997. Ann. Ent. Soc. Amer. 90: 275-301.

5.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.

6.	New distribution records for United States Lygaeoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) Scudder G.G.E. 2010. J. Entomol. Soc. Brit. Columbia 107: 83-84.

Contributed by v belov on 24 December, 2009 - 4:54pm
Last updated 16 August, 2016 - 12:45pm

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