FNZ 50 - Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera) catalogue - Methods and conventions
Larivière, M-C; Larochelle, A 2004. Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera): catalogue. Fauna of New Zealand 50, 330 pages.
(
ISSN 0111-5383 (print),
;
no.
50.
ISBN 0-478-09358-6 (print),
).
Published 14 May 2004
ZooBank: http://zoobank.org/References/A7CCCF4B-BAEA-4515-AE1A-740523FD1289
Methods and conventions
This catalogue is based on an exhaustive survey of the literature published between 1777 and September 2003 (over 1000 publications), 11 years of extensive fieldwork by the authors in over 500 localities, and the recording of information associated with authoritatively identified specimens deposited in the following New Zealand entomological museums and collections:
AMNZ Auckland Institute and Museum, Auckland
CMNZ Canterbury Museum, Christchurch.
LUNZ Entomological Museum, Lincoln University, Lincoln
MONZ Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington.
NZAC New Zealand Arthropod Collection, Landcare Research, Auckland.
OMNZ Otago Museum, Dunedin [now including BPNZ, Brian Patrick Private Collection]
UCNZ Department of Zoology, University of Canterbury, Christchurch.
Field surveys and collecting techniques. Most areas of New Zealand have been visited by true bug collectors. This has provided a basic inventory of taxa and resulted in New Zealand collections having representatives of most species, either described or undescribed. The South Island has generally received the closest attention while the North Island has been somewhat neglected by collectors, except for the Northland, Auckland, and Wellington areas. Coastal habitats (estuaries, sand dunes, salt marshes, mangroves), flaxlands, edges of streams crossing forests, the underside of loose tree bark, and rotten logs are among the macro- and microhabitats least surveyed.
The material collected so far is rich in geographic information but often poor in biological data. Furthermore, the majority of species are represented only by a few specimens, impeding the ability of taxonomists to assess morphological variations within and between populations.
As field entomologists the authors believe that species should first be recognised in the field. This is why an extensive field survey has been carried out in order to complete a more detailed picture of geographic distribution and to increase our knowledge of the natural history of as many species as possible. One to three months a year were spent in the field from 1992 to 2003. Over 500 localities were surveyed mostly on the North Island, but also in the South and the West of the South Island. Visits lasting about one week were made to relatively larger areas, e.g., the Catlins or the Ruahines. A mixture of collecting techniques were used at any given collecting site, e.g., hand-collecting, leaf litter and rotten wood sifting, extraction from decomposing debris using Berlese funnels, beating and sweeping of individual host plants, some pitfall trapping, treading of emergent aquatic vegetation, and waternet raking of substrate of water bodies.
Geographic and biological data associated with all samples and specimens collected were recorded in as much detail as possible in field notebooks. This information was subsequently transferred to mounted specimens on 2 labels (Fig. 1), one detailing the locality information, the other one the biological observations. More recently, most locality information has also been georeferenced (attributed longitude and latitude data). All material has been deposited in the research material section of the New Zealand Arthropod Collection (NZAC, Auckland) and label data partly recorded in NZAC's associated databases.
The authors plan to continue their surveys for years to come as there is still a lot of information to be gathered in order to complete their taxonomic revisions and to gain a better understanding of the biogeography and natural history of New Zealand species.
Taxonomic information. The appropriate taxonomic literature was checked to obtain original spellings, years of publication, page citation, type-species designations, type-locality information, and the nomenclatural acts and changes affecting the status of New Zealand taxa.
The catalogue is arranged alphabetically by family, subfamily, tribe, genus, subgenus, species, and subspecies. This arrangement is thought to provide the quickest access to information and easiest use of the catalogue by non-specialists as well as specialists. A table showing the higher classification of Heteroptera is also provided (Table 1).
The nomenclature adopted in this catalogue adheres to the provisions established in the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature , Fourth Edition (1999).
