PSYCHE 



VOL. XXV AUGUST. 1918 No. 4 



SYNOPTIC KEYS TO THE LYG^ID^E (HEMIPTERA) 

 OF THE UNITED STATES. 



By H. G. Barber, 

 Roselle Park, New Jersey. 



PART II. RHYPAROCHROMIN^. 



As indicated by St§,l the most important character for differ- 

 entiating this subfamily is the pecuUarity of the incisure between 

 the third and fourth ventral abdominal segments which laterally 

 curves forward and does not reach the lateral margin of the ab- 

 domen. Plinthisus is about the only exception to this among 

 United States genera. The presence of two setse, set close to each 

 eye, is also characteristic of the group. Stal (Ofv. Vet.-Akad. 

 Forh 1872) first divided this subfamily into six divisions: My- 

 odocharia, Rhyparochromaria, Beosaria, Gonianotaria, Leth- 

 searia, and Drymaria. Two years later (Stal, Enum. Hemipt. 

 Pt. 4, 1874), in constructing a synopsis to include extra-Euro- 

 pean genera, St§,l added Cleradaria, combined Drymaria with 

 Lethsearia and omitted all mention of the Gonianotaria. Accept- 

 ing Stal's arrangement this subfamily is therefore composed of six 

 main divisions which Mr. Van Duzee has recently termed tribes 

 to bring them more into accord with modern system of nomen- 

 clature. In separating certain of his divisions Stal relied prin- 

 cipally upon two characters — the position of the two opaque spots 

 of the fourth ventral abdominal segment in reference to each other 

 and the character of the lateral margin of the pronotum. Owing 

 to the difficulty of interpreting these characters exactly in every 

 case or owing to their variability the accuracy of Stal's divisional 

 arrangement has been called in question by several Hemipterists. 

 Distant (Biol. Cent. Amer., p. 212, 1882) recognizes Myodocharia 

 and combines all of the other divisions under Rhyparochromaria, 

 stating that "I have here failed to interpret his [St&,rs] meaning 

 sufficiently to prevent confusion." Bergroth (Ann. Soc. Entomol. 



