Comparative genitalic morphology in ten genera of thread-legged bugs of the tribe Metapterini, and its phylogenetic importance (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae)

Castro-Huertas Valentina, Forero Dimitri, Grazia Jocelia
Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 58(1): 91-125, 2018
Published online: 29th April 2018
Published in print: 15th August 2018
Views: 1486
Abstract: The assassin bug tribe Metapterini belongs to the subfamily Emesinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae). Morphologically, it is characterized by the conspicuous basal process of the posteroventral series in the foreleg and the presence of wing polymorphism, with a high proportion of the genera with micropterous or apterous species. Here, the male and female ectodermal genitalic structures are documented for ten genera and twenty-three species of Metapterini, including eight species of the speciose genus Ghilianella Spinola, 1850. Descriptions and digital macrophotographs are provided for abdominal segment 8, pygophore, parameres, and phallus of the male, and for tergite 8, tergite 9, gonocoxae, gonapophyses, gonoplac, and bursa copulatrix of the female. The asymmetric male genitalia within Emesinae are discussed. From this morphological documentation sixty six phylogenetic characters are coded, presented as a data matrix and analyzed cladistically, and their potential usefulness for resolving relationships among Metapterini is discussed.
Key words: Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Reduviidae, Ghilianella, Ghinallelia, Liaghinella, morphological characters, male and female genitalia, phylogeny
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