Western North American Naturalist Volume 66 Number 2 Article 14 5-18-2006 Observations of selected true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of the Pacific Northwest shrubsteppe zone John D. Lattin Oregon State University, Corvallis Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan Recommended Citation Lattin, John D. (2006) "Observations of selected true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of the Pacific Northwest shrubsteppe zone," Western North American Naturalist: Vol. 66 : No. 2 , Article 14. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/wnan/vol66/iss2/14 This Note is brought to you for free and open access by the Western North American Naturalist Publications at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Western North American Naturalist by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Western North American Naturalist 66(2), © 2006, pp. 256–259 OBSERVATIONS OF SELECTED TRUE BUGS (HEMIPTERA: HETEROPTERA) OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST SHRUB-STEPPE ZONE John D. Lattin1 Key words: Pacific Northwest, Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae, Labops, Myrmecophyes, Tingidae, Acalypta, host plants. The shrub-steppe zone of the Pacific North- Artemesia and Purshia. While little is known west extends over a vast interior region. Bailey about the distribution and habits of most insects (1998) published a broadscale treatment of the and mites found on these plants, Kraft (1960) ecoregions of the world, complete with a cited more than 250 species he collected on detailed map. Much of western North America bitterbrush, Purshia tridentata (Pursh.) DC., is included in the Temperate Steppe Division, in portions of the shrub-steppe in the Pacific Temperate Steppe Regime Mountains, and the Northwest during 1957 and 1958. Lattin (1995) Temperate Desert Division. Houghton (1986) estimated that 30 families, 163 genera, and 307 provided an account of the Great Basin that species of true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) includes parts of California, Idaho, Nevada, occurred in the Columbia River basin area en- Oregon, and Utah. Franklin and Dyrness (1988) compassing several states and extensive areas included the Columbia Basin, the High Lava of shrub-steppe habitats. The variety of intro- Plains, the Owyhee Upland, and the Basin and duced plants (accidental and deliberate) has ad- Range as physiographic and geological provinces versely affected native plants, while some have of Oregon and Washington. Thorson et al. (2003) been colonized and injured by native bug published a detailed map of the ecoregions of species, for example, black grass bugs on intro- Oregon where most of eastern Oregon was duced Agropyron species. encompassed in the Columbia Plateau, Blue Many species of true bugs use these early Mountains, Cascades Slopes and Foothills, and maturing plants. Since they often occur before northern Basin and Range. The Columbia River most field work begins, several species of true basin includes portions of Idaho, California, bugs remain to be discovered. Some of these Nevada, and Oregon (Lattin 1995). species belong to genera that are also repre- A number of plants in the Pacific Northwest sented in Central Asia but are represented shrub-steppe zone respond early in the season only by a single species in northwestern North when moisture is limited. Early season tem- America. Two of the species reported here are peratures, near freezing at night and in early found in both regions. morning, warm gradually as the season pro- gresses. Insects adapted to feed on such plants MIRIDAE must cope with the lower temperatures and respond to the early pulse of new growth. Several genera of plant bugs found in the Knowledge of insects characteristic of shrub- shrub-steppe contain species that are adapted steppe habitats is still rather sparse, even though to plants that mature in early spring. The first these organisms surely exhibit greater species occurrence of the Old World mirid genus diversity than any other group in this region. Myrmecophyes Fieber in North America was Many plant taxa are broadly distributed in this based upon specimens collected in eastern zone (Franklin and Dyrness 1988), for example, Oregon (Schuh and Lattin 1980). This minute 1Rice Professor of Systematic Entomology (Emeritus), Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-2902. 