LACCOCORINI POPOV, 1970

Sites, Robert W., 2022, Phylogeny and revised classification of the saucer bugs (Hemiptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae), Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 195, pp. 1245-1286 : 1266

TRIBE LACCOCORINI POPOV, 1970

FIGS 3B , 5C, D , 6 , 10E , 11E , 14B, D , 15A , 20

Diagnosis: A unifying feature for all members of Laccocorini except Aneurocoris is that the anteroventral seta row on the metafemur gradually extends toward the middle of the ventral surface basally ( Fig. 5d ), or if there is an inflection in the direction, it occurs in the distal half of the femur. The spinose setae of the posteroventral row on the mesofemur are not tightly packed and are separated from each other at least by the width of a seta ( Fig. 5c ) and number approximately 40–60. The labrum has a transverse sulcus at the base ( Fig. 6 ), although the sulcus appears to have been lost in Temnocoris .

Comments: Because Laccocoris spurcus is the type species for the subfamily, this clade is here recognized as tribe Laccocorini . This tribe is endemic to Africa, Madagascar and the Middle East. Generic level relationships among Aneurocoris , Laccocoris , Temnocoris and the new genus Tsingala are strongly supported (bs = 100). The clade containing Aneurocoris and Laccocoris from mainland Africa have a unique fracture ( Fig. 10e ) across the hemelytra from the distal ends of the embolia through the tip of the claval commissure ( Mbogho & Sites, 2013 ). This fracture is present in both sexes of Aneurocoris insolitus Montandon, 1897b and mostly only females of Laccocoris , although it is also present in some males. The Middle Eastern Heleocoris minisculus Walker, 1870 also bears this fracture and is here transferred to Laccocoris as L. minisculus ( Walker, 1870) comb. nov., but the fracture is absent in the clade of Temnocoris + Tsingala from Madagascar.

Included taxa: Aneurocoris (known by only two species in Lake Tanganyika) and Laccocoris are from mainland Africa, and Temnocoris and Tsingala are endemic to Madagascar.

Figures

Figure 3. Mouthpart positions: recessed rostrum of Cheirochela thailandana (a); lateral views of Laccocoris spurcus (b) and Australambrysus crenulatus (c). White arrows indicate positions of labrum with respect to the functional anterior margin of the head.

Figure 5. Heleocoris elongatus mesofemur (a), metafemur (b), Tsingala gen. nov. sp. C mesofemur (c), metafemur (d). White arrows indicate posteroventral spine rows, black arrows indicate anteroventral spine rows.

Figure 6. Laccocoris spurcus showing the transverse sulcus at the base of the labrum, which is characteristic of most Laccocorini.

Figure 10. Habitus examples of each subfamily: Ambrysinae: Ambrysus signoreti (a), Cheirochelinae: Cheirochela thailandana (b), Cryphocricinae: Cryphocricos hungerfordi (c), Ilyocorinae: Ilyocoris cimicoides (d), Laccocorinae: Laccocoris limicola (e), Limnocorinae: Limnocoris inornatus (f), Macrocorinae subfam. nov.: Macrocoris flavicollis (g), Naucorinae: Naucoris scutellaris (Thailand) (h).

Figure 11. Examples of male genital capsule with pygophore, aedeagus and parameres (terga IX and X removed) for each subfamily: Ambrysinae: Ambrysus lunatus (a), Cheirochelinae: Coptocatus kinabalu (b), Cryphocricinae: Cryphocricos hungerfordi (c), Ilyocorinae:Ilyocoris cimicoides (d), Laccocorinae: Laccocoris spurcus (e), Limnocorinae: Limnocoris ovatulus (f), Macrocorinae subfam. nov.: Macrocoris flavicollis (g), Naucorinae: Afronaucoris gen. nov.: Afronaucoris madagascariensis (h).

Figure 14. Revised generic representation of the former genus Heleocoris. Dorsal habitus of Heleocoris vicinus (a), Laccocoris minisculus (b), Heleolaccocoris ovatus (c), Tsingala humeralis (d).

Figure 15. Revised generic representation of the former genus Laccocoris. Dorsal habitus of Laccocoris spurcus (a), Heleolaccocoris horvathi (b).

Figure 20. Tsingala humeralis male: dorsal habitus (a), genital capsule with terga IX and X removed (b), left and right parameres (c). Sizes are not proportional among figures.