Reduvius

Abstract: Ecological information has been presented on the 4 predaceous species of Reduvius known to North America— Reduvius personatus, senilis, sonoraensis, vanduzeei. Reduvius senilis and sonoraensis were reared from egg to egg using Triatominae as prey for these assassin bugs. Reduvius bugs became infected with Trypanosoma cruzi as a result of feeding upon infected Triatoma . Nymphal and adult instars of R. sonoraensis have been figured; fifth instar nymphs may be sexed by the length of their wing pads.

Abstract: The rate of discovery of new species of Reduviidae (Insecta: Heteroptera) from North America has slowed in the 21st century. This is not surprising, given the conspicuousness and large distribution ranges of many Nearctic assassin bug species that are often collected using general insect collecting techniques. Nevertheless, biodiversity discovery in Nearctic Reduviidae is ongoing. We here describe a new species, Reduvius frommeri, n. sp., from Southern California that is so far only known from a small endemic range in the Sonoran Desert. With about 197 species, the genus Reduvius Fabricius is one of the most speciose genera of Reduviidae. The majority of species occur in arid- and semi-arid areas in the Afrotropical, Oriental, and Palearctic regions and only three species are New World endemics. A fourth species that occurs in the United States, Reduvius personatus Fabricius, is cosmopolitan and has been introduced to the Western Nearctic. The new species of Reduvius stands out amongst the four other Nearctic Reduvius species by the small size and pale body coloration with a contrasting dark head. Image plates documenting habitus and selected morphological details and maps are provided for the five species in the Nearctic. We conclude that efforts to document species diversity and distribution ranges even for conspicuous insects such as assassin bugs in fairly well studied biogeographic regions need to continue.

Abstract: Fifteen species of the genus Reduvius Fabricius from China are recognized, keyed and illustrated. R. flavonotus, R. montanus, R. montosus, R. renae, and R. froeschneri are described as new species. R. fasciatus lui Cai et Shen is a new name for R. f. domesticus Lu et Cai, 1994, junior homonym of R. domesticus Montrouzier, 1865.

Abstract: The poorly known assassin bug Reduvius (Pseudoreduvius) dicki Carayon, 1987 (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Reduviinae), known so far only from Libya, is recorded here for the first time from Tunisia. In addition, the Tunisian record of Reduvius testaceus (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1845) was found to actually represent misidentification of R. dicki and R. testaceus is excluded from the list of the Tunisian fauna. The reduviid fauna of Tunisia currently comprises 56 species.