A review of the fossil taxa originally assigned to Pyrrhocoridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera).

ABSTRACT

The four described fossil taxa originally assigned to Pyrrhocoridae (Hemiptera Heteroptera) are reviewed. Mesopyrrhocoris fasciatus Hong Wang, 1990 (correction of gender agreement) from the Lower Cretaceous of Laiyang Basin, Shandong, China, was reclassified as Cimicomorpha incertae sedis by Shcherbakov (2008), an opinion confirmed here. The status of Dysdercus cinctus Scudder, 1890 and Dysdercus unicolor Scudder, 1890 from the Eocene of Florissant, Colorado, USA, and their placement in Pyrrhocoridae, are doubtful. Pyrrhocoris rottensis nom nov. (= Pyrrhocoris tibialis Statz Wagner, 1950) from the Upper Oligocene of Rott, Germany, is reclassified here as Lygaeoidea incertae sedis due to the presence of ocelli in the fossil. As a result, currently there is no fossil taxon which can be placed in Pyrrhocoroidea with certainty. The extant Pyrrhocoris tibialis Stl, 1874 is confirmed as junior subjective synonym of P. sibiricus Kuschakewitsch, 1866.