ACTA ENTOMOLOGICA MUSEI NATIONALIS PRAGAE Published 15.xii.2010 Volume 50(2), pp. 341–368 ISSN 0374-1036 Revision of the genus Pachytomella (Heteroptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae: Halticini) Anna A. NAMYATOVA Department of Entomology, Faculty of Biology and Soil Sciences, Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya nab. 7/9, St. Petersburg, Russia, 199034; e-mail:
[email protected] Abstract. The Palaearctic genus Pachytomella Reuter, 1890, comprising six species, is revised, and new synonymies for varieties of P. phoenicea (Horváth, 1884) – P. phoenicea var. antennalis Reuter, 1891, P. phoenicea var. pedalis Reu- ter, 1904, P. phoenicea var. nigricornis Reuter, 1904 – are proposed. Diagnoses and detailed descriptions for the genus and all species are given. Keys to males and females, as well as colour digital habitus images and illustrations of genital structures are provided. The lectotype for Pachytomella cursitans Reuter, 1905 is designated. Pachytomella parallela is recorded for the first time from Andorra and P. phoenicea from Jordan and Syria. Key words. Heteroptera, Miridae, Halticini, Pachytomella, taxonomy, revision, key, distribution Introduction The genus Pachytomella Reuter, 1890 includes dark-coloured, small halticines (Miridae: Orthotylini: Halticini) clothed with only short simple setae and having a distinctly transverse head. The distribution is principally Mediterranean but also covers Central, Northern and Eastern Europe. COSTA (1842) described the genus Pachytoma to accommodate a new species, Pachytoma minor A. Costa, 1842 (junior synonym of P. passerinii (A. Costa, 1842)) known only from females. Later, COSTA (1853) described males and broadened the diagnosis. He included in the genus P. flavomarginatus (A. Costa, 1842), subsequently transferred to Schoenocoris Reuter, 1890 by REUTER (1890), and P.