6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 112 



Hemipterists are almost entirely of the opinion that the families 

 Tingidae and Piesmatidae are not very closely related and thus 

 together did not form a natural higher taxon. According to a recent 

 paper by Drake and Davis (1958, p. 572), evidences from external 

 morphology and reproductive organs of males and females of the two 

 families do not substantiate the retention of the superfamily Tin- 

 goidea for these families. Consequently, those authors suppressed the 

 superfamily as then constituted. 



The myrmecophile family Vianaididae was erected by Kormilev 

 (1955, p. 465-477) to hold a new genus and new species, Vianaida 

 coleopterata Kormilev, and another monobasic genus, Anommotocoris 

 minutissimus China (1945, pp. 126-128) described from Trinidad, 

 British West Indies. As the families Tingidae and Vianaididae are 

 without ventral trichobothria and both belong to the group Cimi- 

 comorpha of Leston, Pendergrast, and Southwood (1954, pp. 91-94), 

 Kormilev suggested that these two families may be consociates so as 

 to form a superfamiry Tingidoidea (sensu novum). The relationship 

 of these families and the status of the proposed superfamily "Tingi- 

 doidea" (proper spelling should be Tingoidea) are now being critically 

 studied and will be discussed in a subsequent paper dealing with the 

 morphology and higher classification of Tingidae. 



Except for the characterization of many new genera and several 

 hundred species, tingids have received scant attention for many 

 decades in the taxonomic hierarchy of higher categories ascending 

 from the generic to ordinal rank. Obviously the subfamilies and 

 particularly some of the larger polytypic genera (Tingis, Leptopharsa, 

 and Cysteochila, for examples) need more thorough analyses, both 

 objectively and subjectively, from a worldwide aspect so that such 

 heterogenous taxa can be better understood and especially delimited. 

 Their constituents can then be more concretely tied into the generic 

 concept of their respective type species. 



The progenitors and other pioneer genera at times have served as 

 temporary repositories ("catch-alls") for many new species of doubtful 

 or even unknown generic affinities ever since the days of Linnaeus and 

 Fabricius. For example, the genera Phyllontocheila and Monanthia, 

 both recently buried in synonynvy, formed generic anchors for the 

 erection of a number of subgenera which have been withdrawn 

 for elevation to the generic level. An examination of the specific 

 names also reveals that more than 100 species of tingids originally 

 described as Monanthia have been transferred to other, sometimes 

 newly created, genera. Several genera now recognized as valid, such 

 as Tingis, Cysteochila, and Leptopharsa, still hold some species of 

 doubtful generic affinities. 



In the only catalog so far published on the Hemiptera (Heteroptera; 



