Genus Lygocoris, Miridae

Currently, ITIS lits three subgenera (Aplygus, Lygocoris, and Neolygus) of Lygocoris and Nearctica.com includes all the species of the three subgenera in the genus Lygocoris. But, PBI treats Apolygus as an independent genus, while Neolygus still remains as a subgenus of Lygocoris. In the meantime, Fauna Europaea treats Neolygus as well as Apolygus as an independent genus.

I heard the level up of the Neolygus had been accepted worldwide from a Mirid researcher, and i think it is not reflected in PBI and other resources yet. So, i suggest Apolygus and Neolygus be considered as independent genera in BG.

Actually, i am not a professional in entomology and thus i did not wish to raise a taxonomy issue, but i cannot help solving the problem given here. To summarize, the genus Neolygus page has been already created, and, in order to avoid the conflict between the two genera, the species in Lygocoris should be divided unless the genus Neolygus page is removed. However, since the division of the genus Neolygus was, as far as i know, already accepted worldwide, the removal of the genus Neolygus page appears to be inappropriate.

As far as i know, the main difference among three genera is the tibial spines. Apolygus can be distinguished from the others by the black tibial spines, and Neolygus can be distinguished from Lygocoris by the black spots at the bases of tibial spines.

As far as i know, Apolygus includes one North American species (A. lucorum), and Lygocoris includes two North American species (L. pabulinus and L. lugicollis(=Plesiocoris rugicollis). The remaining species in the previous Lygocoris belong to Neolygus.

I would appreciate it if you could give me your comments.

Contributed by WonGun Kim on 13 December, 2008 - 4:13am

Photos to be moved.

Now, Lygocoris has only two species, pabulinus and rugicollis. (Nearctica lists L. rugicollis as Plesiocoris rugicollis, and another species Dolicholygus scrophulariae Bliven 1956 syn. to L. pabulinus.) The photos of the two Lygocoris have been already moved to correct species pages.

Among the remaining photos, #129222 should be moved to Taylorilygus apicalis.

Remaining photos can be safely move to the Neolygus page.
It seems that there is no photo of Apolygus species in BG.

Thank you in advance!

… WonGun Kim, 25 January, 2009 - 3:33pm

Ok, species pages moved to Neolygus

It will take a few minutes for the images to follow, but eventually they will show up on their new page. The software has to detect the change and then it will move them. One image moved to Taylorilygus. All the rest moved to Neolygus genus page. Do we have any species ID for any of them?

… john and jane balaban, 25 January, 2009 - 4:18pm

Not yet...

Except for this one N. caryae.

But, they will have species ID eventually.

… WonGun Kim, 26 January, 2009 - 5:15am

I found a related paper

I found a paper that suggests Neolygus Knight be regarded as distinct genera. In American Museum novitates no. 3378, T. Yasunaga, Michael D. Schwartz, and Frédéric Chérot suggest that based on genital structure.

So, I think the consideration of Neolygus as an independent genus would be safe...

… WonGun Kim, 6 January, 2009 - 10:55am

How about

writing to Randall Schuh and asking his opinion?

He's in charge of the PBI site, and his email address is at the bottom of the Systematic Catalog page inviting people to "Send questions about taxonomic data" to him.

… Robin McLeod, 13 December, 2008 - 11:08am

I strongly second this.

For one thing, it would be really great to get Toby involved here, helping with IDs, confirmations, etc. (Randall Schuh goes by "Toby" among his colleagues).

… Eric R. Eaton, 6 January, 2009 - 11:50am

I also wish that.

But, how can we connect with him? I failed e-mailing to him as i wrote.

… WonGun Kim, 6 January, 2009 - 1:34pm

I contacted Toby Schuh (who had email issues last month) and he suggest I contact Dr. Michael D. Schwartz, saying that he would have a more detailed knowledge of the subfamily Mirinae. I did contact Dr. Schwartz who replied:

ITIS is seriously behind the curve with the systematics of the Miridae. Our PBI plant bug catalog will be updated with the current literature eventually.

There are now three genera [correctly cited in our paper Amer. Mus. Novitates no. 3378]: Apolygus, Lygocoris, and Neolygus previously placed under subgenera of Lygocoris.

So BugGuide can lead the way with the current systematics.

I would like to thank them both for their time and help in this matter, it is greatly appreciated.

… John R. Maxwell, 6 January, 2009 - 7:02pm

It's a good news.

Then, what we have to do is separating the photos in Lygocoris page (and Taylorilygus page) into appropriate genera.

I'll review the photos and post the result later in this page.

… WonGun Kim, 6 January, 2009 - 7:52pm

A few days ago,...

i tried to send an e-mail to the address for asking an ID of a Mirid. But, the e-mail was returned and the failure notice is "Sorry, I wasn't able to establish an SMTP connection."

I think the e-mail adress may not be active.

… WonGun Kim, 13 December, 2008 - 11:23am

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