A second species of Leptoglossus (Hemiptera: Coreidae: Coreinae) feeding on a magnoliid

Uma segunda espécie de Leptoglossus (Hemiptera: Coreidae: Coreinae) alimentando-se de magnólia

Insecta; Heteroptera; planta hospedeira

SCIENTIFIC NOTE

A second species of Leptoglossus (Hemiptera: Coreidae: Coreinae) feeding on a magnoliid

Uma segunda espécie de Leptoglossus (Hemiptera: Coreidae: Coreinae) alimentando-se de magnólia

Carl W. Schaefer^I; Andréa B. Malaguido^II; Jovenil J. Silva^II

^IDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, U-43, 75 North Eagleville Road, Storrs CT 06269-3043, USA

^IIEmbrapa Soja, Caixa postal 231, 86001-970, Londrina, PR

RESUMO

Encontrou-se o coreídeo Leptoglossus dilaticollis Guérin alimentando-se de magnólia, Michelia champaca em Londrina, PR. Apenas outros quatro coreídeos alimentam-se de membros desse grupo primitivo de plantas, sendo um deles também pertencente ao gênero Leptoglossus.

Palavras-chave: Insecta, Heteroptera, planta hospedeira.

The foodplants of more than 200 coreids are known (Schaefer & Mitchell 1983, Schaefer & O'Shea 1979); of these 200 species, only four feed on members of the primitive (Cronquist 1968) dicot subclass Magnoliidae. One of these four species is Leptoglossus fulvicornis (Westwood). This species, although originally described from South America (Westwood 1842), is actually largely restricted to the eastern United States (Allen 1969, Froeschner 1988), where it feeds on the young fruit of several Magnolia spp. (see description of its biology in Heidemann 1910).

Because feeding on magnoliids is unusual in Coreidae (and, indeed, in Heteroptera [Schaefer, unpublished]), it is worth recording another species of Leptoglossus also found feeding on a magnoliid.

In March, 1997, we collected Leptoglossus dilaticollis Guérin on Michelia champaca (Magnoliaceae), in Parque Arthur Thomas (Londrina, Paraná State, Brazil). Only adults were taken; they were feeding in groups of 8-12 on the ripening fruits of several trees along a path near a stream.

This host plant is not native to Brazil; the genus Michelia is tropical-Asian and Chinese. But feeding on magnoliid plants in very unusual in Heteroptera; therefore we believe that the native Brazilian host of Leptoglossus dilaticollis will also prove to be a magnoliid.

In his revision of the genus, Allen (1969) writes that L. fulvicornis "and dilaticollis resemble each other to some extent [,]" but "the resemblance is more superficial than an indication of close relationship"(pp.80-81). Nevertheless, the fact that these two species share the highly unusual habit of feeding on magnoliid plants, increases the possibility that they are in fact phylogenetically closely related. Although L. fulvicornis occurs in the eastern U.S., one specimen from México was intercepted in Brownsville, Texas; and L. dilaticollis has been recorded from México (Allen 1969). The distributions of the two species may be less disjunct than they appear.

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. L. Mehrhoff for help in identifying the host plant. And we are very grateful to Dr. A.R. Panizzi (Embrapa Soja, Londrina) for hospitality to the first author, and to IICA/Embrapa PROMOAGRO for financial support to the first author.

Literature Cited

Received 15/V/97. Accepted 15/IX/97.

• Allen, R.C. 1969. A revision of the genus Leptoglossus Guérin (Hemiptera: Coreidae). Entomol. Amer. 45: 35-140.
• Cronquist, A. 1968. The evolution and classification of flowering plants. Boston, U.S.A., Houghton Mifflin Co., 396p.
• Froeschner, R.C. 1988. Family Coreidae Leach. 1915. The coreid bugs, p. 69-92. In T.J. Henry & R.C. Froeschner (eds.) Catalog of the Heteroptera, or true bugs, of Canada and the continental United States. Leiden, E.J. Brill, 958p.
• Heidemann, O. 1910. New species of Leptoglossus from North America. Proc. Entomol. Soc. Wash. 12: 191-197.
• Schaefer, C.W. & P.L. Mitchell. 1983. Food plants of the Coreoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 76: 591-615.
• Schaefer, C.W. & R. O'Shea. 1979. Host plants of three coreine tribes (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Coreidae). Ann. Entomol. Soc. Amer. 71: 519-523.
• Westwood, J.O. 1842. A catalogue of the Hemiptera in the collection of the Rev. F. W. Hope, with short Latin descriptions of new species. Vol. 2, p. 1-26. London, J. Bridgewater.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  27 Oct 2006
• Date of issue
  Dec 1997

History

• Accepted
  15 Sept 1997
• Received
  15 May 1997