Jerzy A. Lis

Opole University · Institute of Biology

Cuticular parts of the spermatheca and associated vaginal structures (chiefly the ring sclerites of the parietovaginal glands) have been examined and compared in 190 cydnid species representing 65 genera and all five subfamilies currently recognized in the family (Amnestinae, Cephalocteinae, Cydninae, Garsauriinae, Sehirinae). Four species belongin...

In our day, thanks to high-speed transport systems, people are moving living species (intentionally or not) across ecosystems and countless borders. As we know, most introduced species usually do not survive, because they find neither a tolerable environment nor an available ecological niche. Sometimes, successful establishment may also require mul...

The catalogue of all known Old World species of the family Cydnidae is presented; it includes 73 genera, 526 species and 4 subspecies. Following new synonymies are proposed: Cephalocteinae MULSANT et REY, 1866 (=Scaptocorinae FROESCHNER, 1960), Cephalocteus DUFOUR, 1834 (=Amblyottus AMYOT et SERVILLE, 1843), Byrsinocoris MONTANDON, 1900 (=Dallonia...

Tibial combs in representatives of the family Cydnidae are described in detail for the first time. The structure was studied in 98 species of 58 genera representing all the subfamilies, among them 16 species were investigated using scanning electron microscopic (SEM) techniques. In addition, Parastrachia japonensis (Scott, 1880) of the family Paras...

Coxal combs, found only in members of the ‘cydnoid’ complex (comprising four families: Cydnidae, Parastrachiidae, Thaumastellidae, and Thyreocoridae) within the superfamily Pentatomoidea, have long been regarded as a character confirming their close evolutionary relationship. However, many studies have demonstrated that these four families are phyl...

The SSU nuclear rDNA (encoding 18S ribosomal RNA) is one of the most frequently sequenced genes in the molecular analysis of insects. Molecular apomorphies in the secondary and tertiary structures of several 18S rRNA length-variable regions (LVRs) located within the V2, V4, and V7 hypervariable regions can be good indicators for recovering monophyl...

New records for nine burrower bug species (Hemiptera: Pentatomoidea: Cydnidae) are provided. Three species, Stibaropus indonesicus (Cephalocteinae: Scaptocorini), Garsauria aradoides (Garsauriinae), and Pseudoscoparipes kinabalensis (Cydninae: Geotomini), are recorded for the first time from Brunei. Chilocoris piceus representing the tribe Cydnini...

The lace bug tribe Acalyptaini (Tingidae: Tinginae) includes five genera, Acalypta, Derephysia, Dictyonota, Kalama, and Recaredus, and it was recently resurrected based on morphological and karyological characters. We aimed to validate the distinctiveness of this tribe using 18S rDNA sequences, which have not been used in previous Tingidae phylogen...

The SSU nrDNA, a small subunit of the nuclear ribosomal DNA (coding 18S rRNA), is one of the most frequently sequenced genes in molecular studies in Hexapoda. In insects, including true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), only its primary structures (i.e., aligned sequences) are predominantly used in phylogenetic reconstructions. It is known that includ...

The fossil burrower bug Eocenocydnus lisi described from the Late Eocene of the Isle of Wight, UK, is analysed using a parallel, cross-eyed viewing method. The species, tentatively placed in the subfamily Sehirinae, is redescribed and its systematic position is discussed. Newly recovered morphological characteristics allow it to be placed in the tr...

The Old World swallowtail Papilio machaon Linnaeus, 1758 is one of the most well-known and most characteristic members of the family Papilionidae. Over the past two centuries, the butterfly has been the subject of many studies. P. machaon is characterised by a tendency to change the wing colour pattern. In turn, due to the great interest of collect...

Pipistrellus kuhlii (Kuhl, 1817) (Mammalia: Chiroptera): a species new to the fauna of Tajikistan. In the paper, the first record of Pipistrellus kuhlii (KuhL, 1817) in Tajikistan is described. The site is located approximately 500 km from the northern sites of this species in Afghanistan. The discussed issues are connected with the possible isolat...

The systematic position and actual distribution of Recaredus rex, for a long time one of the most enigmatic lace bug genus and species, is very obscure because only the type specimen and three other individuals from India are known to date. In the present paper, we report the first records of R. rex from the Palaearctic region (Iran) and tropical A...

Geotomus granulosus sp. n. is described from Burundi, and is the third burrower bug species recorded hitherto from this country. This burrower bug resembles species of two Sehirinae genera, i.e. Ochetostethus Fieber, 1860 and Ochetostethomorpha Schumacher, 1913, in its dorsal body habitus. However, all its crucial diagnostic characters (the body ch...

