The Pentatomomorpha comprise an

infraorder Order ( la, ordo) is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and ...

insects Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...

in the true bug

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood * Heterarchy, a system of organization wherein the elements have the potential to be ranked a number of d ...

Hemiptera. It unites such animals as the

stink bug Stink bug or stinkbug is a common name for several insects and may refer to: * Any of several bugs in the true bug (hemipteran) family Pentatomidae **'' Halyomorpha halys'', or brown marmorated stink bug **''Chinavia hilaris'', or green stink bug ...

s (Pentatomidae),

flat bug Aradidae is a family of flat bugs, and a member of true bugs (Heteroptera). The common name for these insects refers to their dorsoventrally flattened bodies. With few exceptions, these cryptic insects are of no economic importance. This famil ...

s (Aradidae), seed bugs ( Lygaeidae and Rhyparochromidae), etc. They are closely related to the Cimicomorpha. Based on the fossil morphology, the common ancestor of Pentatomomorpha must be older than the fossils in the late Triassic. They play an important role in agriculture and forestry industries and they are also used as controlling agents in studies.

Systematics

Five superfamilies are usually placed in the Pentatomomorpha. The

Aradoidea Aradoidea is a superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilie ...

represent the most

basal Basal or basilar is a term meaning ''base'', ''bottom'', or ''minimum''. Science * Basal (anatomy), an anatomical term of location for features associated with the base of an organism or structure * Basal (medicine), a minimal level that is nec ...

extant lineage, while the others, often united as clade Trichophora, are more modern: *

Brullé, 1836 * Coreoidea Leach, 1815 *

Lygaeoidea The Lygaeoidea are a sizeable superfamily of true bugs, containing seed bugs and allies, in the order Hemiptera. There are about 16 families and more than 4,600 described species in Lygaeoidea, found worldwide. Most feed on seeds or sap, but a ...

Schilling, 1829 * Pentatomoidea Leach, 1815 * Pyrrhocoroidea Amyot & Serville, 1843 Among these, the Pentatomoidea seem to represent a by and large

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

lineage as traditionally understood, while the other three form a close-knit group and are in serious need of redelimitation. The Idiostolidae are usually considered a family of the

, but in the past have been placed in a distinct

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

superfamily Idiostoloidea, for example. The

Piesmatidae Piesmatidae is a small family of true bugs, commonly called ash-grey leaf bugs. The Piesmatidae are distributed mostly in the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with some occurring in Africa, Australia and South America. A common species found th ...

, usually placed in the Lygaeoidea also, are sometimes considered ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...

'', or placed in a

superfamily Piesmatoidea with the discovery of ''Cretopiesma''. However a cladistic analysis rejected ''Cretopiesma'' from Piesmatidae and placed the genus in the family

Aradidae Aradidae is a family of flat bugs, and a member of true bugs (Heteroptera). The common name for these insects refers to their dorsoventrally flattened bodies. With few exceptions, these cryptic insects are of no economic importance. This famil ...

.Cassis, G., & R.T. Schuh (2010) Systematic methods, fossils, and relationships within Heteroptera (Insecta). Cladistics 26:262-280.

References

External links

* Heteroptera {{Pentatomomorpha-stub