Species Keltonia tuckeri

Tucker's Mirid

Keltonia tuckeri (Poppius)

Orig. Comb: Pseudatomoscelis tuckeri Poppius, 1911

Elbert S. Tucker was F. H. Snow's student and museum assistant at the University of Kansas during the early years of the last century (Hyder,1953). He was also employed as a special field agent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and amassed considerable material from Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana and Texas. (Henry and Wheeler, 1979)

3.00-3.40 mm (male)

2.88-3.36 mm (female) (1)

1) Hemelytral spots coalescing to form a conspurcate brown cloud or solid dark area through middle of corium and apex of clavus;

2) Dorsum dull yellow;

3) Femora pale, with small brown spots; and

4) Cuneus, embolium, and corium with distinct, brown setigerous spots. (1)

e. US to CO / Mex. to Venezuela - Map (1)(2), most common in Texas

Composites (Asteraceae) including Ambrosia spp., Chrysopsis villosa, Heterotheca subaxilaris, etc.

In NC, 3 generations occur in a year. (1)

Type Locality: Texas

Henry TJ, Wheeler Jr AG (1979) Orthotylus translucens: taxonomic status and corrections of published misidentifications. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington 81: 60–63. (Full PDF)

Hyder, C.K. 1953. Snow of Kansas. Univ. Kans. Press, Lawrence. 296 pp.

Poppius, B. (1911) Zwei neue nearktische Miriden-Gattungen. Annales de la Societe Entomologique de Belgique 55: 84-87.