Family-group names. Valid names of families, subfamilies, and tribes (when available) are given as bold centred headings. Treatment of nomenclature of family-group names is not included.
The familial classification used in this catalogue follows Cassis & Gross (1995 and 2002, see also Checklist of taxa, Introduction and Table 1). This facilitates comparison between the faunas of Australia and New Zealand, and consideration of the New Zealand fauna within the wider context of Australasia.
Genus-group names. Valid names are given with author and year as bold centred headings. The biostatus of each taxon is indicated (A=adventive; E=endemic; N=native, not endemic). Under this heading the valid name and its synonyms, in chronological order, are given with citation of the original authority, year of publication, and page reference. Information on original rank, availability, homonymy, and synonymy, or changes of rank are also included. Incorrect subsequent spellings are not usually given. The full synonymy of adventive taxa from outside the Australian Region is omitted, except in some cases for added clarity. Instead, literature references providing access to the complete synonymy are given. Type species (in their original combination) and method of fixation are given for valid native genus-group names as well as synonyms.
Strict adherence is given to the definition of "available name" by the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (1999).
Species-group names. Valid names are given in their current combination with author and year as bold left justified headings. The biostatus of each taxon is indicated (A=adventive; E=endemic; N=native, not endemic). Under this heading valid names of native species, subspecies and their synonyms are given in chronological order as for genus-group names. Information on original rank, availability, homonymy, and synonymy, or changes of rank are also included. Incorrect spellings are not usually given. The full synonymy of adventive taxa from outside the Australian Region is omitted, except in some cases for added clarity. Instead, literature references providing access to the complete synonymy are given. New combinations are listed chronologically and followed by a colon (:) and the bibliographic reference of the combination. Type data are provided for available names of native species and subspecies.
Biostatus. This (A=adventive; E=endemic; N=native, not endemic) is indicated for all genera, species, and subspecies. The biostatus categories used are defined in the glossary (Appendix A). A combination of criteria was used to assess whether taxa were adventive including: recency of first New Zealand record in the literature and collections (these date back to 1875); fit of current geographical and ecological distribution with recognised natural patterns, or similarity of such distribution with that of other adventive arthropods; and dispersal ability, especially in relation to flightlessness and distance from the nearest overseas populations.
Type data. These are listed in the following format: Type, Holotype, Lectotype, Syntypes, or Neotype followed by sex (accompanied by number of specimens in the case of syntypes), acronym of entomological collection or museum (repository; see Appendix C for list of acronyms), area code (Crosby et a l. 1998) of type locality, and name of type locality. An asterisk indicates type specimen(s) not seen by the authors.
Photographs of primary types deposited in New Zealand collections and museums were captured through a Leica MZ-12 stereomicroscope and the increased depth-of-field computer system Auto-Montage (Synoptics U.K.). Type label information was digitised using a flat bed scanner (Microtek ArtixScan 1100). Further photoprocessing and figure layouts were done with the software packages PhotoShop and CorelDRAW graphics suite. The type photographs in this catalogue (pp. 225-275) and photos of other types are available on the Landcare Research website (http://www.landcareresearch.co.nz, New Zealand Hemiptera website).
Geographic distribution. The catalogue contains distributional information for genera, subgenera, species and subspecies, based on literature and specimen label data. The distribution of supraspecific groups is usually given as broad geographical regions or in slightly more detail if the taxon is widely known within the Australian Region.
For species and subspecies, the area codes of Crosby et al . (1976, 1998) are given in alphabetical order for the North Island, South Island, Stewart Island, and the Offshore Islands, respectively. When appropriate, the extralimital distribution (outside New Zealand and its offshore islands) is also included, as well as first New Zealand records of adventive species. Full distributional information is given for species and subspecies known from ten (10) localities or fewer with the collection acronym or literature reference supporting each record. Appendix E contains a list of the main collecting localities and their geographic coordinates.
