''Distantiella'' is a genus of African bugs, of the family

Miridae The Miridae are a large and diverse insect family at one time known by the Synonym (taxonomy), taxonomic synonym Capsidae. Species in the family may be referred to as capsid bugs or "mirid bugs". Common names include plant bugs, leaf bugs, and g ...

or "capsids", named after

William Lucas Distant William Lucas Distant (12 November 1845 Rotherhithe – 4 February 1922 Wanstead) was an English entomologist. Biography Early years Distant was born in Rotherhithe, the son of whaling captain Alexander Distantspecies:B.R. Subba Rao, Rao, B.R ...

. This genus is placed in the subtribe

Odoniellina ''Dicyphini'' is a tribe of bugs in the family Miridae. Subtribes and Genera The ''On-line Systematic Catalogue of Plant Bugs'' includes: Subtribe Dicyphina * '' Campyloneura'' Fieber, 1861 * '' Campyloneuropsis'' Poppius, 1914 * '' Chius'' * ...

: which has been included in

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Dicyphini or Monaloniini.

Species

The

Global Biodiversity Information Facility The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) is an international organisation that focuses on making scientific data on biodiversity available via the Internet using web services. The data are provided by many institutions from around th ...

lists:Global Biodiversity Information Facility: ''Distantiella'' China, 1944 (retrieved 9 November 2021)
/ref> # '' Distantiella collarti'' (Schouteden, 1935) # '' Distantiella theobroma'' (Distant, 1909) - type species (as ''Sahlbergella theobroma'' Distant)

Description, distribution and importance

The two species of ''Distantiella'' are very similar to each other externally and the genus is most similar to '' Sahlbergella'': the latter genus differs in hind

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

with "regular" setation as opposed to dense setation in ''Distantiella''.Namyatova AA, Cassis G (2016) Systematics of the tribe Monaloniini ''Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society'', 176, 36–136. Both species are distributed in tropical Africa and their host plants are known to include various species of

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

and ''

Citrus ''Citrus'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Rutaceae. Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, mandarins, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. ''Citrus'' is nativ ...

''. ''D. theobroma'' is a major insect pest of cacao, causing damage similar to '' Sahlbergella singularis'' in tropical Africa and ''

Helopeltis The genus ''Helopeltis'', also sometimes known as mosquito bugs, is a group of heteropterans in the family Miridae (capsid bugs) and tribe Dicyphini. They include pests of various crops, including cacao, cashew, cotton and tea. Now in a differe ...

'' spp. in SE Asia.Entwistle PF (1972) ''Pests of Cocoa'', Longmans, London, 779 pp.

References

External links

* {{taxonbar, from=Q21221244 Miridae genera Hemiptera of Africa Dicyphini