Ammianus pericarti sp. n., the first strictly Palaearctic representative of the genus, is described from Agadir (Morocco) as new to the science. The species is illustrated and compared to all its morphologically similar representatives of the Ammianus junodi group; a key to this species group is also provided. Moreover, A. vanderijsti (Schouteden,...

Hypsipyrgias joseliae sp. n. (Heteroptera: Tingidae: Tinginae) from New Guinea is described, illustrated and compared with its two relatives, namely H. telamonides Kirkaldy, 1908 from Australia, and H. euphues Drake and Ruhoff, 1962 from Lord Howe Island. Key to species of the genus Hypsipyrgias is also provided. Two genera very closely related to...

Two species of the genus Paraethus J. A. Lis, 1994 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cyd-nidae: Cydninae: Geotomini) are transferred to Prolactistes J. A. Lis, 2001, resulting in the following new combinations: Prolactistes jani (J. A. Lis, 1995), comb. nov., and Prolactistes lisi (Magnien, 2014), comb. nov. Diagnostic characters for Prolactistes, and a key...

Nysius huttoni, the species endemic to New Zealand, was discovered for the first time in Europe in 2002 (the Netherlands) and has spread in several European countries (Belgium, France, United Kingdom, Germany). The species was hitherto not reported from Poland, therefore its potential geographic distribution was modelled using maximum entropy (Max-...

Megymenum tuberculatum Hemala & Kocorek, sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Dinidoridae: Megymeninae: Megymenini) from Java (Indonesia) is described, illustrated and compared with M. brevicorne (Fabricius, 1787). Although the description is based on only one female specimen, the differences in the morphology of head, pronotum, and spermatheca are si...

Production performance of silkworm (Bombyx mori L., 1758) play a pivotal role in sericulture industry and good quality cocoon represents the economic driver of farms. Silkworms are monophagus insects and differences between cocoon characteristics may depend both on mulberry tree leaves quality as well as on genetic selection of hybrid lines. While...

Notes on the Cydnidae fauna in Liberia, sampled with a vehicle-mounted net, the species taxonomy and general distribution are reported, including the description of Chilocoris elongatus sp. nov. In addition, new country records are provided for Angola, Ethiopia, Gabon, Guine a-Bissau, Namibia, Niger, Republic of South Africa, Sierra Leone, Tanzania...

The Oriental burrower bug Macroscytus subaeneus (Dallas, 1851) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cydnidae: Cydninae), presently known only from single localities in Flores (Indonesia), the Philippines and Thailand, is recorded from the United Kingdom (hereafter U.K.). A single female specimen was collected on the semi-rural edge of Bath city by a Starling (...

A new genus and species of burrower bug, Chilamnestocoris mixtus gen. et sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Cydnidae), is described from Upper Cretaceous Myanmar amber. The new genus is characterized by a very long claval commissure and, therefore, is classified within the extant subfamily Amnestinae. It presents a mixture of generic characters relevant to the g...

A new genus and species of burrower bug, Chilamnestocoris mixtus gen. et sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Cydnidae), is described from Upper Cretaceous Myanmar amber. The new genus is characterized by a very long claval commissure and, therefore, is classified within the extant subfamily Amnestinae. It presents a mixture of generic characters relevant to the g...

[Psacasta exanthematica (Scopoli, 1763) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Scutelleridae) in Poland] This paper presents arguments for excluding Psacasta exanthematica from the list of Heteroptera occuring in Poland.

Uradenia, often referred to as paragenital glands, are usually voluminous paired exocrine glands located ventrally in the abdomen mostly on the intersegmental membranę between abdominal segments (= urites) VII–VIII or VIII–IX, depending on sex or the taxon. They have been previously recorded from eight pentatomomorphan families belonging to Coreoid...

The “cydnoid” complex of pentatomoid families, including Cydnidae, Parastrachiidae, Thaumastellidae, and Thyreocoridae, is morphologically defined by the presence of an array of more or less flattened stout setae (called coxal combs), situated on the distal margin of coxae. These structures, suggested to prevent the coxal-trochanteral articulation...

Nishadana typica Distant, 1889 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cydnidae) is reported for the first time from Laos. This species was hitherto recorded only in India (three localities), Myanmar (a single locality), and Bangladesh (general data, without closer location)

Chilocoris capensis n. sp. collected from fallen ripe figs of broom cluster fig Ficus sur Forsskål, 1775, the first burrower bug species of the genus Chilocoris Mayr, 1865 recorded in the Republic of South Africa, is described and compared with Chilocoris laevicollis Horváth, 1919, the morphologically most closely allied Afrotropical species. Addit...

