Neolygus Knight

Yasunaga, Tomohide, Duwal, Ram Keshari & Schwartz, Michael D., 2012, First record and a new species of Neolygus Knight (Heteroptera: Miridae: Mirinae) from Nepal, with a checklist of Old World species of Neolygus, Zootaxa 3413, pp. 44-54 : 45

Neolygus Knight

Neolygus Knight, 1917: 561 (n. subgen. of Lygus sensu lato), type species by original designation: Lygus communis Knight, 1916 .

Neolygus: Kelton, 1971: 8 (as subgen. of Lygocor is Reuter).

Neolygus: Knight, 1941: 154 (as full genus); Yasunaga et al., 2002: 4; Zheng et al., 2004: 383.

Diagnosis. Recognized by the following combination of characters: moderate size; oval to elongate oval body; pale green basic coloration which fades to pale brown after death; dorsal vestiture of uniformly distributed pale, simple setae; vertex with a basal transverse carina; and form of the male and female genitalia. Detailed diagnostic characters are provided by Yasunaga (1991b).

Distribution. Holarctic Region; most members are known from temperate and cold temperate zones of eastern Asia and the Nearctic Region.

Biology. The majority of Neolygus species inhabit deciduous broadleaf shrubs or trees. Only a few species are associated with Pinaceae conifers, e.g., Pinus ( Kelton 1980) and Abies ( Yasunaga 2001) . One generation per year is assumed for temperate and cold temperate inhabitants that principally overwinter in the egg stage; however, collection records suggest that species occurring in warm temperate zones or subtropics have at least a bivoltine life cycle. Several species are known agricultural pests, particularly injurious to fruit crops ( Knight 1927; Kelton 1982; Wheeler 2001).