New records of Meschia pugnax (Heteroptera: Meschiidae) and stethoconus praefectus (Heteroptera: Miridae): predatory deraeocorinae plant bug associated with tingidae bugs, Pakistan

Abstract

So far, little work has been done on the economically significant families of terrestrial heteroptera in Pakistan's Pothwar region. The taxonomy of the Pentatomidae family of the suborder Heteroptera was primarily the subject of previous work. In the present research, the author conducted surveys of different heteropteran families from different altitudes for the exploration of fauna. Meschia pugnax, a phytophagous species, belonging to newly recorded family Meschiidae and an obligatory predator, Stethoconus praefectus belonging to plant bug family Miridae have been recorded for the first time from Pakistan. Urentius hystricellus, pest of Brinjal crop, belonging to family Tingidae has been recorded as new country record. Meschia pugnax Distant and Stethoconus praefectus Distant were first recorded from the Pothwar area of Pakistan during the collection of terrestrial heteroptera. An obligatory predator, Stethoconus praefectus, is found to predate the species of lace bugs Urentius hystricellus Richter and Corythauma ayyari Drake. Lace bug species, Urentius hystricellus is reported as a new Pakistani record. Collected specimens have been sent to the Biosystematics Laboratory, Department of Entomology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi. This paper has given the distribution of reported species along with body measurements and illustrations. A lot of work must be done to investigate the fauna of different heteropteran families, as the work done in previous years is scarce.