Piesmatidae

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Piesmatidae
Parapiesma quadratum 01.JPG
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Superfamily: Lygaeoidea
Family: Piesmatidae
Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843
Type genus
Piesma
Lepelitier & Serville, 1825

Piesmatidae is a small family of true bugs, commonly called ash-grey leaf bugs. The Piesmatidae are distributed mostly in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with some occurring in Africa, Australia and South America. A common species found throughout the Americas is .[1]

Ash-grey leaf bugs are small insects, some 2–4 mm overall. The head, thorax and the firm part of the wings are extensively dimpled. This resembles the similar pattern of the Tingidae of the infraorder Cimicomorpha, and was initially taken to signify a close relationship. It is due to convergent evolution however.[1]

They feed on plant sap, mostly of Chenopodiaceae and Caryophyllaceae. have been found on Acacia (Fabaceae). have been found on many host plants but mostly Acacia and Proteaceae. The host plants of remain unknown.[1]

Taxonomy[]

Three subfamilies and eleven genera belong to the family Piesmatidae:[2]

Piesmatinae[]

  • Pericart, 1974
  • † Nel, Waller & De Ploeg, 2004 , France, Ypresian
  • † Popov, 2001 Baltic amber, Rovno amber, Eocene
  • Drake, 1924
  • Drake, 1948
  • Parapiesma Pericart, 1974
  • Piesma Lepelitier & Serville, 1825

Psamminae[]

  • Breddin In Schumacher, 1913
  • Slater, 1970
  • Bergroth, 1921
Thaicorniae
  • Kormilev, 1969

Many species were formerly in the type genus Piesma, from which the subgenera and Parapiesma were split off into separate genera. The genus was for some time placed in this family, but it has more recently been suggested that it is a member of the Thaumastocoridae.[1]

There are two fossil genera. from the earliest Eocene (about 55 mya) is still a very basal member of the family. , found in Baltic amber from the Eocene might be a northern relative of and but given its distribution it might more comfortably be considered closely related to the ancestor of Eopiesma.[1] From 2007 to 2009 was placed within the family. was found in mid-Cretaceous amber from Myanmar and lived about 100 mya (million years ago) and was initially considered to be a primitive piesmatid but this has since been rejected.

The closest relatives of the Piesmatidae remain rather insufficiently determined. After the ash-grey leaf bugs were recognized as Pentatomomorpha, they were most often placed in the Lygaeoidea based on cladistic analysis, with their relatives variously presumed to be the Berytidae, Colobathristidae and Malcidae, or the peculiar, beetle-like , a subfamily of the Lygaeidae. For some time, the Psamminae were even included in the Piesmatidae.[1]

Alternatively, the ash-grey leaf bugs were considered Pentatomomorpha incertae sedis or placed in a monotypic superfamily Piesmatoidea with the discovery of Cretopiesma. However a cladistic analysis rejected Cretopiesma from Piesmatidae and placed the genus in the family Aradidae.[3]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Grimaldi, David A. & Engel, Michael S. (2007): An Unusual, Primitive Piesmatidae (Insecta: Heteroptera) in Cretaceous Amber from Myanmar (Burma). American Museum Novitates 3611: 1-17. DOI:10.1206/0003-0082(2008)3611[1:AUPPIH]2.0.CO;2 PDF fulltext
  2. ^ Dellapé, Pablo M.; Henry, Thomas J. (2020). "family Piesmatidae Amyot & Serville, 1843". Lygaeoidea Species File. Retrieved 29 August 2020.
  3. ^ Cassis, G., & R.T. Schuh (2010) Systematic methods, fossils, and relationships within Heteroptera (Insecta). Cladistics 26:262-280.
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