Two-letter abbreviations for the area codes of Crosby et al . (1976, 1998) used in this catalogue are as follows (see maps 1-3, pp. 276-278):
New Zealand. North Island: AK, Auckland; BP, Bay of Plenty; CL, Coromandel; GB, Gisborne; HB, Hawke's Bay; ND, Northland; RI, Rangitikei; TK, Taranaki; TO, Taupo; WA, Wairarapa; WI, Wanganui; WN, Wellington; WO, Waikato. South Island : BR, Buller; CO, Central Otago; DN, Dunedin; FD, Fiordland; KA, Kaikoura; MC, Mid Canterbury; MK, Mackenzie; NC, North Canterbury; NN, Nelson; OL, Otago Lakes; SC, South Canterbury; SD, Marlborough Sounds; SL, Southland; WD, Westland. Stewart Island, SI. Offshore Islands : AN, Antipodes Islands; AU, Auckland Islands; BO, Bounty Islands; CA, Campbell Island; CH, Chatham Islands; KE, Kermadec Islands; SN, Snares Islands; TH, Three Kings Islands.
The authors are aware of the arbitrary nature of the Crosby et al. (1976, 1998) system for recording specimen localities, as well as its obvious limitations when it comes to uncovering biogeographic patterns. Nevertheless, recording geographic information in this way is a useful, well established approach adopted by most New Zealand entomological collections, museums, and publication series. It has the advantages of allowing distributional information to be uniformly recorded and easily compared. Broad biogeographic trends can still be observed, and it remains relatively easy to relate species distributions to any one of a range of 'more natural' land or ecosystem classifications (e.g., Department of Conservation's Ecological Regions and Districts of New Zealand), especially when georeferenced point-data are also available.
During the course of this research species-level geographic information and type-locality data were maintained in a MicrosoftAccess database. This database was used to prepare the species distribution maps (pp. 283-318, presented alphabetically by taxa), the maps on taxonomic diversity (pp. 279-282), and the appendices listing type localities (Appendix H) and species by areas of New Zealand (Appendices F, G). All maps were prepared using the software CorelDRAW graphics suite.
Appendix D provides a list of taxa incorrectly or erroneously recorded from New Zealand.
Biological and dispersal information. The information provided is based on the literature and specimen label data. In order to eliminate spurious records, an effort was made to summarise available information by using the smallest common denominator representing the essentials of each species' requirements. Information given between square brackets, e.g., [ ], is assumed from available knowledge on related taxa.
Data sheets were prepared to compile information on biology and dispersal power (Fig. 2) and compose the species treatments for the catalogue. Biological trends were summarised for each species, using a series of standardised terms following the approach taken by previous workers dealing with other faunas (e.g., Cassis & Gross, 1995 and 2002). The terms used in this catalogue are defined in the glossary (Appendix A).
Altitudinal distribution, or distribution related to altitude or elevation, is expressed as coastal, lowland, montane, subalpine, and alpine, following the categories used by Brownsey & Smith-Dodsworth (2000).
Vertical distribution, or distribution related to the horizon (terrestrial taxa), is expressed as epigean, planticolous, or arboreal.
Plant associations are listed from most commonly encountered to least commonly encountered associations. When this is not known, plants are listed alphabetically.
Seasonality, or the period of year when an animal is active, is expressed as months from September (start of spring) to August (end of winter). Because this information was gathered mostly from collection data, it may only be loosely indicative of the actual seasonality.
Dispersal power, or the capability of dispersal, has been assessed when possible, using wing condition and flight data (including light-trapping observations). Wing condition is expressed as apterous, micropterous, brachypterous, submacropterous, or macropterous, and was evaluated for each species using the literature and personal observations made in the field and in the laboratory.
References. Under Reference(s), only the most important references are given for valid taxa, with an indication of their contents between parentheses. In general the authors aimed to limit the number of references to no more than five to ten for each species or subspecies. Page numbers are only provided for taxonomic citations from recent catalogues.
Notes. Additional information is given as Notes under each valid taxon.