Petalocheirus is a genus of assassin bugs in the subfamily Salyavatinae. Species in the genus have a leaf-like broadening of the foretibia, and many species are known to be predators of termites. The genus is distributed in the tropics of Africa and Asia and species in apparently closely related genera such as Platychira may need further examination.[1][2]
| Petalocheirus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Petalocheirus brachialis | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hemiptera |
| Suborder: | Heteroptera |
| Family: | Reduviidae |
| Subfamily: | Salyavatinae |
| Genus: | Petalocheirus Palisot de Beauvois, 1805 |
Species in the genus include:
- Petalocheirus bergrothi Schouteden, 1931
- Petalocheirus brachialis Stål, 1858
- Petalocheirus burmanus Distant, 1903
- Petalocheirus gazella Costa, 1864
- Petalocheirus indicus Reuter, 1887
- Petalocheirus inimicus Miller, 1950
- Petalocheirus malayus Stål, 1859
- Petalocheirus perakensis Distant, 1903
- Petalocheirus pugil Bergroth, 1912
- Petalocheirus rapinator Miller, 1950
- Petalocheirus rubiginosus Palisot de Beauvois, 1805
- Petalocheirus schoutedeni Villiers, 1943
- Petalocheirus schroederi Miller, 1954
- Petalocheirus sedulus Miller, 1950
- Petalocheirus variegatus (Palisot de Beauvois, 1805)
- Petalocheirus villiersi Miller, 1950
- Petalocheirus vittiventris {{small|Bergroth, 1903
References
edit- ^ Gordon, Eric R.L.; Weirauch, Christiane (2016). "Efficient capture of natural history data reveals prey conservatism of cryptic termite predators". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 94 (Pt A): 65–73. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2015.08.015. PMID 26314664.
- ^ Sheppe, Walter (1970). "Invertebrate predation on termites of the African Savanna". Insectes Sociaux. 17 (3): 205–218. doi:10.1007/BF02226194. S2CID 26006890.