Myrmicopsella Poppius, 1914

Menard, Katrina L. & Schuh, Randall T., 2011, Revision Of Leucophoropterini: Diagnoses, Key To Genera, Redescription Of The Australian Fauna, And Descriptions Of New Indo-Pacific Genera And Species (Insecta: Hemiptera: Miridae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (361), pp. 1-159 : 156

Myrmicopsella Poppius

Myrmicopsella Poppius, 1914: 37 (n. gen.); Schuh, 1974: 36 (disc. of tribal placement).

DISCUSSION: Myrmicopsella , a monotypic genus based on a female holotype from Madagascar ( M. nitidipenne Poppius ), was placed in Leucophoropterini by Schuh (1974) due to the similarity of its ant-mimicking habitus to that of other taxa that he placed in the group. Schuh (1984) also stated that Myrmicopsella looked most similar to Karoocapsus from Southern Africa, which we have determined is not a leucophoropterine (Menard et al., in press). Based an image of the holotype, the hemelytral membrane appears to be broken off; nonetheless, the hemelytron in the female conforms to the shape of the abdomen and is not nearly so reduced in length as in Karoocapsus spp. (e.g., K. middelburgensis Schuh ; Menard, 2010: fig. 4F). In all female Leucophoropterini the posterior margin of the hemelytron at least reaches the posterior margin of the abdomen and the hemelytra lay flat over the abdomen, in contrast to the situation seen in Myrmicopsella . Based on the apparent relationship of Myrmicopsella to Karoocapsus , which is no longer in Leucophoropterini , we are placing Myrmicopsella in a broadly conceived Phylini . The ultimate resolution of placement of Myrmicopsella will likely require the association of male specimens with the female holotype of M. nitidipenne (see also discussion below under Schuhistes Menard ).