Higher Systematics of the Pentatomoidea 89
Eysarcorini. He also stated that the Palearctic genus Actuarius Distant had the base of the abdomen
unarmed.
The genera Keriahana Distant and Neostrachia Saunders have had very confused taxonomic histories.
Most recent workers have followed Bergroth (1914) in treating Neostrachia as a synonym of Menida.
At the same time, other workers have considered Neostrachia to be a junior synonym of Apines (e.g.,
Linnavuori 1986). Leston (1955a), however, placed K. elongata (Distant) (the type species of Keriahana)
as a junior synonym of N. bisignata (Walker) (the type species of Neostrachia) without commenting on
either genus. More recently, Ahmad et al. (1974) resurrected the use of Keriahana as a valid genus; they
treated K. elongata and K. bisignata as separate species but placed both in Keriahana. If Keriahana
and Neostrachia are congeneric, and both are taxonomically different from Menida and Apines, then
Neostrachia is the senior name. Menida is undoubtedly a large and diverse group of species, desperately
in need of revision. The actual status of these genera will remain a question until such a revision is
completed.
Another problematic genus is the genus Dunnius Distant. It is fairly obvious that Dunnius and Acesines
are rather closely related, if not congeneric. Acesines is presently considered to be a member of the
Axiagastini.
Specimens of Udonga montana (Distant), locally known as Thangnang, are used for human consump-
tion in India (Gahukar 2012). Azad and Firake (2012) stated “Thangnang is an economically important
food for the local people. The bugs appear in swarms and form hives on branches, which sometimes
break due to heavy weight. Furthermore, the bugs are easy to collect after a drizzle. Groups of farm-
ers were found collecting around 20-30 kg of the bugs in gunny bags, bamboo containers, buckets, etc.
According to the residents, Thangnang is a precious food available profusely only after 50 years during
such events. Local people used to fry it in oil; some locals also make ‘chutney’ using the bugs. Besides,
oil is also extracted from the bugs using traditional processing. This oil has high market value in spite of
its bad smell and the pure oil is believed to cure many health problems.”
Leston (1952b) revised the genus Aegaleus, but there are at least one or two undescribed species
remaining (David A. Rider, unpublished data). Linnavuori (1982) keyed several African genera and spe-
cies; except for this work few other menidine genera have been revised recently.
2.2.10.7.29 Myrocheini Stål, 1871
Stål (1871) originally proposed the division Myrocheina for seven genera: Myrochea Amyot and Serville,
Paramecocoris, Ennius Stål, Erachtheus Stål, Cocalus Stål, Laprius Stål, and Aednus. Paramecocoris
was proposed originally by Stål (1854) as a replacement name for Paramecus (which was preoccupied
by Paramecus Dejean, 1829, in the Coleoptera), and as such, these two genera must have the same type
species and are synonyms (Stål, in later publications, confused the issue by treating both Paramecus and
Paramecocoris as valid genera). At any rate, Paramecocoris now is considered to be a member of the
Caystrini. Cocalus is preoccupied by the arachnid genus Cocalus Koch, 1846; Bergroth (1891) proposed
the replacement name Neococalus; it still is considered to be a member of this tribe although some of its
characters are not typical (see below).
Stål (1876) presented keys to the genera for two separate groups that he considered to be closely
related: the “Dymantis et genera nonnula affinia” group and the “Myrochea et genera quaedam affinia”
group. His Dymantis group included both Aeptus (the type genus for the Aeptini) and Dymantis (wh ich
probably = Dymantis + Neodymantis Kment and Rider in the present sense), which is now considered to
be a subgenus of Myrochea (Kment and Rider 2015), the type genus for the Myrocheini. This may be an
indication that these two tribes (Aeptini and Myrocheini) could be synonyms.
At present, this tribe contains 25 genera and 75 species (Table 2.3), all from the Old World. Kment
(2015) and Kment and Garbelotto (2016) recently presented a diagnosis of this tribe in its broad sense.
Members of this tribe are medium in size, brownish, and bear a striking resemblance to members of the
Caystrini. Members of both tribes tend to be convex below, somewhat flat above, brown in color with
some pale marks or dark brown streaks (Figures 2.22G, 2.30I). The head is usually parabolic or some-
times triangular, with the lateral margins of the head and pronotum somewhat sharply edged, lamellate,
but not reflexed; further, they both usually have the antennifer and the base of the first antennal segment
hidden by the lateral margin of the head. The antennae are five-segmented. There are no prosternal lobes.