A new species of the genus Amnestus Dallas, 1851, Amnestus mendeli, is described from the cloud zone of Green Mountain, Ascension Island, and compared with its closest relatives, the Brazilian Amnestus lenkoi Froeschner, 1975 and Amnestus pequinus Froeschner, 1975. It is the first representative of the family Cydnidae recorded on the island thus fa...

An assessment was performed regarding the accuracy of various types of data deposited in the Barcode of Life Data system (BOLD) related to the true bug family Cydnidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Taxonomic nomenclature and classification, identification reliability, and the correctness of the data provided in the “Taxon description” were analyzed and...

Macroscytus raunoi, a new species of the genus Macroscytus Fieber, 1860, is described from the Morobe Province on the northern coast of Papua New Guinea. The new species is similar in its morphological characters to Australian M. arnhemicus J. A. Lis, 1999. Differences in morphology and male genitalia which enable separation of both species are pro...

Two new species of the genus Agachila Drake and Gomez-Menor, 1954, Agachila raunoi sp. nov. and A. linnavuorii sp. nov., are described from the Virungas National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Images of female holotype specimens of both described species are provided.

The first burrower bug species recorded in Guinea-Bissau, Chilocoris serratus n. sp., is described and compared with morphologically related species. Additionally, an annotated checklist of Afrotropical species of the genus Chilocoris is provided. References Bergroth, E. (1910) Neue Hemiptera aus Madagaskar. Wiener entomologische Zeitung, 29 (7–8)...

First country records of two burrower bugs, Chilocoris laevicollis, and Ch. umbricola (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cydnidae) from Gabon (Central Africa) are presented. The study was based on the specimens collected by Dr. V. Aellen, a well-known Swiss speleologist, taken from two caves near Lastoursville in the Gabonese Republic. Diagnostic characters...

A new record of Amaurocoris curtus Brullé, 1838 (Cydnidae: Amaurocorinae) from Kenya is presented; the species was known only from two localities in this country, so far.

An annotated checklist of the Balinese Cydnidae is provided. Three species (Chilocoris adelphus, Macroscytus dominiqueae, M. javanus) are recorded for the first time from Bali, including the first Indonesian record for M. dominiqueae. Fromundus pygmaeus is recorded for the second time from the island. Our study increases the number of Cydnidae reco...

Chilocoris quadraticollis Linnavuori, 1993 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cydnidae) was collected for the first time in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This species was hitherto known only from the type-locality in the Republic of the Congo. First data on its biology are also provided.

The state of preservation of the bug Sehirus carpathiensis J.A. Lis, Vršanskỳ & Schlögl, sp. n. (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Cydnidae) from the Lakšárska Nová Ves Formation at Cerová (Slovakia) supports extremely rapid sinking and burial in upper bathyal Early Miocene sediments. The specimen originated from land at most a few kilometers away, but trans...

The usefulness of the mitochondrial (mt) DNA control region (CR) for resolving phylogenetic relationships at different taxonomic levels within the order Hemiptera was estimated. The analyses suggest that the mtDNA control region can be useful as a molecular marker in studies at lower taxonomic levels (i.e., within families); however, at higher leve...

The systematic position of the endemic Madagascan genus Amberiana Dist. is studied using DNA sequence (the mitochondrial 12S rDNA subunit) for the first time. The phylogenetic relationships within the superfamily Pentatomoidea were computed using neighbour-joining (NJ), maximum parsimony (MP), minimum evolution (ME), and maximum likelihood (ML) met...

Insects can cause a variety of dermatologic problems usually presenting with inflammatory skin lesions. Cydnidae insects (family, Cydnidae; order, Hemiptera; suborder, Heteroptera; superfamily, Pentatomoidea), also known as burrowing (or burrower) bugs, are uncommon in urban areas and usually considered harmless to humans, though there have been an...

The note presents the first records of the striped shield bug Graphosoma lineatum (Linnaeus, 1758) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) in the western part of the Polish Baltic Coast, including the Wolin Island.

Thyreocoris pakistanensis Ahmad and Moizuddin, 1982 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Thyreocoridae), known only by the type material collected in Karachi (South Pakistan) is recorded from a vicinity of Rawalpindi (North Pakistan). It is the second known locality of this endemic species.

An annotated checklist of 78 species of the Polish Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) is presented.

Three software packages utilized for genetic diversity analysis, including DnaSP, ProSeq and MEGA were compared to determine if the results generated by these programmes are comparable. The analyses of mitochondrial 16S ribosomal DNA (105 sequences) and cytochrome oxidase 1 (460 sequences) of 24 species representing the hemipteran suborder Heteropt...

