April-June, 1920 Bulletin Brooklyn Entomological Society 49 



NEW AND LITTLE-KNOWN SPECIES OF PHYTOCORIS 



FROM THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. 



(HETEROPTERA— MIRID^.) ' 



By Harry H. Knight, University of Minnesota, St. Paul. 



The present paper presents partial results of studies made in 

 the genus Phytocoris in an effort to clear up the confusion sur- 

 rounding the species in the eximius group. That there has been 

 confusion need scarcely merit remark ; still it might be added that 

 the writer has before him no less than fourteen species, all of 

 which have in previous years been determined by the best Hemip- 

 tera workers as Phytocoris eximius. Here is a group of species, 

 all of which wear the same confusing cloak of dark and obscure 

 colors, so similar in general appearance that several species can 

 not be distinguished with certainty except by reference to the 

 genital characters. If we are to separate the species consistently 

 then we must get down to genital characters. 



As a matter of fact after a little practice, any student can de- 

 termine species more quickly by reference to the male claspers 

 than by any descriptive process, and far more accurately. Or- ^ 

 dinary word descriptions are useless in the eximius group and 

 genitalia alone remain the sole guide for accurate determinations. 

 The writer could only desire as other students, that all the species 

 of Phytocoris were distinct and that simple tables could be de- 

 vised to separate the species on other than genital structures but 

 such does not seem feasible among the species of the eximius 

 group. Perhaps after we have worked out the species by geni- 

 talia and come to know them by long series, certain superficial 

 characters may be seized upon for distinguishing many of the 

 species. In describing some of the new forms the descriptions 

 are short, for the writer can point out only a few comparative 

 color characteristics in addition to the genital structures, wherein 

 the species may be said to differ from eximius; mere repetition 

 of words, would lead only to confusion. 



1 Published with the approval of the Director as Paper No. 199 of the 

 Journal Series of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station. 



