THE PENTATOMOIDEA OF THE LAKE 

 OKOBOJI REGION 



By Dayton Stoner 



The present paper is based on collecting and observations 

 made, for the most part, in the vicinity of Okoboji lakes, Dick- 

 inson county in northwestern Iowa. It is offered as a general 

 preliminary and progress report of a more extensive treatise, 

 now under way by the writer, dealing with the Pentatomoidea of 

 the entire state of Iowa. The discussion which follows includes 

 some new distributional records within the state with notes on 

 abundance, habitats, etc., of some species of pentatomids and 

 presents a list of these insects occurring in northwestern Iowa 

 which may serve as a basis for future studies in this group. 



Collecting of material upon which this work is based was done 

 during the latter half of June and at intervals during July and 

 August, 1916. As indicated by the number of nymphs found, 

 especially during June, it seems apparent that the season aver- 

 ages somewhat later in northwestern Iowa than in the central and 

 southern portions of the state. Pentatomids were not found in 

 any numbers on tjrpical prairie plants before the latter part, of 

 July when such plants were only beginning to flower. Most of 

 the specimens were taken by sweeping grasses, w^eeds and foliage 

 with a hand net, while others were taken by digging about the 

 roots of vegetation growing on sandy beaches. A large share of 

 the collecting was done in the vicinity of the Macbride Lakeside 

 Laboratory situated on the west shore of West Okoboji lake. In 

 addition, outlying points as far away as Sioux City were visited. 

 Twenty-nine of the sixty species of pentatomids now recorded 

 from Iowa are mentioned in this paper, along with one species 

 not before recorded and it is probable that further collecting and 

 study wiU reveal several others from this most interesting region. 



Acknowledgment for assistance in the collecting of specimens 



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