A new Species of Nysius (Hem., Lygaeidae) from Australia

Abstract

The Rutherglen bug is a well-known pest of fruit trees, vines and other crops in Australia, and has been recorded from every State in the Commonwealth, even Western Australia not being free from it.The identity of this insect has been uncertain for some time past, although it has been assumed in economic literature that the species described by Bergroth in 1891 as Nystus vinitor is identical with the Rutherglen bug, since it is the only representative of the genus Nysius to have been described from Australia.In 1927 Mr. R. Veitch, Chief Entomologist of the Department of Agriculture and Stock, Brisbane, sent a collection of Nysius spp. to the Imperial Bureau of Entomology for determination. They were handed over to Mr. W. E. China, of the British Museum, to whom I am indebted for the very considerable assistance given me in the preparation of this paper.The collection, which consisted of a number of insects off different plants and from various localities, contained two distinct species, one of which agreed with Bergroth's very inadequate description of N. vinitor (I have not seen the type) ; the other turns out to be a new species, which I propose to name Nysius clevelandensis, since all the locality labels of this insect were marked Cleveland.