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Systematics, phylogeny and biogeography
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Systematics and species radiation of the sheoak lace bug genus Epimixia Kirkaldy (Insecta : Heteroptera : Tingidae) in Australia, New Caledonia and Papua New Guinea

Gerasimos Cassis https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0519-664X A B D , Celia Symonds A and Lauren Branson C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

B Research Associate, 1 College Street, Australian Museum, Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia.

C Independent researcher.

D Corresponding author. Email: gcassis@unsw.edu.au

Invertebrate Systematics 33(2) 277-366 https://doi.org/10.1071/IS18040
Submitted: 22 May 2018  Accepted: 26 July 2018   Published: 4 April 2019

Abstract

On the basis of new survey, knowledge of Australia’s heteropteran fauna has been shown to have a significant taxonomic impediment, requiring the description of many new lineages. In this work we provide a monographic treatment of the lace bug genus Epimixia, including a phylogenetic analysis validating its monophyly. We redescribe the genus and previously described species E. alitophrosyne Kirkaldy, E. nigriceps (Signoret), E. nigripes dysmica Drake & Ruhoff, E. nigripes nigripes (Horváth), E. veteris Drake, E. vittata Horváth and E. vulturna (Kirkaldy). Eighteen new species are described, including the first recorded species from Papua New Guinea (E. gagnei, sp. nov.), a second species from New Caledonia (E. fulva, sp. nov.) and 16 new Australian species (E. aboccidente, sp. nov., E. acclivis, sp. nov., E. albimons, sp. nov., E. allocasuarina, sp. nov., E. bicolor, sp. nov., E. caerulamons, sp. nov., E. christopherdarwini, sp. nov., E. eneabba, sp. nov., E. kimberley, sp. nov., E. leai, sp. nov., E. megacosta, sp. nov., E. minor, sp. nov., E. pilbara, sp. nov., E. schuhi, sp. nov., E. tropica, sp. nov. and E. verticordiaphila, sp. nov.). Epimixia dysmica Drake & Ruhoff is elevated to species rank, from its previous subspeciefic status within E. nigripes. This work also reports host plants for Epimixia, predominantly belonging to the Casuarinaceae, with a handful of species associated with the Myrtaceae, Proteaceae and Fabaceae. Host plants are mapped to the Epimixia phylogeny, indicating that the Casuarinaceae-affiliated Epimixia species form a subclade. Area relationships of the Epimixia species are analysed using subtree analysis, resulting in the south-west and south-east corners of Australia being sisters, relative to the Adelaide subregion, and in turn to Atherton + New Caledonia.

http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:E7FC4E37-517D-4AB7-A918-B9104D63AB25

Additional keywords: biogeography, host plants, phylogeny, taxonomy.


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