Taxonomic Monograph of the Endemic Millipede Assassin Bug Fauna of Madagascar (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Ectrichodiinae)

• DOI: 10.1206/amnb-928-00-01.1
• Publication Date: 2016-04-18T20:26:52Z
• Authors: Michael Forthman; Dominik Chłond; Christiane Weirauch
• Keywords: Hemiptera; 0106 biological sciences; Insecta; Arthropoda; Animalia; Biodiversity; Reduviidae; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; Taxonomy

ABSTRACT Madagascar is one of the world's most recognized biodiversity hotspots and has a diverse assassin bug (Reduviidae) fauna that is still incompletely known, especially for the Ectrichodiinae, or millipede assassin bugs. Ectrichodiinae are a speciose (673 described species, 118 genera), worldwide group of assassin bugs that is most diverse in the Old and New World tropics, but so far only six genera and 10 species have been described from Madagascar. Based on examination of 1981 ectrichodiine specimens mostly from the California Academy of Sciences, as well as a few other collections, dramatic undescribed species-level diversity is revealed. The island's Ectrichodiinae fauna is taxonomically revised with the description of three new genera (Marojejycoris, Tanindrazanus, and Toliarus) and 63 new species: Gibbosella andasibe, Gibbosella betampona, Gibbosella brunalvus, Gibbosella conisimilis, Gibbosella fulva, Gibbosella mantella, Gibbosella megafrons, Gibbosella nitida, Gibbosella notoconica, Gibbose...