Introduction
Growing demand for information on New Zealand Hemiptera, especially regarding nomenclature and taxonomy, led to the development and ongoing maintenance of this checklist to families and valid species-group taxa. This online checklist aims to enable end-users of biodiversity information to follow the progress of research on the faunistics and systematics of Hemiptera (excluding Sternorrhyncha) and to access research results as quickly as possible.
A further goal of this checklist, and a desirable outcome of modern biosysematics research, is to maintain the currency of paper-based publications.
Wise's (1977: Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum 11 ) checklist of Hexapoda recorded 46 families, 235 genera and 503 species of Hemiptera (excluding Sternorrhyncha) for New Zealand. Several genera and families have since been revised, nomenclatural changes have occurred, and new taxa have been documented. More recently, the Heteroptera were catalogued in detail by Larivière & Larochelle (2004: Fauna of New Zealand 50: 330 p.), the Auchenorrhyncha by Larivière, Fletcher & Larochelle (2010: Fauna of New Zealand 63: 232 p.), and the Coleorrhyncha by Larivière, Burckhardt & Larochelle (2011: Fauna of New Zealand 67: 78 p.)..
Information about most taxonomic changes published since the publication of the above works may be found in the Bibliography associated with this checklist.
The current checklist provides more up-to-date information than the lists recently published in Gordon (ed. 2010. New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity: 2. Christchurch, University of Canterbury Press. 544 p.).
Colour photographs of over 300 primary type specimens (and associated labels) deposited in New Zealand collections were published in the 2004 and 2010 catalogues. These photographs and those of primary types of more recently decribed species can be accessed from the Virtual collection of primary types of Hemiptera.
As of July 2011, the fauna totals 43 families, 215 genera, and 528 species as follows:
| Families | Genera | Species | % endemic species | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Auchenorrhyncha |
12 | 68 | 196 | 81% |
| Coleorrhyncha | 1 | 3 | 13 | 100% |
| Heteroptera | 30 | 144 | 319 | 82% |
| Total | 43 | 215 | 528 |