Munis Entomology & Zoology Mun. Ent. Zool. https://www.munisentzool.org/ 16 (2) (June, 2021) 811 ISSN 1306-3022 © MRG ___________________________________________________________ FIRST RECORD OF BANANA LACEWING BUG, STEPHANITIS TYPICA (DISTANT) FROM PAKISTAN (HEMIPTERA: TINGIDAE) Muhammad Amin*, Imran Bodlah**, Ansa Tamkeen***, Zafarullah* and Muhammad Yousaf Ghilzai* * Department of Entomology, Balochistan Agriculture College, 87300 Quetta, PAKISTAN. E-mail: [email protected]; ORCID ID: 0000-0003-3870-7098 ** Department of Entomology, PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, 46000 Rawalpindi, PAKISTAN. ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5977-0438 *** Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Entomology, University of Poonch, 12350 Rawalakot, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, PAKISTAN. ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6918-9185 [Amin, M., Bodlah, I., Tamkeen, A., Zafarullah, Ghilzai, M. Y. 2021. First record of Banana Lacewing Bug, Stephanitis typica (Distant) from Pakistan (Hemiptera: Tingidae). Munis Entomology & Zoology, 16 (2): 811-815] ABSTRACT: Banana Lacewing Bug, Stephanitis typica (Distant, 1903), encountered on Banana, Musa sp. in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan during 2017-2018, is reported for the first time from Pakistan. Main taxonomic features of adult and nymph, distribution, and supportive images of the newly found invasive bug are presented in this paper. KEY WORDS: Banana lacewing bug, Stephanitis typica, first record, Pakistan, Tingidae The genus Stephanitis Stal, 1873 (Hemiptera: Cimicomorpha: Tingidae) comprises over 60 species, that include pests of tropical fruits, arborescent ornamentals, and shrubs of mainly family Arecaceae (Howard et al., 2001). The species, Stephanitis typica (Distant) was collected on banana, Musa sp. L. (Musaceae) by Distant (1903) and to date has been found infesting this and 16 other host plants in 8 plant families (Sripriya et al., 2000; Lin et al., 2009). It has also been implicated in the transmission of the mycoplasma-like pathogen that causes coconut root wilt disease (Mathen et al., 1990; Mathen, 2007; Srinivasan et al., 2000; Rajan, 2013; Sumi et al., 2014; Thomas et al., 2018). Like other tingids, adults of Stephanitis spp. have reticulated veins, exhibiting a characteristic pattern of lacework, in the forewings. They are about 2-8 mm long and 1-5 mm wide and have two segmented tarsi. Nymphs lack wings and possess characteristic integumentary outgrowths referred to as integumentary processes, spines, tubercles, or setae that are discarded in the adult except for the cephalic ones (Mathen, 1990). Both adult and nymphs feed on mesophyll cells, particularly palisade tissue, on undersides of fronds giving them a speckled appearance. The species S. typica has been documented from Iberian Peninsula (Roca-Cusachs & Goula, 2014); Slovakia (Barta & Biben, 2016); Philippines (Aguilar et al., 2014); Laos (Guilbert, 2007), Japan (Hill, 2008), China (Wang et al., 2016), India (Mathen, 2007; Poorani et al., 2019), Srilanka (Kumara et al., 2015), and as far east as Papua New Guinea (Paini, 2011) however curiously enough it has not been to date reported from Pakistan. Given its negative association with species of Musaceae and Arecaceae, the appearance of S. typica in Pakistan does not auger well for these plants and demands preemptive measures against the invasive bug. Munis Entomology & Zoology Mun. Ent. Zool. 812 https://www.munisentzool.org/ 16 (2) (June, 2021) ISSN 1306-3022 © MRG ___________________________________________________________ We present the first occurrence record of S. typica (Distant) from Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. MATERIAL AND METHODS Specimens were collected from the underside of the fronds of infested Musa sp. in the Westridge (33°61ˊ79.5˝ N; 73°01ˊ5.4˝ E; Alt.: 522 m), Rawalpindi and E-7 Park (33°43ˊ39.46˝ N; 73°35ˊ 09˝E; Alt.: 586 m) Islamabad, Pakistan. The collection was done by shaking fronds over a white paper-sheet and then transferring the fallen bugs, with an ordinary camel-hair brush, into transparent screw-lidded plastic vials (10 cm3) containing 70 percent ethanol. For taxonomical observation the specimens, both adult and nymphs were put on a drop of water in the middle of the microscope-slide. The specimens were studied under the Olympus microscope CH 2 at 40-100X magnification. In situ color images, showing adult morphs was taken using Canon 1X US 160 camera, and color plates of nymph were prepared using a Nikon Digital Trinocular Stereoscope. The nymph images were edited using Adobe workshop 2019. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Order Hemiptera Infraorder Cimicomorpha Family Tingidae Genus Stephanitis Stal, 1873 Species Stephanitis typica (Distant, 1903) (Figs. 1A-D) S. typica (Distant): Mathen & Kurian, 1980 S. typica (Distant): Mathen et al., 1990 S. typica (Distant): Sripriya et al., 2000 S. typica (Distant): Rajan, 2013 S. typica (Distant): Awasthi et al., 2016 Distinguishing characters of adult Adult S. typica female (Figs. 1A,B) about 3-4 mm long and 1.5-2.5 mm broad. Head, pronotum, and hemelytra, white, pale, and hyaline making dark abdomen underneath visible; head with 5 long slender tubercles, 3 directed forwards, frontal tubercles (FT), middle FT longer than other two and 2 dorsolateral tubercles, the occipital tubercles (OT). Antennae long, slender, hairy; antennal segment III (Fig. 1A1c; Fig. 1D1) being the longest one; rostrum reaches to midcoxae (Fig. 1A1c; Fig. 1D1); paranota (Fig. 1A2), wide, multisteriate, raised, not reflexed; Hemelytra large, rather broad, radiomedial vein medially swollen (Fig. 1A4) areolae hyaline, discoidal (Fig. 1A5); subcostal region pluriseriate (Fig. 1A3). Distinguishing characters of nymph S. typica nymph (Figs. 1C,D) 2-3 mm long and 1.5-2 mm wide. Unsegmented, tapering tubercles present (Figs. 1C2,3,3,4,5,6; D2,3,3,4), tubercles 0.25-0.376 mm long and 0.035-0.041 mm thick. Head bears 5 tubercles, 3 FT and 2 OT (Figs. 1C,D2,3,3), of the 3 FT, middle FT longer than lateral ones (Figs. 1C2;D2). Antennae long, slender, hairy, 4 segmented, antennal segment III (Figs. 1C1;D1) being the longest one. Thorax and abdomen have mid-dorsal row of paired- tubercles and 2 lateral rows of unpaired tubercles; thoracic tubercles present only on pro (Figs. 1C4;D4) and mesothorax (Fig. 1C5); a row of 7 paired mid-dorsal Munis Entomology & Zoology Mun. Ent. Zool. https://www.munisentzool.org/ 16 (2) (June, 2021) 813 ISSN 1306-3022 © MRG ___________________________________________________________ tubercles includes: 1 occipital pair, 1 prothoracic pair, 1 mesothoracic pair and 4 pairs on abdominal segment 2, 5, 6 and 8; 16 lateral tubercles (8 per row on each side) include: 2 prothoracic, 2 mesothoracic and 12 abdominal tubercles distributed on segments 4-9 (Fig. 1C6). Material examined: Westridge III, Rawalpindi 3-VII-2017, colonies consisting of all stages of S. typica on undersides of the fronds of infested Musa sp. plant. E- 7 Park Islamabad, 2018 1 adult male, and 2 females. S. typica on Musa sp. plant. Munis Entomology & Zoology Mun. Ent. Zool. 814 https://www.munisentzool.org/ 16 (2) (June, 2021) ISSN 1306-3022 © MRG ___________________________________________________________ Figure 1 (A-D): Morphological features of S. typica (Distant). A: Adult female (Dorsal view): 1A 1st antennal segment , 1B 2nd antennal segment, 1C 3rd antennal segment III (longest), 1D 4th antennal segment; 2 raised paranota; 3 pluseriate-subcostal region; 4 Radiomedial vein (medially swollen); 5 discoidal region; B: Adult female (ventral view): 1 rostrum reaching midcoxae; C: 1 antennal-segment III; 2 medial long frontal tubercle, 3,3 right and left short frontal tubercles; 4 left prothoracic tubercle, 5 left mesothoracic tubercle; 6 (right-side row) 6 abdominal tubercles; D: head and prothoracic region (enlarged): 1 III antennal- segment; 2 medial long frontal tubercle; 3, 3 right and left short frontal tubercles; 4 left prothoracic tubercle. Munis Entomology & Zoology Mun. Ent. Zool. https://www.munisentzool.org/ 16 (2) (June, 2021) 815 ISSN 1306-3022 © MRG ___________________________________________________________ Remarks: Taxonomic features of our S. typica specimens, both adult and nymphs, were compared with the morphological description of type specimen of S. typica described by Distant (1903) and were found in complete agreement. CONCLUSION Banana lacewing bug, S. typica has been, for the first time, reported on Musa sp. from Pakistan. Diagnostic features of the adult female and nymph of the invasive bug have been described with supportive images that would facilitate identification for future studies on BLB in Pakistan. The invasive bug could be a potential threat to banana, palm trees, and ornamentals of Arecaceae and Musaceae in the country. Further investigative studies are warranted. LITERATURE CITED Aguilar, C. H., Lasalita-Zapico, F., Namocatcat, J., Fortich, A., & Bojadores, R. M. 2014. Farmers’ perceptions about banana insect pests and integrated pest management (IPM) systems in SocSarGen, Mindanao, Philippines. IPCBEE, 63 (5): 22-27. Barta, M., & Bibeň, T. 2016. Stephanitis takeyai and S. rhododendri (Heteroptera: Tingidae) in Slovakia: first record and economic importance. Journal of plant protection research, 56 (2): 193-198. Distant, W. L. 1903. Taxonomic description of Stephanitis typica. Annales de la Société Entomologique de Belgique, 47: 46-47. Lin, M., Liu, F., Peng, Z., Li, W., Xu, W. & