348 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. iii 



costa furnish very useful specific characters. The venation of the 

 posterior wing, especially in the anterior part, has yielded some 

 valuable features for defining subfamilies. The veins of the meta- 

 thoracic wings are somewhat confusing due to fusions and the presence 

 of only incomplete segments of others. This has led to a difference 

 in terminology concerning them. The conclusions presented by 

 Malouf (1932) for the pentatomid Nezara mridula appear appHcable 

 and are used here (fig. 167). The anteriormost vein, Sc+R, is 

 distinctly sclerotized from base to a subapical fracture, beyond which 

 it is much weaker. Apically Sc+R and M are connected either by 

 a crossvein, r-m, or by running together. In some cases, M sends 

 an oblique spur or hamus into the radial cell near its midlength. 



The legs furnish many characters in the shape of parts and the 

 number and arrangement of the spines. Special modifications are 

 very usable features — the anterior tarsal insertions at or proximad 

 of the tibial apex, the diameter of tarsal II in relation to I and III, 

 the shape of the tibiae (expeciaUy the posterior ones), the presence 

 or absence of ventral armature on the femora, and others. 



The dorsum of the abdomen has not yet been extensively explored 

 for characters but does appear to present some. The sternites, 

 however, furnish a number of very important characters for use 

 at aU levels within the family. There are always seven pregenital 

 sternites, but the entire first sternite and the anterior part of the 

 second, including the spiracle of the latter, are membranous, insep- 

 arable, and usually concealed from view. The complete sternites 

 on which spiracles are visible are III to VII. In the male, sternite 

 VIII also bears a spiracle but is telescoped into the apex of the abdo- 

 men. The male genital capsule in Hemiptera has been shown by 

 Bonhag and Wick (1953) to be composed ventrally and laterally 

 of the fused gonocoxopodites and dorsally of the last three abdominal 

 segments, IX, X, and XI. These authors further point out that 

 the structures commonly referred to as the paramercs are actually 

 the gonostyli or claspers. By definition the paramere is a lateral 

 appendage of the phallobase, not of the gonocoxopodite. As yet, 

 I have not explored the phallic structures for taxonomic worth in 

 the Cydnidae, but there is no reason to believe that they will prove 

 to have any less value here than has been demonstrated for other 

 pentatomoids by Leston (1952) and other workers. As shown by 

 Bonhag and Wick (loc. cit.) for the banded milkweed bug, Oncopeltus 

 fasciatus, abdominal segment VIII of the female is visible dorsally 

 as a dorsal plate flanked by a pair of laterotergites that bear one 

 spiracle apiece. Since the pentatomoids apparently do not possess 

 an ovipositor, the homologizing of the female terminalia with those 

 of the lygaeid Oncopeltus is not reliable without a more intensive 



