Higher Systematics of the Pentatomoidea 87
body. But the similarities seem to end there. None of the included genera has been revised recently, but
Hsiao et al. (1977) provided keys for the Chinese taxa.
2.2.10.7.25 Lestonocorini Ahmad and Mohammad, 1980
Although the genera included in this tribe have unusual female genitalia, they were not segregated off
into their own tribe until relatively recently. Ahmad and Mohammad (1980) originally included four
genera, Gynenica Dallas, Lestonocoris Ahmad and Mohammad, Neogynenica Yang, and Umgababa
Leston, all of which are still included in the Lestonocorini.
This is a small group, containing four genera and 20 species (Table 2.3), distributed primarily in Africa
and the Indian subcontinent. They are small to medium in size, usually brown in color, often with some ivory
markings on the dorsum; there is a tendency for the humeral angles to be produced or even spinose (Figure
2.30E). The primary character separating this group from other groups is the structure of the female genital
plates; the plates (and the abdomen) are drawn out posteriorly, forming a sharply triangular shape (similar to
the condition seen in the eysarcorine genus Stagonomus, the antestiine genus Birketsmithia Leston, and at
least one species of Banasa Stål) (Figure 2.30E). Otherwise, these insects possess most of the characters seen
in either the Carpocorini or Eysarcorini, especially Carbula or Aspavia. In fact, Schouteden (1910) treated
Gynenica as being a relative of Carbula. The mesosternum is carinate medially, and the ostiolar rugae are
quite small and auriculate. The head tends to be somewhat more slender than that seen in the Carpocorini or
Eysarcorini. The outer surface of each tibia is rounded, not sulcate. The base of the abdomen is unarmed. The
spermathecal bulb is ball-shaped, basally flaring outward to the edges of the proximal flange.
The genus Gynenica has been revised (Leston 1953d). Salini (2016) recently redescribed Dardjilingia
Yang and discussed its taxonomic placement. She concluded that this genus probably does not belong in
the Lestonocorini, but she did not place it elsewhere.
2.2.10.7.26 Mecideini Distant, 1902
Interestingly, Stål (1876) included Mecidea in the Halyini. Distant (1902) originally placed two genera
in his Mecidaria, Aenaria Stål and Mecidea. Members of both genera are rather long and slender, but
species of Aenaria lack the characteristic stridulatory structures on the abdominal venter. Aenaria is now
considered to be a member of the Sephelini.
This is a monotypic tribe containing a single genus, Mecidea, and 16 species (Table 2.3). The mecid-
eines are small to medium in size, elongate, slender, pale yellowish species (Figure 2.30F) with a lunate
stridulatory region on each side of the abdominal venter. Leston (1957) placed much importance on the
presence of the stridulatory structures, and treated this group as a subfamily. The prosternum is shal-
lowly concave, punctured, and undifferentiated from the propleura; the mesosternum is carinate medi-
ally, the carina usually becoming somewhat stronger anteriorly; the metasternum has two low, but sharp
ridges forming a V-shaped sulcus with the narrow part of the ‘V’ cephalad. The ostiolar rugae are long
and slender, set at an angle, and curving cephalad laterally. The scutellum is elongate, subtriangular, with
the lateral margins straight from base to apex. The abdominal venter is unarmed; stridulatory ridges are
present in a small arc on each side of abdominal venter (Figures 2.7A, B); associated pegs are located
on the inner surface of the hind femora. The spermathecal bulb is elongate oval, without any projections.
The abdominal lunate stridulatory areas are found only in this tribe and in the diemeniines; the body
shape and coloration in the diemeniines, however, are quite variable but never elongate, slender, and pale.
The diemeniines occur in the Australian region whereas species of Mecidea occur in the New World and
in Africa, the West Palearctic, Central Asia, India, and Western China, usually in arid areas. Abdominal
stridulatory ridges are known in one other genus, Neomazium, but those are confined to the extreme
lateral margins of the abdomen.
The genus Mecidea was revised in 1952 by Sailer, but additional species were described subsequently
(Villiers 1954, Wagner 1954, Ahmad and Shah 1994).
Mecideines are grass feeders, tending to occur in dry, arid regions (Sailer 1952, Linnavuori 1982).
Bundy and McPherson, in a series of papers, studied the eggs, nymphs, life history, and laboratory rear-
ing of both Mecidea minor Ruckes and M. major Sailer (Bundy and McPherson 2005, 2010, 2011; Bundy
et al. 2005).