The genus Aethus in Cambodia is known only from a single species collected in the 1950s that was originally identified as A. indicus. However, what was regarded as A. indicus in the Oriental and Australian regions appeared to consist of three sibling species, recognizable only on the basis of male genital structures, i.e., A. philippinensis, A. pse...

Ochetostethomorpha secunda sp. nov. from Namibia, the second species of the South African endemic genus is described, illustrated, and compared with O. nollothensis Schumacher, 1913. The new species is the third of the subfamily Sehirinae known from Namibia. Moreover, a DNA barcode sequence was generated for this new species (827 bp of cytochrome o...

New data for three Namibian species of the family Cydnidae are presented, including the first country record for Fromundus difficilis and Microporus pallidipennis. A check-list of the Namibian burrower bugs is also provided

The Cydnidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomoidea) is a true bug family with almost 700 species distributed worldwide (Lis 1996, 1999, 2006). These bugs usually dig in the ground (e.g., sand, soil, litter) and, therefore, are commonly known as the burrower bugs or burrowing bugs. Digging in the ground is possible because of several morphological...

Parastrachiidae is a small stinkbug family containing only one genus and two species, Parastrachia japonensis (Scott) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomoidea) and Parastrachia nagaensis Distant. The geographic distribution of the genus has been poorly studied. Niche conservatism refers to that idea that closely related species are more ecologically...

Species of the family Cydnidae (known as the “burrower bugs”) live usually on or in the ground; sometimes they even burrow deep into the soil (e.g., Froeschner 1960; Schaefer 2003; Linnavuori 1993; Lis 1994, Lis et al. 2000). However, data on burrower bugs associated with caves and their environment are very rare; only ten species of three Cydnidae...

The genus Chilocoris Mayr, 1865 (Cydnidae: Cydninae: Cydnini) comprises 85 species distributed in the Palearctic, Afrotropical, Oriental, and Australian Regions, with a single species reported from North America (Lis 1994, 1999, 2001, 2006a, 2006b; Imura 2011). In the Palearctic Region, only nine species of this genus have been recorded to date (Li...

The genus Lygaeus Fabricius, 1794 includes more than fifty species, mainly distributed in the Old World regions, with 17 species known from the Palearctic (Péricart 2001; Wachmann et al. 2007), and only two from Central Europe, i.e., L . equestris (Linnaeus, 1758) and L . simulans Deckert, 1985 (Péricart 2001). The Harlequin bug, L . equestris , wa...

The family includes 89 genera and about 700 species distributed worldwide (predominantly in warm and tropic parts of the Old World). Most cydnids are soil-diggers using their spiny tibiae and head (therefore, they are called “burrower bugs” or “burrowing bugs”). They are usually black or blackish brown, only ocassionally reddish brown or yellowish...

First state records for two Australian species of the genus Macroscytus Fieb. , i.e., M. glaberrimus, and M. monteithi, are provided.

A list of 47 species of terrestrial true-bugs (Heteroptera) recorded from native and introduced trees and bushes in the urban environment of Opole is presented.

The genus Amnestus was described by Dallas in 1851, as a New World genus, and it was ratified by Froeschner (1960) in his revision for the Western Hemisphere Cydnidae. Jerzy A. Lis (1998), in a short paper and based on one male and three females collected by Linnavouri in Iran in 1994, described Amnestus raunoi, as the first representative of the s...

Mitochondrial 12S and 16S rDNA sequences of five species of Dinidoridae Stĺl, 1868, a largely Paleotropical family, and 16 other shield bugs (Pentatomoidea) were studied. This was the first molecular examination of the systematic position of this family within the superfamily Pentatomoidea using more than a single dinidorid species. Phylogenetic tr...

Systematic position of two families, i.e., Dinidoridae and Tessaratomidae, usually regarded as sister groups within Pentatomoidea are analyzed using sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase II. Results of the present study stay in contrary to the results of previous molecular analyses suggesting a close affinity of Dinidoridae and Tessarat...

New distribution data for six Australian species of the genus Macroscytus Fieb. are presented. First state records are provided for M. australis (Northern Territory, Western Australia, Norfolk Island), M. australoides (Northern Territory, Victoria), and M. pseudaustralis (South Australia, Northern Territory and Victoria).

Studies on nuclear DNA of museum specimens of pentatomoid bugs (Cydnidae, Dinidoridae, Thyreocoridae, and Tessaratomidae) are presented. Sequences of nuclear 28S rDNA subunit were analysed in the aspect of its usefulness in forensic entomology. Results of the study demonstrated that microorganisms and parasites detected by PCR methods can be useful...

