SYSTEMATIC REVISION OF THE RELATED GENERA NEELLA REUTER 1908 AND NEONEELLA COSTA LIMA 1942 (HETEROPTERA: MIRIDAE: BRYOCORINAE)

MINGHETTI, EUGENIA; MONTEMAYOR, SARA I.; DELLAPÉ, PABLO M.

Congreso; Seventh meeting of the International Heteropterists' Society; 2022

The Miridae, commonly called plant bugs, are the mosl species-rich family of Heteroptera and one of the 20 most diverse families of insects, with more than 11.300 described species. In the Neotropics there are approximately 560 genera and 3400 species. The Brycorinae is the fourth-largest subfamily among Miridae, and it is a highly diverse group in terms of feeding habits and morphology, including genitalic structures. A recent phylogenetic analysis recovered its monophyly and recognized five tribes. The Eccritotarsini is the largest tribe, and it is particularly diverse in the Neotropical Region. Although eccritotarsines have been proposed as the sister group of bryocorines, its internal relationships remain unknown. The neotropical genera Neella Reuter and Neoneella Costa Lima have been relatively little studied, and their species are only known from their original descriptions. According to some authors, they are closely related and constitute the Neella-Neoneella complex, in which are also grouped Adneella Carvalho, Paraneella Carvalho and Proneella Carvalho. As part of EM PhD thesis, a systematic revision of this group has been done anda morphological phylogenetic analysis was performed, including 57 terminal taxa -12 of them are new species - combining continuous and discrete characters, with an important number of morphological characters - mainly of male genitalia - that had not been studied before. As a result, the monophyly of the Neella-Neoneella complex was rejected, the monophyly of Neella was corroborated including 13 known species and four new species, Neoneella resulted ina monophyletic group constituted by six species, the monophyly of Adneella was also recovered, composed of 14 species - five of them transferred from Neella and one new species, the lwo species of Proneella formed a clade, and the monotypic Paraneella was recovered as part of a group composed of three eccritotarsine oulgroup genera. Also, six new genera were delimited, integrated by species transferred from /Vee/la or new species. The 12 new species were described, and the 38 known species were redescribed; all genera and species were diagnosed and keyed. In addition to the phylogenetic analysis, and as there is an absolute lack of knowledge about the biogeographic history of the studied genera, analyses for the identification of areas with highest species richness, areas of endemism and endemic species, and climatically stable areas that may serve or may have served as refugia when regional or global climate conditions change/changed were performed. The identification of refugia was based on an ecological niche modelling approach.