72 Invasive Stink Bugs and Related Species (Pentatomoidea)
relationship with the Strachiini. Until a thorough phylogenetic study can be completed, we prefer to leave
these species in their own tribe.
There are a few host plant records known for several species of Agaeus. Zhang et al. (1995) recorded
Agaeus mimus Distant from two different species of Verbenaceae: Clerodendron villosum Blume and
Gmelina arborea Roxburgh; they also recorded Agaeus tessellatus Dallas from Tabebuia rosea de
Candolle (Bignoniaceae). Additionally, Agaeus pavimentatus Distant has been recorded from Teco m a
stans (L.) Jussieu ex Kunth (Bignoniaceae) (Golding 1931) and Cordia millenii Baker (Boraginaceae)
(Golding 1927).
2.2.10.7.6 Agonoscelidini Atkinson, 1888
This tribe contains a single genus, Agonoscelis Spinola, with 26 species total, most of which occur in
Africa (Table 2.3) but several others extend into Madagascar and through the Indian subcontinent to
Australia. One species, A. puberula Stål, has been introduced accidentally into North America; it has
become established there and spread throughout much of the southern and western United States. Some
workers credit Stål (1876) as the author of this tribal name, but Stål did not officially use a name in the
family sense; he did, however, key out Agonoscelis in its own generic group.
Species of Agonoscelis tend to be small to medium in size; they are usually pale in color with numer-
ous black punctures that form irregular patterns (Figures 2.19B, 2.28E); in some species, the coria
are reddish; and in A. rutila, the background color is black with red markings. There is a tendency for
Agonoscelis species to possess long, erect hairs; in fact, several species can be quite hairy. The head
may be typically shaped or elongate and slender; the juga and tylus are usually subequal in length; the
lateral margins of the head are usually not reflexed or only feebly reflexed. The rostrum reaches to and
usually beyond the hind coxae. The posterolateral margins of the pronotum are usually not reflexed. The
scutellum is typically triangular in shape. The thoracic sterna are not distinctly sulcate - the prosternum
is flattened to shallowly concave, the mesosternum is carinate medially, and the metasternum is flattened
to weakly convex (the metasternum is relatively large due to the widely separated placement of the mid
and hind coxae). The ostiole and associated evaporative area are relatively small and reduced, and the
ostiolar rugae are obsolete. The hemelytral veins are usually distinctly brown to black (Figures 2.19B,
2.28E). The abdominal venter is unarmed basally. According to Linnavuori (1982), the male pygophore
has special sclerifications on the basal lobes; the parameres are arcuate, usually long and slender, with
the apex sometimes triangularly expanded or with a subapical tooth. The female spermathecal bulb is
ball-shaped, somewhat low and broad, with two rather long finger-like diverticula; the spermathecal duct
is slightly, conically swollen just below the proximal flange.
There is a great similarity between Agonoscelis species and those in the North American genus
Trichopepla (currently placed in the Carpocorini). With the accidental introduction of a species of
Agonoscelis into North America, identification of the two genera has become complicated. Members
of the genus Agonoscelis usually have the veins in the hemelytra distinctly marked with brown or black
(Figures 2.19B, 2.28E); in Trichopepla, the venation is usually concolorous with the wing membrane
(Figure 2.20G). Species of Agonoscelis also resemble Dolycoris Mulsant and Rey (Figure 2.19L) and
other related carpocorine genera (see Section 2.2.10.7.12) both in somatic and genital characters (Gross
1975a, 1976), and it is possible that this tribe will eventually be subsumed into the Carpocorini.
In the Sudan, gelatin is extracted from specimens of Agonoscelis versicoloratus (Turton) and used to
make ice cream (Mariod and Fadul 2014).
2.2.10.7.7 Amyntorini Distant, 1902
Distant (1902) originally proposed the Amyntaria for five genera: Amyntor Distant (which is a junior
synonym of Bolaca Wa l ker), Belopis Distant, Halyabbas Distant, Ochrophara Stål, and Sennertus
Distant. Ochrophara is considered to be a member of the Sephelini, a position first indicated by Stål
(1871, 1876) when he described this genus. Cachan (1952) added two new genera (Ambohicorypha and
Madecorypha), bringing the total of included genera to six. The two Cachan genera are endemic to
Madagascar, Sennertus has only been recorded from Myanmar, and the remaining three genera are more
widespread, occurring throughout India, China, and Southeast Asia. There are currently eight species
in this tribe (Table 2.3). Singh et al. (2013) recently reported Halyabbas unicolor Distant from India,