The paper presents results of preliminary studies on the usefulness of DNA mini-barcodes for the phylogenetic inference within Pentatomidae. Mini-barcodes for six Polish shieldbug species representing three pentatomid subfamilies (Asopinae, Pentatominae, Podopinae) have been obtained from the museum specimens (collected between 1994-2004). These mi...

Terrestrial true-bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of the Czantoria Wielka massif (Silesian Beskid Mts.)]. A list of 79 species of terrestrial true-bugs (Heteroptera) recorded from the Czantoria Wielka massif is presented. 77 species are noted for the first time from the study area, and Adelphocoris ticinensis (Meyer-Dur, 1843) is new to the Western Be...

Recently, DNA has become a major source for phylogenetic inference. Although, in entomology, morphology-based methods of taxon identification and the use of morphological data for phylogenetic analyses remain prevalent, the value of these types of studies (often called "traditional") are depreciated from time to time. It is obvious, that wrong taxo...

Heissocteus ernsti was described from Zambia (Lis 2006) as a genus and species new to science. Despite the fact that its description was based on a single female, the morphological characters could place the new taxon close to Cephalocteus Dufour, the only genus of the tribe Cephalocteini (Cydnidae: Cephalocteinae) known at then (Lis 1999). Browsin...

First molecular studies on museum specimens of five families of pentatomoid bugs, namely Cydnidae, Dinidoridae, Parastrachiidae, Tessaratomidae, and Thyreocoridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomoidea), are presented, as a preliminary approach to molecular phylogenetic analyses of these families. Forty-eight pin-mounted museum specimens representi...

Nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial 12S and 16S ribosomal RNA gene fragments (12S rDNA and 16S rDNA) of twenty species of Pentatomomorpha and a single out-group species (i.e. Triatoma dimidiata, representing the infraorder Cimicomorpha) have been determined. Their nucleotide composition, substitution patterns and nucleotide divergence were in...

Parastrachiidae, for a long time regarded as a subfamily within the Cydnidae (e.g., Schaefer et al. 1988; Schuh and Slater 1995; Gapud 1991), was raised to family level by Sweet and Schaefer (2002), and this position was then accepted by many heteropterists (e.g., Lis and Heyna 2001; Lis and Schaefer 2005; Hironaka et al. 2007; Schaefer and Kikuhar...

New data on the pretarsus in Cydnidae sensu lato are presented; 56 species of 38 genera are studied based on the SEM techniques. Pretarsal structures in Cydnidae s.l. are demonstrated to be not uniform; some are typically pentatomoid, and some are atypical for Pentatomoidea. Structures associated with the unguitractor plate, described for the first...

Teabooma secunda sp. nov., the second species of a New Caledonian endemic genus, is described, illustrated, and compared with T. princeps Distant, 1914. Additionally, the latter is redescribed on the basis of its lectotype and seven other specimens.

Five species representing the family Cydnidae sensu lato are recorded from Guam; three of them are reported for the first time from the island: Byrsinus varians (Fabricius, 1803), Fromundus biimpressus (Horváth, 1919), and Rhytidoporus indentatus Uhler, 1877. The widespread species, Fromundus pygmaeus (Dallas), was recorded by Ruckes (1963) and ver...

Coxal combs are described for 26 species of 21 genera, representing all currently recognized subfamilies and their tribes within the Cydnidae sensu lato (i.e., Amnestinae; Amaurocorinae; Garsauriinae; Cephalocteinae: Cephalocteini and Scaptocorini; Cydninae: Cydnini and Geotomini s. lato; Sehirinae: Sehirini s. lato). In addition, Thyreocoris scara...

Eight species of the genus Macroscytus Fieber, 1860 are reported from China. Among these is M. vietnamicus J.A. Lis, 1991, recorded for the first time from the country; moreover, the occurrence of M. badius (Walker, 1867) in its southern parts (Hainan Province) is confirmed. A key to the Chinese species of the genus is provided, along with habitus...

Eight species of the genus Macroscytus Fieber, 1860 are reported from China. Among these is M. vietnamicus J.A. Lis, 1991, recorded for the first time from the country; moreover, the occurrence of M. badius (Walker, 1867) in its southern parts (Hainan Province) is confirmed. A key to the Chinese species of the genus is provided, along with habitus...

Over a dozen new records of Tritomegas sexmaculatus (Rambur, 1839), the burrower bug species recovered in Poland in 2008 (after almost fifty years break), are presented. Changes in its range in our country are briefly discussed, and a reason for such a phenomenon is hypothesised. T. sexmaculatus (Ramb.) was recovered in south-western Poland in 2008...