Blissus hirtulus Burmeister, 1835

Fig. 9A

Material examined

TURKEY – Hatay Province • 1 ♂; İslahiye; 3 Jun. 1985; EUAPP exped.; LEMT .

Comments

A rarely collected species that lives on banks of water. Its biology is unknown (Péricart 1998a). It has a wide distribution range spanning from North Africa and the Afrotropical region to the Arabian Peninsula and extends to India, China, and Japan in the east (Aukema 2023). It was recorded from Egypt, Tunisia, and Israel in the Mediterraean basin (Péricart 1998a; Kment & Batelka 2005; Linnavuori et al. 2014). A close relative of this species, Blissus putoni Jakovlev, 1875 has a Central Asian-Mediterranean distribution extending from Greece to SW China (Aukema 2023). This species was recorded from Selçuk, İzmir in Turkey, lives in an ecological niche similar to that of B. hirtulus . It is distinguished from the latter by the rounded apex of scutellum, hemelytra not reaching to the apex of abdomen and clavi of hemelytra not touching each other (Péricart 1998a).