Acanthaspis rafiqi: A new species of Assassin Bug from Pakistan.

The Assassin Bugs, Reduviidae, are carnivorous True Bugs, often noted for their ability as mimics, which enables them to strike rapidly at unsuspecting prey with their enlarged, stabbing proboscis. The Reduviinae is one of the largest subfamilies within the Reduviidae, currently comprising over 1070 species within 141 genera. However, it is probably paraphyletic (i.e. not all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of all members of the group are included in the group), despite the high level of similarity seen between members of the group, suggesting that it represents a sort of 'basic' Assassin Bug bodyplan from which more specialised groups have derived. The genus Acanthaspis currently contains 124 species, making it the second largest within the Reduviinae, and is particularly diverse in South Asia, making up 42 of the 98 species of Assassin Bug found in India.

In a paper published in the Pakistan Journal of Zoology on 9 February 2022, Syed Ishfaq Ali Shah of the Department of Entomology at the China Agricultural University, and the Entomology Section at the Central Cotton Research Institute, Azaz Ahmad of the Department of Entomology at the University of Agriculture, and Wanzhi Cai, also of the Department of Entomology at the China Agricultural University, describe a new species of Acanthaspis from Pakistan.

The new species is named Acanthaspis rafiqi, in honour of Muhammad Rafiq, the former head of the Entomology Section and Principal Scientific Officer at the Central Cotton Research Institute. The species is described from five specimens, a males and a female collected from the village of Arja in the Bagh district of Azad Jammu and Kashmir by Khifza Niaz and placed in the collection of the Pakistan Museum of Natural History, a male specimen collected from the Margalla Hills of Islamabad by Azaz Ahmad, and two further specimens found in the collection of the Pakistan Museum of Natural History, which were collected in the 1980s and bear the legend 'Arbro'; one of these was also collected in Islamabad, and the other has no collection data.

Acanthaspis rafiqi, male specimen in dorsal view. Scale bar is 3.00 mm. Shah et al. (2022).

Male specimens of Acanthaspis rafiqi range from 16.00 to 16.20 mm in length, while females range from 16.16 to 16.24 mm, both are black to dark chocolate-brown in colour, with contrasting beige spots. The bodies of these insects are roughly elliptical, with females being more rectangular, they have some hairs on their underside, but the upper side is generally hairless and smooth.

 

Acanthaspis rafiqi, female specimen in (A) dorsal and (B) ventral views. Scale bar is 3.00 mm. Shah et al. (2022).

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Capricephala chiaroscuro: A new species of Ambush Bug from the Dominican Republic.

Ambush Bugs, Phymatinae, are highly specialised Assassin Bugs, Reduviidae, noted for their highly modified forelegs, which are modified for seizing prey in a manner similar to Mantises. Ambush Bugs are, as their name suggests, ambush predators, and are capable of taking prey many times their own size. Ambush Bugs are global in distribution, but are more abundant in the tropics, with the Greater Antilles Islands being particularly rich in species.

In a paper published in the journal Insect Systematics and Diversity on 12 July 2019, Paul Masonick of the Department of Entomology of the University of California, Riverside, describes a new species of Ambush Bug from the Parque Nacional Sierra de Baoruco, in Pedernales Province, Dominican Republic.

The new species is named Capricephala chiaroscuro, where 'Capricephala' means 'Goat horns' in reference to four horn-like spines on the head of the species, and 'chiaroscuro' is an Italian term which refers to the composition of light and shadow in a picture, in reference to the contrasting colours of the species. The species is described from a single female specimen from the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, uncovered by Masonick during a review of the Ambush Bug material there. This specimen is 11.7 mm in length, making the species one of the largest Ambush Bugs described to date. The specimen was collected in June 2005 by entomologist Steve Lingafelter, in an area of cloud forest at an altitude of 1150 m.

Capricephala chiaroscuro, female specimen in dorsal view. Masonick (2019).

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An Assassin Bug from the Palaeocene of Spitsbergen Island.

The fossil Hymenopterites deperditus was first described from the Middle Palaeocene Firkanten Formation at Kapp Starostin on Spitsbergen Island in 1870. At the time it was believed to be the forewing of a wasp. In 1977 a review of H. deperditus suggested it might in fact be the wing of a seed, similar to that of a Sycamore.

In a forthcoming paper in the journal Acta Palaeonontoligica Polonica, a team of scientists lead by Torsten Wappler of the Steinmann-Institut für Geologie, Mineralogie und Paläontologie at Universität Bonn, re-examine H. deperditus and come to the conclusion it is in fact an Assassin Bug.

The Assassin Bugs, Reduviidae, are carnivorous True Bugs, often noted for their ability as mimics. Wappler et al. were not confident enough about the classification of H. deperditus to place it within a specific subfamily, but are confident enough to assign it to the Emesine-Saicine group, probably most closely related to the modern Saicinae.

(A-D) Modern Saicinid Assassin Bugs. (A) Tagalis.

inornata. (B) Polytoxus wahlbergi. (C) Saica tibialis. (D) Wings of Tagalis sp. (E-H) Hymenopterites deperditus. (E) Whole specimen with original labeling. (F) Close up of wing under normal light conditions. (G) Close up under alcohol. (H) Line drawing of wing. Abbreviations. –– Veins: Cu, cubitus; M, Media; Pcu, Postcubitus; R, Radius; Rs, radial sector; Cells: (M) cell between Cu and M; (t) triangular cell between Pcu and Cu. Scale Bars equal 1 mm.

The Saicinae are often wasp-mimics, which helps toe explain the original diagnosis of the wing as that of a wasp. The modern Saicinae are almost entirely tropical in distribution, with no known species surviving anything cooler than a Mediterranean climate. If the same is true for H. deperditus then subarctic Spitsbergen must have been considerably warmer in the Palaeocene; this is not a total surprise, other fossils from the Palaeocene of Spitsbergen have also suggested a warmer climate.

A fossil Assassin Bug has previously been described from the Cretaceous of China, but this is now thought to have been inaccurate. Assassin Bugs have also been reported from the Cretaceous of Mongolia, but not yet formally described. This makes the Palaeocene H. deperditus the oldest yet described Assassin Bug, the next members of the group appearing in the Eocene Messel Shale. The Saicinae are thought to be highly derived members of the group, suggesting that Assassin Bugs must have been around for quite a while before H. deperditus. This fits well with the known biogeography of the Assassin Bugs; they are found throughout the tropics, suggesting that the group must have come into existence before the breakup of Gondwanaland, about 100 million years ago.

See also A fossil termite from the Late Oligocene of northern Ethiopia, New species of moth from Yunnan Province, New species of Owlfly from Morocco, Evidence of fungal parasites modifying the behavior of ants from the Eocene Messel Shale and Giant Fleas from the Jurassic of China.

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