﻿PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



by the 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM 

 Vol. 102 Washington: 1952 No. 3309 



A REVIEW OF THE STINK BUGS OF THE GENUS MECIDEA 



By R. I. Sailer 



The genus Mecidea (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) comprises a group 

 of stink bugs that occur in the subtropical and adjacent temperate 

 parts of the world. Within these regions the distribution of the genus 

 appears to coincide rather closely with that of xerophytic or semixero- 

 phytic environments. Notable exceptions exist that may reflect 

 insufficient knowledge. However, if our present information is even 

 reasonably complete, the distribution of the genus as a whole and of 

 its various species raises a number of interesting questions of zoogeo- 

 graphical significance. This paper is written in the hope that clarifi- 

 cation of taxonomic relationships may facilitate the usefulness of the 

 genus as a tool for zoogeographic studies. 



Acknowledgments. — I wish to express to the following institutions 

 and individuals my appreciation of the privilege of studying specimens 

 contained in their collections: United States National Museum; Uni- 

 versity of Kansas Snow Entomological Museum (thi-ough R. H. 

 Beamer); Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia (through 

 J. A. G. Rehn) ; Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales (through A. E. 

 Riggi and N. A. Kormilev); British Museum (Natural History) 

 (through R, J. Izzard); Museo de La Plata (through E. J. Mac- 

 Donagh); Narodni Museum v Praze (through L. Hoberlandt) ; 

 Instituto de Entomologia de Fundaci6n Miguel Lillo (through K. J. 

 Hay ward) ; California Academy of Sciences (through E. S. Ross) ; 

 H. Ruckes, Department of Biology, City College of New York; 

 J. C. Lutz, Philadelphia, Pa.; C. J. Drake, Iowa State College, Ames, 

 Iowa; H. M. Harris, Department of Zoology and Entomology, 

 Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa; R. C. Froeschner, Department of 

 Zoology and Entomology, Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa. 



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