Schyzops aegyptiaca aegyptiaca (Lefebvre, 1831)

Ghahari, Hassan, Moulet, Pierre & Rider, David A., 2014, An annotated catalog of the Iranian Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomomorpha), Zootaxa 3837 (1), pp. 1-95 : 63

Schyzops aegyptiaca aegyptiaca (Lefebvre, 1831)

Pentatoma aegyptiaca Lefebvre, 1831: 20 .

Distribution in Iran. East Azarbaijan ( Modarres Awal 1997a), Fars ( Hoberlandt & Safavi 1981), Hormozgan ( Hoberlandt & Safavi 1981), Kerman ( Seidenstücker 1958), Sistan & Baluchestan ( Hoberlandt 1955; Safavi 1959; Modarres Awal 1997b; Hoberlandt & Safavi 1981), Iran (no locality cited) ( Safavi 1976; Derjanschi & Péricart 2005).

General distribution. Eremian: North Africa, Near East, Central Asia, Arabian region, tropical Africa ( Sudan, Uganda).

Host plants. According to Derjanschi & Péricart (2005) S. aegyptiaca feeds upon Stipa sp., Imperata sp. and Eragrostis sp. (all Poaceae ) in sandy biotopes.

The mention of this species in France ( Corsica) is erroneous; it also has been quoted in Italy by italian worker who consider Corsica island as belonging to Italy (on the faunistic point of view) ( Servadei 1968).

Comments. The presence of Schyzops aegyptiaca aegyptiaca in Iran is unclear. According to Hoberlandt & Safavi (1981), "the existing records of this species from Iran probably all refer to the newly described species Schyzops pakistanica Ghauri, 1969 ", but later they write " Schyzops aegyptiaca aegyptiaca (Lefebvre) is distributed in Egypt, Sudan, Israel, Turkey, Syria and the present records are the first re-examined from Iran." In the introduction of their paper, Hoberlandt & Safavi (l.c.) state that " Schyzops aegyptiaca (Lefebvre) is supplemented by correct records". In his paper 1997, Hoberlandt lists S. aegyptiaca aegyptiaca as part of Iranian fauna. So, we include the species in Iranian fauna.

The subspecies aegyptiaca arabica Ghauri, 1969 , is known from Saudi Arabia and Yemen, but according to Derjanschi & Péricart (2005), it is synonymous with the nominal form.