Bryocorinae

Ferreira, Paulo Sergio Fiuza & Henry, Thomas J., 2011, Synopsis and keys to the tribes, genera, and species of Miridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of Minas Gerais, Brazil Part I: Bryocorinae, Zootaxa 2920, pp. 1-41 : 5

Subfamily Bryocorinae Baerensprung

The Bryocorinae represent the fourth largest subfamily in the Miridae , containing about 170 genera and nearly 1,100 species worldwide (Schuh, 1995). As Schuh (1976) noted, no single character defines this subfamily as currently recognized. The following combination of characters, however, will allow recognition of the included taxa: Tarsi dilated (except in Dicyphini ) with elongate guard setae, claws with large fleshy pulvilli along undersurface ( Eccritotarsini only), large distally free pseudopulvilli arising between or at bases of claws (all except Eccritotarsini ), parempodia bristlelike or absent ( Bryocorini ), hemelytral membrane with a single cell (except in Dicyphini with two), and the presence of respiratory horns in the eggs (in Dicyhini, Monaloniini, and Odoniellini) ( Cobben, 1968; Schuh, 1976; Stonedahl, 1988, 1991).

The number of tribes included within the subfamily, however, has fluctuated from three to six, and currently remains unsettled. Carvalho (1957) recognized Bryocorini , Monoloniini, and Odoniellini and considered Dicyphinae a separate subfamily. Schuh (1976) relegated Dicyphinae to tribal status within Bryocorinae , based on the presence of pseudopulvilli, even though dicyphines lack certain other bryocorine characteristics. Schuh (1976) further considered Palaucorini a subtribe of Eccitotarsini, and Monaloniini and Odoniellini as subtribes within Dicyphini , based on the male vesica (endosoma of Cassis, 2008) and egg architecture. Schuh (1995) and Schuh and Slater (1995) followed this three-tribe classification, even though Cassis (1984) gave reasons for retaining Dicyphinae as a separate subfamily in his phylogenetic analysis of the world genera, and Stonedahl (1991) recognized Monaloniini as a tribe in his revision of Helopeltis Signoret. More recently, the placement of Dicyphini as a tribe within Bryocorinae has gained some acceptance, although most other workers, such as Stonedahl (1991), Cassis and Gross (1995), and Kerzhner and Josifov (1999), rejected including Monaloniini and Odoniellini as subtribes of Dicyphini . We therefore conservatively recognize the five bryocorine tribes Bryocorini , Dicyphini , Eccritotarsini (+Palaucorina), Monaloniini, and Odoniellini until relationships among them are better resolved. Carvalho and Ferreira (1995) provided an illustrated key to separate the Neotropical bryocorine genera.

Only four of the five tribes occur in the Western Hemisphere. The following key will distinguish the Neotropical bryocorine tribes possessing hairlike parempodia between the claws and the large, fleshy pseudopulvilli as defined above.