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Species Pithanus maerkelii

Representative Images

Pithanus maerkelii Nabis subcoleoptratus? - Pithanus maerkelii Pithanus maerkelii Plant Bug - Pithanus maerkelii - male Bug - Pithanus maerkelii Unknown Beetle - Pithanus maerkelii no idea - Pithanus maerkelii Pithanus? - Pithanus maerkelii

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 Cimicomorpha
Superfamily Miroidea
Family Miridae (Plant Bugs)
Subfamily Mirinae
Tribe Stenodemini
Genus Pithanus
Species maerkelii (Pithanus maerkelii)

Explanation of Names

Pithanus maerkelii (Herrich-Schaeffer 1838)

Size

4‒5 mm(1)

Range

native to Europe, adventive in our area (n.NA)(2)
State/province records: CAN: AB, BC, MB, NB, NL, NS, ON, PE, QC, SK; USA: CT, MA, ME, *NJ, NY, OR, *PA, WA(3)(4)(5)(*BG records)
NB: MB & SK records listed in (4)(5) were oddly not repeated in (3).

Habitat

grass and sedges in meadows and low-lying areas, often on the ground but occasionally on plants, sometimes in association with Mimoceps insignis(5)

Food

hosts: Carex (Cyperaceae), Juncus (Juncaceae); Poaceae(2)

Life Cycle

Overwinters as eggs, nymphs appear May‒Jun. Adults mostly Jun‒Jul(5); males short-lived(1)

Remarks

Earliest North American record: NY 1909(3); earliest west coast record: BC 1917(3)

Internet References

fact sheet(1)

Works Cited

1.Bantock T., Botting J. (2010‒) British Bugs, an online identification guide to UK Hemiptera
2.Schuh, R.T. 2002-2013. On-line Systematic Catalog of Plant Bugs (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae).
3.Alien true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) in Canada: composition and adaptations
Scudder G.G.E., Foottit R.G. 2006. Can. Entomol. 138: 24-51.
4.Catalog of the Heteroptera, or True Bugs of Canada and the Continental United States
Thomas J. Henry, Richard C. Froeschner. 1988. Brill Academic Publishers.
5.Pithanus maerkeli (Herrich-Schaeffer) and Actitocoris signatus Reuter in North America (Hemiptera: Miridae)
L.A. Kelton. 1966. The Canadian Entomologist 98: 1305-1307.
Contributed by v belov on 18 November, 2010 - 10:12am
Additional contributions by Bbarnd
Last updated 5 June, 2024 - 8:01pm

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