Orius (Dimorphella) tantillus ( Motschulsky, 1863 )

Ballal, Chandish R., Akbar, Shahid Ali, Yamada, Kazutaka, Wachkoo, Aijaz Ahmad & Varshney, Richa, 2018, Annotated catalogue of the flower bugs from India (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae, Lasiochilidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 58 (1), pp. 207-226 : 218

Orius (Dimorphella) tantillus ( Motschulsky, 1863)

( Fig. 14 )

Anthocoris tantillus Motschulsky, 1863: 89 . NEOTYPE (designated by GHAURI 1972a: 414): Sri Lanka, Pundalu-oya (BMNH).

Orius tantillus : GHAURI (1972a): 411 (redescription).

Orius (Paraorius) tantillus : YASUNAGA & MIYAMOTO (1993): 230 (new subgeneric placement).

Orius (Dimorphella) tantillus : HERNÁNDEZ & STONEDAHL (1999): 559 (new subgeneric placement).

Material examined. INDIA: ARUNACHAL PRADESH: Pasighat, v.2014, 4 5 ♀♀ ( TKPM, NBAIR). MAHARASHTRA: 40 km W. of Pune, Muishi env., 30.ix.–2.x.2005, 5 ♀♀, J. Bezd ĕ k lgt. ( NMPC); 70 km S. of Pune, Wai env., 2.–7.x.2005, 1, J. Bezd ĕ k ( NMPC). RAJASTHAN: Alwar, 30 km N. of Dausa, Gola-Ka-Bas vill., 27°05 ʹ 31 ″ N 76°18 ʹ 47 ″ E, 359 m, 24.–26.iii.2004, 1 ♀, P. Šrámek & L. Šejnohová lgt. ( NMPC). GUJARAT: Anand, viii.2016, on cotton, 1 ♀ ( TKPM).

Distribution in India. Arunachal Pradesh: Pasighat (this paper); Gujarat: Anand (this paper); Karnataka: Bangalore, Mandya, Mysore ( MURALEEDHARAN & ANANTHAKRISHNAN 1974a); Maharashtra (this paper); Rajasthan: Alwar (this paper); Tamil Nadu: Coimbatore ( GHAURI 1972a).

General distribution. Iran ( GHAHARI et al. 2009), Sri Lanka ( DISTANT 1906), Cambodia, Thailand ( YAMADA et al. 2016b), Malaysia ( MANLEY 1976), China ( BU & ZHENG 2001), Taiwan ( YASUNAGA 1997), Japan ( YAMADA et al. 2016b); Australia ( GHAURI 1972 a, POSTLE et al. 2001), Solomon Islands ( GHAURI 1972a), Micronesia ( HERRING 1967, GHAURI 1972a); Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania ( HERNÁNDEZ & STONEDAHL 1999).

Biology. The species inhabits chilli, pepper, tea, rice, groundnut, Sesbania, bajra (Pennisetum glaucum), Chrysanthemum, Dahlia, marigold, cotton, and feeds on thrips such as Thrips tabaci, Scirtothrips dorsalis, Baliothrips biformis (Bagnall, 1984), Caliothrips indicus (Bagnall 1913) , Microcephalothrips abdominalis (Crawford, 1910), and Haplothrips ganglbaueri ( GHAURI 1972a, BALLAL & YAMADA 2016). It was also collected from dry flowers of sugarcane where it was feeding on thrips (this paper).

Figures

Figs 13–18. Habitus photographs of selected Indian Anthocoridae. 13 – Cardiastethus exiguus Poppius, 1913, feeding on papaya mealybug; 14 – Orius (Dimorphella) tantillus (Motschulsky, 1863), feeding on eggs of Helicoverpa armigera (Hübner, 1808); 15 – Cardiastethus affinis Poppius, 1909, feeding on scale insects; 16–17 – Blaptostethus pallescens Poppius, 1909, feeding on thrips and Spodoptera litura eggs; 18 – Xylocoris (Arrostelus) flavipes (Reuter, 1875), feeding on mite. Photo credits: C. Ballal.