''Melamphaus'' is an

Old World The "Old World" () is a term for Afro-Eurasia coined by Europeans after 1493, when they became aware of the existence of the Americas. It is used to contrast the continents of Africa, Europe, and Asia in the Eastern Hemisphere, previously ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

true bugs Hemiptera (; ) is an order (biology), order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising more than 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, Cimex, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They ...

in the family

Pyrrhocoridae Pyrrhocoridae is a family of insects with more than 300 species world-wide. Many are red coloured and are known as red bugs and some species are called cotton stainers because their feeding activities leave an indelible yellow-brownish stain on c ...

, mostly found in Asia. They are often confused with bugs in the family

Lygaeidae The Lygaeidae are a family in the Hemiptera (true bugs), with more than 110 genera in four subfamilies. The family is commonly referred to as seed bugs, and less commonly, milkweed bugs, or ground bugs. Many species feed on seeds, some on sap or ...

, but can be distinguished by the lack of

ocelli A simple eye or ocellus (sometimes called a pigment pit) is a form of eye or an optical arrangement which has a single lens without the sort of elaborate retina that occurs in most vertebrates. These eyes are called "simple" to distinguish the ...

on the head.

Description

The genus has adults with large and characteristic oval shape and the body is densely covered in short hair. The head behind the eye narrows slightly and the eyes are at a distance from the fore edge of the pronotum. The edge of the pronotum is not extended to the sides or bent down. The metathoracic scent gland has an ostiole with a peritreme and a deep furrow. The sutures on the underside of the abdominal segments between 4 and 5; and between 5 and 6 are strongly curved forwards. Many species may swarm seasonally on seeds of specific trees. ''Melamphaus faber'' is known to be found in large numbers on ''

Hydnocarpus castaneus ''Hydnocarpus castaneus'' is an Asian tree species in the family Achariaceae. It is now accepted that ''Hydnocarpus anthelminthicus'' is a synonym and its native range is from Burma, the rest of Indochina through to W. Malesia; this species is no ...

'' s ''H. anthelmetica''and ''H. wightiana'' in Singapore.

Species

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 ...

originally included only 2 species in this genus: * '' Melamphaus agnatus'' Bergroth, 1894 * '' Melamphaus faber'' (Fabricius, 1787) * '' Melamphaus fulvomarginatus'' (Dohrn, 1860) * '' Melamphaus komodoensis'' Kirichenko, 1963 * ''

Melamphaus rubrocinctus ''Melamphaus'' is an Old World genus of Hemiptera, true bugs in the family Pyrrhocoridae, mostly found in Asia. They are often confused with bugs in the family Lygaeidae, but can be distinguished by the lack of ocelli on the head. Description Th ...

'' (Stål, 1863) * '' Melamphaus vicinus'' Schmidt, 1932

References

External links

*
Images at iNaturalist
{{taxonbar, from=Q20164401 Pentatomomorpha genera Pyrrhocoridae Taxa named by Carl Stål