22 PHew. E:"TO"OI.. So! '. BIlIT. C O I. (1 ~I 111 .\, VOL. 57 ( 1960). D F.t'. I , 1960

DICTYONOTA FULIGINOSA COSTA (: ) IN THE NEARCTIC

G. G. E. SCUDDER '

During 1959 samples of populations taking M. virescens 2 on Va ncouver Is­ of Mirid Heteroptera on broom (Saro­ land and I have seen specimens from thamnus scoparius) were taken on Victoria, Nanaimo and Cowichan. the campus at the University of Thus, although D. /uliginosa has not British Columbia. In July and August previously been recorded from the specimens of a Tingid, Dictyonota area in question, it is probably not a /uliginosa Costa, were also beaten recent introduction. from this plant; determination of the Tingid h as been verified by Prof. C. J . In the Heteroptera in Canada and Drake of the United States National th e United States, at least 90 species Museum. This capture appears to be appear to be Holarctic, or at least, the first record of this in the are recorded from the Palaearctic Americas, although the related D. and the Nearctic regions. A number tricornis (Schrank) occurs in eastern of th ese appea r to have been intro­ Canada and the eastern United duced into one of the areas. Species States. D. /uliginosus is a common in­ almost certainly introduced into the sect on broom in Europe and since Nea rctic and occuring in British Col­ this plant has been introduced into umbia include: M egalonotus chiragra British Columbia, it seems probable (F.), Nabis major Costa, Heterotoma that this insect has also been intro­ meriopterum Scop., Campyloneura duced. Broom was abundant at Bea­ virgula Fieb., Dicyphus pallidicornis con Hill, Victoria in 1911 (J. Davidson (Fieb.), and Blepharidopteru s angula­ via G. J . Spencer, pers. comm.) , and tus (FalL). These introduced was probably introduced by the early may have come in On plants, for ex­ English settlers between 1890 and ample D icyphus pallidicornis on fox­ 1900. Broom is now widely scattered glove (Digitalis) (Downes, 1957) or in the lower Fraser Valley and on they may h ave come in by other Vancouver Island; it also occurs in means as in ballast, suggested for the lower Interior of the Province, MegaZonotus chiragra by Sla ter & but in the latter seems to bear little Sweet (958) . However, these are the insect life. few exceptions and most of the other The broom Mirid collected in this 'Hola rctic' species need critical ex­ study was the introduced Melanotri­ a mination, since most if not all of the chus virescens (D. & S.) and this was non-arctic species, with a wide dis­ found to be very abundant, yet it has tribution would appear to be endemic not previously been taken on the rather than introduced. A critical ex­ mainland. Downes (1957) records amination of a few of these has , DepartIT'.e nt of Zoology, University of British shown that the Old and New World Columbia. o M. virescens (D . & S.)= M. concolor of Downes. representatives are not conspecific.

References Downes, W., 1957, Notes on some Hemiptera which have been introduced into British Columbia, Proc. B.C. Ent. Soc. 54: 11-13. Slater, J . A. & M. Sweet, 1958, The occurrance of Megalonotus chiragra (F.) in the Eastern United States with notes on its biology and ecology (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae), Bull. Brooklyn Ent. Soc. 53: 102-107.