Murgantia histrionica ( Hahn, 1834 )

Rider, David A. & Swanson, Daniel R., 2021, A distributional synopsis of the Pentatomidae (Heteroptera) north of Mexico, including new state and provincial records, Zootaxa 5015 (1), pp. 1-69 : 46

Murgantia histrionica ( Hahn, 1834)

New state record: Kentucky: Fulton Co.: Fulton, [no day, month] 1905, [no collector], det. D. R . Swanson 2020, INHS Insect Collection 485790 (1♀ INHS). Graves Co.: Water Valley , 15-VI-1938, F. W. Furry, #11, det. R . I. Sailer 1950 (2♂♂ 1♀ UMMZ) .

Distribution: Canada: ON ( Maw et al. 2000, Scudder 2000, Roch 2020). United States: AL ( Canerday 1965), AR, AZ, CA, CO, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, IA, IL, IN, KS, KY, LA, MD, MN, MO, MS, NC, NE, NH, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, OK ( Arnold & Drew 1988, Kondratieff et al. 2005), PA, SC ( McPherson & Ahmad 2008), SD, TN ( Summers 1891), TX, VA, WV. ( Mexico, Central America, Cuba, Hawaii)

Comments: Known commonly as the harlequin bug, Parshley (1917) listed this species from Connecticut and Massachusetts but indicated that both records were probably “due to accidental introduction of individual specimens.” It has subsequently been recorded from Connecticut ( O’Donnell & Schaefer 2012), but we have not seen any further records from Massachusetts. This species was also recorded from Alabama and South Carolina in an unpublished thesis ( Simons 1969). Neither McPherson (1979) nor Swanson (2012) could locate the specimens from Michigan reported by Furth (1974), and Swanson suggested Murgantia histrionica be dropped from Michigan’s faunal list; therefore, the record is excluded. Rider (2012) also reported examining a specimen from North Dakota, but speculated that this was probably an adventitious specimen; this species is probably not a true resident of North Dakota. Froeschner (1988) stated that “apparently the northern limits of established range for this species fluctuate markedly in response to the mildness or severity of the winters; during spring and summer it migrates northward.”