Hoebeke, E. Richard

Wheeler, Jr., Al G.

English

Journal of the Entomological Society of British Columbia

SCIENTIFIC NOTEMetopoplax ditomoides (Costa) (Hemiptera: Lygaeoidea: Oxycarenidae): First Canadian Record of a Palearctic Seed Bug A.G. WHEELER, JR.1 and E. RICHARD HOEBEKE2Metopoplax ditomoides (Costa) is a mainly w e s t E u r o p e a n a n d n o r t h A f r i c a n (Mediterranean) species (Péricart 1999) that has expanded its range in the last half century, as evidenced by comparing the distributions listed by Slater (1964) and Péricart (2001). First taken in England in 1952 (Woodroffe 1953a, b), this immigrant bug was not recorded again in Britain until breeding populations apparently became established in the 1990s; by the late 1990s, “prodigious numbers” were observed (Kirby et al. 2001). In continental Europe, M. ditomoides has spread north from the Mediterranean region (Rabitsch 2008) and probably also has been transported in shipments of plant material (Deckert 2004). This seed bug has been detected recently in several countries, including Belgium (Bruers and Viskens 1997), and has become more common in the Netherlands (Aukema 2003).The first North American records were from Oregon (Benton, Lane, Marion, and Polk counties),  where adults were collected from hazelnut (Corylus avellana L.) orchards and found swarming in houses (Lattin and Wetherill 2002). Metopoplax ditomoides soon was reported from California (Alameda, Marin, Solano, and Sonoma counties), with the first collections at Vernon (Sonomo Co.) in 2002 (Gaimari 2005), and from Washington State based on adults taken in a house at Lynden (Whatcom Co.) in 2006 (LaGasa and Murray 2007). Lynden is within about 6 km of the Canadian border south of Aldergrove, British Columbia.Metopoplax ditomoides (Figure 1) can readily be distinguished from other Nearctic oxycarenids. The antenniferous tubercles are prominent and rounded anteriorly; the clypeus is produced and spatulate; the head, pronotum, and scutellum are black, densely punctate, and have a vestiture of long, pale setae; and the forewings are pale to whitish, with veins of the membrane colorless to brown (Woodroffe 1953b, Péricart 1999).Here we report M. ditomoides from BC as the first Canadian record for this oxycarenid. Voucher specimens have been deposited in the United States National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (USNM) and University of Georgia Collection of Arthropods, Athens, GA (UGCA).Specimens examined: CANADA: BC, 100 Ave. nr 140 St., Guildford, Surrey, 70 J. ENTOMOL. SOC. BRIT. COLUMBIA 108, DECEMBER 20121School of Agricultural, Forest, and Environmental  Sciences, Clemson  University, Clemson SC 29634-0310, U.S.A.2Department  of Entomology, Cornell  University, Ithaca NY 14853-2601, U.S.A.; current  address:  Georgia Museum of Natural History and Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, U.S.AFigure 1. Metopoplax ditomoides (Costa) ♀, British Columbia, Canada, Blackie Spit, Crescent Beach, Surrey, 28-vi-2011 (E. R. Hoebeke, A. G. Wheeler) [UGCA].49°10.994΄N 122°50.195΄W, 26-vi-2010, 1♀sweeping forbs; Blackie Spit Park, Crescent Beach, Surrey, 49°03.579΄N 122°52.875΄W, 24-vi-2011, 26♂,  39♀ & 28-vi-2011, 13♂,  23♀ ex Achillea millefolium L., E.R. Hoebeke & A.G. Wheeler.Adults in BC, including a mating pair, were collected from inflorescences of common yarrow (A. millefolium; Asteraceae). Other forbs growing nearby were goose tongue or salt marsh plantain (Plantago maritima L. (Plantaginaceae) and silver burr ragweed (Ambrosia chamissonis (Less.) Greene (Asteraceae). The collection of M. ditomoides from yarrow at Blackie Spit Park is consistent with the bug’s frequent association with composites in the Palearctic Region (Péricart 1999).ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe thank Thomas J. Henry (Systematic Entomology Laboratory,  USDA, ARS, Wash ing ton , DC) fo r ve r i fy ing the identification of M. ditomoides and providing the numbers of males and females after specimens had been deposited in the USNM collection, as well as relevant pages from Péricart (1999), and Joseph V. McHugh (Department of Entomology, University of Georgia, Athens) for providing Fig. 1.REFERENCESAukema, B. 2003. Recent changes in the Dutch Heteroptera fauna (Insecta: Hemiptera). pp. 39-52. In M. Reemer, P.J. van  Helsdingen, and  R.M.J.C. Kleukers  (eds). Changes in Ranges:  Invertebrates on the Move. Proceedings of the 13th  International Colloquium of the European Invertebrate Survey, Leiden, 2–5  September 2001. European Invertebrate Survey, Leiden.Bruers, J. and  G. Viskens. 1997. Metopoplax ditomoides  (Costa, 1847) België nieuw sp. (Heteroptera, Lygaeidae, Oxycareninae). Bulletin et Annales de la Société Royale Belge d’Entomologie 133: 469.Deckert, J. 2004. Zum Vorkommen von Oxycareninae (Heteroptera, Lygaeidae) in Berlin und  Brandenburg. Insecta 9: 67-75.Gaimari, S. (ed.). 2005. Significant records in Entomology:  Hemiptera:  Heteroptera: Metapoplax [sic] ditomoides (Costa) (Oxycarenidae), a seed bug. California Plant Pest & Disease Report 22 (1): 9-10.Kirby, P., A.J.A. Stewart and  M.R. Wilson. 2001. True bugs, leaf- and planthoppers, and  their allies. pp. 262-299. In D.L.Hawksworth (ed.). The Changing Wildlife of Great Britain and Ireland. Taylor & Francis, London.LaGasa, E. and T. Murray. 2007. Exotic seed-bugs (Lygeoidea [sic]: Rhyparochromidae and Oxycarenidae) new  to the Pacific Northwest. pp. 5-6. In Proceedings  of the 66th Annual  Pacific Northwest  Insect Management Confe rence , Por t l and , Oregon , January 8 -9 , 2007 . h t tp : / /www. ipmnet .o rg /PNWIMC/2009_PNW_Conference_Proceedings.pdf. Accessed 2 September 2012.Lattin, J.D. and  K. Wetherill. 2002. Metopoplax ditomoides  (Costa), a species of Oxycarenidae new  to  North America (Lygaeoidea: Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Pan-Pacific Entomologist 78: 63-65.Péricart, J. 1999. Hémiptères Lygaeidae Euro-Méditerranéens. 2. Faune de France 84B [1998]: 1-453.Péricart, J. 2001. Superfamily Lygaeoidea Schilling, 1829. Family  Lygaeidae Schilling, 1829  –  seed bugs. pp. 35-220. In B. Aukema and C. Rieger (eds.). Catalogue of the Heteroptera of the Palaearctic Region. Vol. 4. Pentatomomorpha I. Netherlands Entomological Society, Amsterdam.Rabitsch, W. 2008. Alien true bugs of Europe (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera). Zootaxa 1827: 1-44.Slater, J.A. 1964. A Catalogue of the Lygaeidae of the World. Vol. I. University of Connecticut, Storrs.Woodroffe, G.E. 1953a. Notes on  some Hemiptera-Heteroptera from Hounslow Heath, Middlesex. Entomologist 86: 34-40.Woodroffe, G.E. 1953b. On the occurrence at  Hounslow, Middlesex, of Metopoplax ditomoides  Costa (Hem., Lygaeidae) new to Britain. Entomologist 86: 224-225.J. ENTOMOL. SOC. BRIT. COLUMBIA 109, DECEMBER 2012 71

Metopoplax ditomoides (Costa) (Hemiptera: Lygaeoidea: Oxycarenidae): First Canadian Record of a Palearctic Seed Bug

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Metopoplax ditomoides (Costa) (Hemiptera: Lygaeoidea: Oxycarenidae): First Canadian Record of a Palearctic Seed Bug

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