Explanation of Names
Not named for the magical land in C.S. Lewis' books; the name was published by Stâl in 1862, long before C.S. Lewis was born. Perhaps named after the Italian/Umbrian city of Narni, which was called Narnia in Roman times.
Numbers
7 species in North America listed at
nearctica.comIdentification
body elongate with subhexagonal pronotum about as long as head; basal antennal segment shorter than head (as long as portion of head in front of eye); fourth segment of beak at least 2.5 times longer than third segment; hind femora moderately swollen; proximal two-thirds to three-quarters of hind tibiae somewhat dilated
Range
mostly southwestern United States, south to Costa Rica
Food
nymphs and adults feed on fruit and joints of prickly pear cactus (Platyopuntia and Cylindropuntia spp.)
Life Cycle
two generations per year in the southwest
Remarks
The 1918 reference by Gibson and Holdridge below states that Narnia pallidicornis was synonymized with N. femorata, but the 1998 nearctica.com list includes both names as distinct species.
See Also
Leptoglossus species have a larger dilation on the hind tibiae, and a longer basal antennal segment
Internet References
pinned adult images of the holotypes of
N. femorata and
N. pallidicornis (Swedish Museum of Natural History)
Texas A & M University live adult image of
Narnia sp. by Bastiaan Drees
U. of California at Irvine live adult images of
Narnia sp. by Peter Bryant
description of genus; PDF doc and species account of
N. femorata with diagram (Florida Center for Library Automation)
brief description and key to 4 species; PDF doc from the year 1918 (Edmund Gibson and Abby Holdridge,
Psyche, Vol. 25, No. 1)
