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Family Cydnidae - Burrowing Bugs

A very big Burrowing Bug - Dallasiellus californicus burrowing bug - Microporus Cyrtomenus ciliatus Burrowing Bug - Amnestus pusillus ., - Sehirus cinctus Pangaeus bilineatus (?) - Dallasiellus californicus
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 Pentatomoidea
Family Cydnidae (Burrowing Bugs)
Numbers
43 spp. in 12 genera of 4 subfamilies (9 genera in Cydninae) in our area(1), ~1200 spp. in >140 genera worldwide, arranged into 9 subfamilies(2)
Overview of our fauna:
Family Cydnidae
Subfamily Amnestinae Amnestus
Subfamily Cydninae
Subfamily Sehirinae Sehirus
Size
3-8 mm (NA)(1), 2-20 mm globally(3)
Identification
Comprehensive treatment of the New World fauna in(4), of the ne. US fauna in(5)
Key to FL spp. in(6)
Range
worldwide and throughout NA
Habitat
most are fossorial (diggers), Sehirus (and members of numerous related Old World genera) mostly on vegetation(5)
Food
liquid from the phloem vessels, unlike other heteropterans(7), often from roots(3); members of the Sehirinae and two extralimital subfamilies feed on plants above ground(8)
Life Cycle
The female lays 30-150 eggs and stays with them until they hatch. She nourishes them with drops of fluid from her anus; for the first few days, this is their only nourishment. And it's important because it passes along gut bacteria that produce vitamins and nutrients that supplement the diet of root juice. Young ones not receiving this do not survive to adulthood.(9)
Remarks
Adults come to lights, sometimes in numbers(8)
Some can dig as deep as a foot and half.(9)
Print References
(10)
Works Cited
1.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.
2.True bugs of the world (Hemiptera, Heteroptera): classification and natural history
Schuh R.T., Weirauch C. 2020. Siri Scientific Press, Manchester. 800 pp.
3.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.
4.Cydnidae of the Western Hemisphere
Froeschner, R. C. 1960. Proceedings of the United States National Museum, 111(3430): 337-680, 13 plates.
5.The Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera) of Northeastern North America
J.E. McPherson. 1982. Southern Illinois University Press.
6.Literature-based key to Florida "burrowing bugs" (Heteroptera: Cydnidae)
Smith R., Holmes A. 2002. ENY 4161/6166 Insect Classification Exercise.
7.Bugs of the World
George C. McGavin. 1999. Blandford Press.
8.Australian Faunal Directory
9.The World Beneath our Feet: A Guide to Life in the Soil
James B. Nardi. 2003. Oxford University Press.
10.Burrower bugs of the Old World – a catalogue (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cydnidae)
Lis J.A. 1999. Genus 10: 165‒249.