﻿472 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 102 



The following abbreviations are used for institutions in which type 

 material has been deposited: 



A.N.S.P. Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 



B.M. British Museum (Natural History). 



C.A.S. California Academy of Sciences. 



I.E.F.M.L. Institute de Entomologfa de Fundaci6n Miguel Lillo. 



I.M.U.L.P. Institute del Museo de la Universidad de La Plata. 



M.A.C.N. Museo Argentine de Ciencias Naturales. 



U.K.S.M. University of Kansas Snow Entomological Museum. 



U.S.N. M. United States National Museum. 



HISTORICAL ACCOUNT 



The generic name Mecidea was established by Dallas in 1851 for 

 two species, indica (Bengal) and linearis (locality unknown). Signoret 

 also described a genus in 1851 that he called Cerataulax. This genus 

 was based on the species quadrimttatus (Mauritius), which was 

 described in the same paper. In October of 1851 Signoret reported 

 that Dallas' "List of Hemipterous Insects in the British Museum" had 

 been published a few days earlier than his paper "Description de 

 Nouvelles Especes d'H^mipteres (Ann. Soc. Ent. France, ser. 2, vol. 9, 

 pp. 329-348). As a result he listed several corrections on page cviii 

 of the same volume. One of these corrections states that Cerataulax 

 vittatus (sic) Signoret must be changed to Mecidea linearis Dallas. 

 While there is no doubt of the generic synonymy, reliable evidence that 

 quadrivittatus and linearis are the same species is lacking. 



Subsequent authors have described 13 additional species in the 

 genus Mecidea. The present paper treats 1 of them as a synonym, 

 renames 1 homonym, and adds 3 additional new species. This 

 provides the genus with a total of 18 species. 



GENERIC RELATIONSHIPS 



Mecidea is included with nine other genera in the tribe Mecideini. 

 These genera form a heterogeneous assemblage within the subfamily 

 Pentatominae, They are set apart from the other tribes of the 

 subfamily by a single common character: Abdomen beneath, antero- 

 laterally, with transversely strigose or rugose stridulatory vittae. 



Within the tribe extreme differences of size and structure contrast 

 markedly with the close similarity of species within the various genera 

 as far as they are known to me. This suggests a polyphyletic origin for 

 the tribe. Whatever the result of future studies on the tribe Mecideini, 

 there is no doubt that the closest relatives of Mecidea are at present 

 found within this tribe. Mecidea is thereby clearly associated with a 

 group of genera that are restricted to the Australasian region. This is 

 the more remarkable since Mecidea is not known from that region. 



