2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 123 



Attempts to identify specimens of cactus-frequenting insects 

 submitted by F. D. Bennett revealed the need for a taxonomic re- 

 vision of the mirid genus Hesperolabops Kirkaldy. For this genus, 

 Carvalho's (1956, p. 106) "Catalogue of the Miridae of the world" 

 listed three species of which one had two named varieties. Study 

 shows that the two varieties deserve full specific status, that one of the 

 species must be synonymized, and that one new species must be 

 described. 



Material for this revision consisted of specimens in the United 

 States National Museum and in three lots furnished by F. D. Bennett, 

 Commonwealth Institute of Biological Control, West Indian Station, 

 Curepe, Trinidad, W.I. ; by C. G. Martell, Escuela Nacional de Agri- 

 cultura, Chapingo, Mexico; and by J. C. Schaffner, Texas A. and M. 

 University, College Station, Tex. 



To my wife, Elsie Herbold Froeschner, I am grateful for the illus- 

 trations. 



The endings of the species names have been made to conform to the 

 statement in the "Bulletin of Zoological Nomenclature" (1964, vol. 

 21, p. 172, Case 18), that all "-ops" names be treated as masculine. 



Hesperolabops Kirkaldy 



Hesperolabops Kirkaldy, 1902, p. 249. 



Stylopidea Hunter, Pratt and Mitchell, 1912, p. 22. 



Within its area of natural occurrence, North and Central America, 

 members of this genus are recognized readily by the dorsolateral 

 angles of the head being formed into long stalks that bear the eyes at 

 their tips, as illustrated in figure 1. 



The geographic range of this genus is from the southwestern United 

 States (Texas) south to El Salvador. 



Hesperolabops was described for a new species, H. gelastops, which 

 is the type of the genus by virtue of being the only included species. 

 Stylopidea was also described with a lone new species, S. picta, which 

 is thereby the type of that genus. The Uhler credit for the name 

 Stylopidea given with the original description apparently was re- 

 ceived from Heidemann, "who examined all of the hemipterous insects 

 taken on cactus" (Hunter et al, p. 17). His use of the name un- 

 doubtedly was based on specimens in the collection of the U.S. 

 National Museum bearing the Uhler manuscript label with this name; 

 however, no published Uhler treatment of that name has been found. 

 Hunter, Pratt, and Mitchell's brief description of the color and the 

 stalked eyes was adequate to gain for them the authorship of the 

 genus and the species names. Knight (1928, p. 68) synonymized 

 Stylopidea under Hesperolabops. 



