Loxa deducta, Walker, 1867

Panizzi, Antônio Ricardo & Grazia, Jocélia, 2001, Stink Bugs (Heteroptera, Pentatomidae) And An Unique Host Plant In The Brazilian Subtropics, Iheringia, Série Zoologia 90, pp. 21-35 : 28

Loxa deducta .

This pentatomid was the fourthmost abundantspecies. Equal numbers of nymphs and adults were captured throughout the year; both were more abundant from March to June ( fig. 4 ).

Adults ( fig. 17 ) green, with sharp pronotum spines. Median body length of females 18.0 mm (n = 10) andof males 16.0 mm (n = 10). Nymphs ( fig. 18 ) ovoid, flat, greenyellowish, with reddish stripe along margins of head, thorax and abdomen. Black dots present on anterior margin of mesothorax and wing pads. Eggs ( fig. 19 ) cream colored.

In the laboratory, survivorship of nymphs was high (82.9 %) when fed immature fruits of privet. Most females (83.3 %) oviposited, laying ca.18 egg masses orca. 230 eggs each. L. deducta is known to feed and reproduce on soybean and on the other legumes Bauhinia candicans Benth. and Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit. in Brazil ( LINK & GRAZIA, 1987, PANIZZI & ROSSI, 1991). On the last food plant, females had a fecundity of ca. 66 eggs/female. It is also reported to feed and reproduce on another species of privet, Ligustrum ovalifolium Hasskarl. in Rio Grande do Sul ( LINK & GRAZIA, 1987). Our studies with the privet species L. lucidum indicated a much better performance on this food plant compared to data in the literature when bugs were raised on other hosts, similar to what was observed on other pentatomid species such as N. viridula .

Figures

Figs. 1-7. Seasonal abundance of nymphs and adults of the most common pentatomids found on privet Ligustrum lucidum during a one-year period in northern Paraná state, Brazil.

Figs. 17-20. Loxa deducta: 17, adults on fruits of privet; 18, fifth instar on a privet leaf; 19, egg mass on a privet leaf. 20, fifth instar of Acrosternum impicticorne on privet fruits. (Scales: 2mm, fig. 17; 1mm, figs. 18-19; 0,5mm, fig. 20).