A review of Japanese species of the plant bug genus Plesiodema Reuter (Heteroptera: Miridae: Phylinae)

Abstract

bug genus, previously only by two Palearctic and one Nearctic species (Kerzhner & Josifov 1999, Schuh 1995). In Japan, only a single species, P. stlaniki Kerzhner, 1979, a Japanese stone pine inhabitant, was reported from alpine belts of Hokkaido and central Honshu (Yasunaga et al. 1999, Yasunaga 2001). During recent investigations in the warm temperate zone of southwestern Japan, a unique phyline species was collected by sweeping male inflorescence and branches of Pinus densiflora. Subsequent examination of the male genitalic structures indicated that this mirid obviously represented an undescribed species, related to the alpine Plesiodema stlaniki. This species is here described as new. Brief comments on diagnostic characters and biology are also provided for the genus and P. stlaniki. All measurements are given in millimeters. In the synonymic lists, only selected references are cited for every taxon, as comprehensive catalogs are available (Kerzhner & Josifov 1999, Schuh 1995). The specimens examined for this study are deposited in the collections of National Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan (NIAS); Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg (ZMAS); and Zoological Laboratory, Faculty of Education, Okayama University, Japan (ZEOU). TAXONOMY