256 2006] NOTES 257 but striking insect (Fig. 1) was found on early described from Bozeman, Montana, by Drake maturing native grasses near the city of Burns. (1917). Drake and Lattin (1963) reported it from Whereas some Old World species of this genus Pinehurst, Oregon, and Sequoia National Forest, occur as short- and long-winged individuals California; Froeschner (1976) recorded it near (Drapolyuk 1989), only short-winged speci- Holbrook, Arizona; and Scudder (1997) reported mens of M. oregonensis Schuh and Lattin have it from the Yukon. Golub (1973) cited this spe- been collected. Known only from eastern Ore- cies from Irkutsk, Kazakhstan, and the Amur gon, it is likely to be found at other localities district of Central Asia. These latter records in western North America. extend the range of A. cooleyi considerably The plant bug genus Labops Burmeister is and demonstrate some of the close faunal rela- found throughout the upper portions of the tionships between the Pacific Northwest and northern hemisphere, with representation in Siberia. Another example is the recently re- northeastern Siberia and northwestern North ported Palearctic anthocorid Scoloposcellis America (Slater 1954). Eight species are found pulchella pulchella (Zetterstedt) from east cen- in North America whereas 1 species, L. bur- tral Alaska (Lattin 2005). meisteri Stål, occurs in northwestern Canada, Extensive grazing of cattle has also affected Alaska, and Siberia. Labops tumidifrons Knight the native fauna and flora. The insect species (Fig. 2) is widely distributed in western Can- discussed here are examples of the nonnative ada and portions of the United States but is introductions to North America. Many more known only from a few localities. In central are certain to be found. Better knowledge of Oregon near LaPine, numerous specimens various insect species, their host plants, and were taken on Carex douglasii Boott in a moist distributions will be valuable to those respon- habitat among scattered lodgepole pine (Pinus sible for long-term management of these im- contorta Dougl. ex. Loud.). The nearest previ- portant plant resources. ously known locality was Chilcotin, British Columbia, hundreds of kilometers to the north. CONCLUSIONS Labops species native to North America are of special interest because several have become The true bug fauna (Hemiptera: Heterop- serious pests on range grasses, particularly non- tera), estimated at 800 species (Lattin unpub- native crested wheatgrasses introduced for lished data), is well represented in the Pacific range improvement (Lattin et al. 1994, 1995). Northwest. While occurrence and distribution It is not surprising that native Labops species of many of these species are well known for moved onto these grasses, because at least 1 the mesic portions of this vast region, relatively Labops species feeds on crested wheatgrasses little is known about many of the bugs in the in Central Asia where these grasses are native. drier shrub-steppe zone. Except for works by Review of the literature before the introduc- Kraft (1960) and Lattin (1995), there is much tion of crested wheatgrasses to North America to learn about the bug fauna of this zone. Sev- would have disclosed that host association, eral interesting species found in the shrub- perhaps influencing the decision to introduce steppe zone are presented here. Two of these the plants. also occur in the eastern Palearctic Region of the Old World, indicating faunal similarities TINGIDAE between these 2 areas. Much of western North Acalypta cooleyi Drake (Fig. 3) is a small America has been affected by agriculture and lace bug belonging to a genus found through- grazing, and better knowledge of the insect out the north temperate region (Drake and fauna will be important in reaching reasonable Lattin 1963, Golub 1973, Froeschner 1976). solutions to land management. Where known, the various Acalypta species are found on mosses (Drake and Lattin 1963, My thanks to the late B. Hall for the fine Froeschner 1976, Scudder 1997). It was a sur- drawings, A. Christie and 2 reviewers for com- prise to find specimens of A. cooleyi in eastern ments on the manuscript, and L. Parks for care- Oregon near Burns. However, a moss, Tortula ful attention to the manuscript. Specimens are ruralis (Hedw.) Gaertn. et al., does occur around housed in the collection of the Oregon State the bases of shrubs in the area. The lace bug was University Entomology Museum, Corvallis. 258 WESTERN NORTH AMERICAN NATURALIST [Volume 66 Aca- Knight; 3. Adult Knight; 3. Adult abops tumidifrons L Schuh and Lattin; 2. Adult Schuh and Lattin; 2. Adult Myremocophyes oregonensis Drake (after and Lattin 1963). igs. 1–3. Selected true bugs of the Pacific Northwest shrub-steppe igs. 1–3. Selected true bugs of the Pacific zone: 1. Adult F lypta cooleyi 2006] NOTES 259 LITERATURE CITED ______. Scoloposcelis pulchella pulchella (Zetterstedt), in North America (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Anthocori- BAILEY, R.G. 1998. Ecoregions. Springer, New York. 176 pp. dae). Proceedings of the Entomological Society of DRAKE, C.J. 1917. New and noteworthy Tingidae from the Washington 107:729–730. United States. Ohio Journal of Science 17:213–216. LATTIN, J.D., A. CHRISTIE, AND M.D. SCHWARTZ. 1994. The DRAKE, C.J., AND J.D. LATTIN. 1963. American species of impact of non-indigenous crested wheatgrasses on the lacebug genus Acalypta (Hemiptera: Tingidae). native blackgrass bugs in North America: a case for Proceedings of the United States National Museum ecosystem management. Natural Areas Journal 14: 115:331–345, 15 plates. 136–138. DRAPOLYUK, I.S. 1989. Species of the genus Myrmeco- ______. 1995. Native blackgrass bugs (Irbisia–Labops) on phyes Fieb. (Heteroptera, Miridae) from the Cauca- introduced wheatgrasses: commentary and annotated sus.