﻿STINK BUGS, GENUS MECIDEA — SAILER 493 



Distribution summarized. — From latitude 24° N. to central Cali- 

 fornia, northern Utah, and central South Dakota; the eastern 

 boundary near the eastern borders of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. 



Collection dates summarized. — Collected every month except Febru- 

 ary and April. More than half the collections were made during July 

 and August and 90 percent between May 1 and November 1. Records 

 north of latitude 33° N., middle of June through September. 



Host plants. — Bouteloua curtipendula (Michaux) Torrey; also taken 

 on Chenopodium pratericola subsp. desiccatum (A. Nelson) Aellen and 

 Spinacia oleracea Linnaeus (spinach). 



MECIDEA PALLIDA StM 



Plate 47, Figures 4-6; Plate 48, Figures 29, 30 



Mecidea pallida StAl, Ofv. Vet. Akad. Forhandl., vol, 11, pt. 8, p. 233, 1854; 

 Ofv. Vet. Akad. Forhandl., vol. 13, pt. 3, pp. 56-57, 1856; Hemiptera Africana 

 dcscripsit Carolus Still, vol. 1, p. 132, 1865; Enum. Hemip., vol. 5, p. 38, 

 1876. — Lethierry and Puton, Ann. Soc. France, ser, 5, vol. 6, p. 15, 1876. — 

 Lethierry and Severin, Catalogue g6n6ral des Hdmiptferes, vol. 1, Het^rop- 

 tdres, Pentatomidae, p. 92, 1893. — Schouteden, Ann. Soc. Ent. Belgique, 

 vol. 49, p. 7, 1905.— OsHANiN, Berz. Palaerkt. Hemip., vol. 1, p. 85, 1906. — 

 KiRKALDY, A catalogue of the Hemiptera (Heteroptera), vol. 1, Cimicidae, 

 p. 202, 1909.— HoRVATH, Ann. Mus. Nat. Hungarici, vol. 7, p. 290, 1909. — 

 Bergevin and Th6ry, Bull. Soc. Hist. Nat. I'Afrique Nord, ser. 2, vol. 9, 

 p. 142, 1910.— Jensen-Haarup, Ent. Meddel., vol. 14, pt. 1, pp. 7-9, 1922.— 

 China, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser. 10, vol. 17, pp. 96, 97, fig. b, 1936. — 

 LiNDBERG, Comm. Biol. Soc. Sci. Fennica, vol. 6, pt. 7, pp. 7, 20, 1936; 

 Not. Ent., vol. 18, pp. 85, 86, fig. 1, b, 1938.— Ruckes, Bull. Brooklyn Ent. 

 Soc, vol. 41, pt. 3, pp. 86, 87, 1946.— Vidal, Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Maroc, 

 vol. 48, pp. 117-118, 1949.— Wagner, Eos, vol. 25, pts. 3-4, pp. 190-191, 

 1949 [fig. of type). 



Mecidea pallida var. virens, Vidal, 1949, Mem. Soc. Sci. Nat. Maroc, vol. 48, 

 p. 118, 1949 (new synonymy). 



So closely related to Mecidea major and M. indica that it is doubtful 

 if the females can be distinguished in all instances. Perhaps best 

 characterized by the small degree of secondary sexual dimorphism 

 exhibited by the antennae. Also bears a superficial resemblance to 

 M. lutzi but is easily distinguished from that species by the more 

 concave, less carinate lateral margins of the pronotum and the smaller 

 size of the black spots just below the abdominal setigerous puncture. 



Habitus does not differ significantly from AI. major; however, the 

 pronotum is slightly less constricted at middle than in M. indica. 

 Black spots just below abdominal setigerous punctures about twice 

 the diameter of a spiracle. 



Length: Male, 11.8 mm.; females, 11.8-12.4 mm. 



Width at humeral angles: Male, 3.3 mm.; females, 3.0-3.3 mm. 



Antennae of male: Relative length of segments, 45:125:70:95: 

 missing. First three segments as shown on plate 48, figure 29. 



