Elvisurinae
Creators: name: Gerry Cassis
name: Loren Vanags
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2006
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Scutelleridae

description: Subfamily Elvisurinae
Pentatomidae, Scutellerina, Elvisuraria STÅL 1872: 32 (new suprageneric taxon) Pentatomidae, Scutellerinae, Elvisuraria: SCHOUTEDEN 1904: 4 (diagnosis) Pentatomidae, Scutellerinae, Elvisurini: KIRKALDY 1909: 311 (catalogue) Pentatomidae, Scutellerinae, Scutellerini, Elvisuraria: LESTON 1952d: 13 (new suprageneric classification) Scutelleridae, Elvisurinae: MCDONALD & CASSIS 1984: 538 (Australia)
Diagnosis: The Elvisurinae are recognised by the following combination characters: small (e.g., Fig. 3b) to very large species (e.g., Fig. 3e); ovoid to elongate-ovoid, sometimes strongly tapered towards terminalia; body moderately to heavily punctate; pale to dark brown species (e.g., Figs 3 a-e), sometimes with red or fuscous highlighting (e.g., Fig. 3d), occasionally with patterning on scutellum (e.g., Fig. 3d), sometimes with green iridescence; larvae brilliantly and aposematically coloured; head subtriangular to triangular (e.g., Figs 4a, 7a, 9a); sulcate thoracic sterna with highly elevated keels (e.g., Figs 4c, 7c, 9c), contiguous with explanate anterior margin of proepisternum; efferent system of metathoracic glands well-developed (e.g., Figs 4d, 7d, 9d), with peritreme short (e.g., Fig. 4d) to elongate (e.g., Fig. 7d); sometimes males with abdominal sternal glands (e.g., Figs 2 a-c); ventral surface of pygophore caudally (e.g., Fig. 4e) or ventrally oriented (e.g., Fig. 7e); posterior margin of male pygophore emarginate (e.g., Figs 4e, 7e) to entire (e.g., Fig. 9e); genital opening narrow to broad; parameres hook-shaped (e.g., Figs 5b, 8b, 10b); ejaculatory reservoir well-developed, with ventral conducting canal and ejaculatory apparatus (e.g., Figs 5c, d, 8c, d, 10c, d); CAI absent; CAII bifurcate, with lobal sclerites (e.g., Figs 5c, d, 8c, d, 10c, d), CAIII undivided (e.g., Figs 8c, d) or divided (e.g., Figs 5c, d, 10c, d); spermathecal fecundation canal short or long; and, spermathecal reservoir oval to weakly dilated.
Remarks: STÅL (1872) first described the elvisurines as a tribal group (Elvisuraria), providing a diagnosis (STÅL 1872, 1873) based primarily on the carinate thoracic sterna. SCHOUTEDEN (1904) followed this arrangement and provided a listing of species. KIRKALDY (1909) catalogued the species and the classification of SCHOUTEDEN (1904).
The Elvisurinae are retained as a subfamily in this work, on the basis of the keel-like thoracic sterna (Figs 4c, 7c, 10c), which is a putative apomorphy for this taxon. In some Odontotarsinae species, the pro- and mesosterna are raised, but not to any great height, and not keel-like as in the elvisurines.
Unlike, the Scutellerinae and some Pachycorinae, the adults of elvisurines are nearly all dull in colouration, aside from two species of Coleotichus (C. blackburniae and C. bulowi), which have a green iridescence, and some species of Chiastosternum and Solenos-thedium, which have contrasting yellow markings on the dorsum. It is noteworthy that larval elvisurines have brilliant colouration, like the larvae in the Scutellerinae. In most other characters, the elvisurines are indistinguishable from the other jewel bug subfamilies, aside from the Tectocorinae. The male aedeagus of elvisurines is not diagnostic for the subfamily, and closely resembles the aedeagus in taxa of the other subfamilies, particularly the Scutellerinae (e.g., Choero-coris species, Figs 35c, d, 36c, d), Pachycorinae (e.g., Camirus DALLAS; MCDONALD 1966: Fig. 30) and Odontotarsinae (e.g., Phi-modera GERMAR; MCDONALD 1966: Fig. 22); with a well-developed ejaculatory apparatus, including a convoluted ventral conducting canal and a prominent ejaculatory reservoir. In addition, the character states of the conjunctival appendages are difficult to interpret, with the CAI absent in elvisurines, but also in many taxa in all subfamilies except the Tectocorinae. Moreover, the female terminalia and spermatheca of elvisurines is consistent with most other scutellerids. At present, there is no conclusive evidence that suggests a sister-taxon relationship with any of the other scutellerid subfamilies.
The Elvisurinae are a small subfamily of scutellerids comprised of five genera (KIRKALDY 1909; LESTON 1952d). This subfamily is restricted to the Eastern Hemisphere, with the genera distributed as follows: the monotypic genera Austrotichus and Solenotichus are endemic to Australia; Solenosthedium has seven species in the Eastern Hemisphere (from Africa to Indonesia, including Madagascar), aside from the Australian zoogeographic region; Coleotichus is broadly distributed in the Australian region, including continental Australia and the Melanesian subregion, with spectacular species in Samoa (C. bulowi) and Hawaii (C. blackburniae WHITE); the nominotypical genus Elvisura is endemic to the southern regions of the Afrotropical region, including Madagascar, to India (KIRKALDY 1909).
The genus Nesogenes, a monotypic genus (N. boscii FABRICIUS), was described by HORVÁTH (1921), and is known from the Greater Antilles (Cuba, Haiti and St. Vincent). He placed this taxon in the Elvisurinae, based on the conformity of the keel-like thoracic sterna with all the other members of the subfamily. We examined a single specimen of this taxon at the BMNH (label data as ‘St. Dom.’), and found that the species has elvisurine-type thoracic sterna, but possesses extensive stridulatory vittae (sublaterally on abdominal SIII-SVII), the latter being diagnostic for the Pachycorinae. On these two character systems alone, this taxon is annectant between the Elvisurinae and the Pachycorinae. Externally, this species is reminiscent of species of Coleotichus, having a rounded posterior margin of the pronotum, and densely punctate dorsum, with green iridescence (as in C. blackburniae and C. bulowi). The external efferent system of metathoracic glands is extensive, with no peritreme evident, but with a prominent ostiole; a character state conforming to many Western Hemisphere pachycorine taxa. The external female genitalia are distinctive, with the medioposteri-or angles of the first gonocoxae narrowly excavate. There has been no examination of the male genitalia of this species. We regard this taxon as incertae sedis, pending examination of additional material, but exclude it from the Elvisurinae.
description: Published as part of Gerry Cassis & Loren Vanags, 2006, Jewel Bugs of Australia (Insecta, Heteroptera, Scutelleridae), pp. 275-398 in Denisia 19 on pages 300-301, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12996779