Piezodorus guildinii ( Westwood) 427
often occur together with P. guildinii on soybean in the southern United States. The initial appearance
of P. guildinii in new areas in the United States was overlooked because of its resemblance to Thyanta
spp. In soybeans in South America, it may be confused with other green-colored stink bugs such as
Thyanta spp. and Chinavia spp. Despite similarities in color, P. guildinii may easily be separated from
Thyanta spp. by the presence of a ventral abdominal spine, which reaches the coxae of the middle legs
(Figure 8.1C); this spine is absent in Thyanta spp. (McPherson and McPherson 2000, Akin et al. 2007).
Chinavia spp. also have a ventral abdominal spine, which usually is shorter than that of P. guildinii.
Also, Chinavia spp. generally are larger than P. guildinii and lack the red band across the pronotum.
8.3 Distribution
Piezodorus guildinii is the only species in the genus that occurs in the New World. Distant’s (1880–1893)
treatise on Central American Heteroptera mentioned its occurrence in Guatemala, Cuba, and South
America; Van Duzee (1907) in Jamaica; Kirkaldy (1909) in Grenada, Hispaniola, St. Vincent, and
Mexico; and Wolcott (1941) in Puerto Rico. Its current range, excluding the Caribbean Islands listed
above, is Argentina north through Mexico into Texas and then east through Missouri, Arkansas, and
Louisiana to South Carolina and Florida (Barber 1914, Blatchley 1926, Panizzi and Slansky 1985b,
Froeschner 1988, Baldwin 2004, Temple et al. 2013a). The original report of this species’ occurrence in
New Mexico by Van Duzee (1904) was not confirmed by Bundy (2012) in his list of Pentatomidae from
the state.
ABDCFIGURE 8.1 (See color insert.) Piezodorus guildinii. A, egg mass and first instars on soybean; B, fifth instar on soybean;
C, ventral view of adult showing abdominal spine; D, mating pair. (Images A and B: courtesy of Ted C. MacRae; C: cour-
tesy of Jeffrey A. Davis; D: courtesy of J. J. da Silva).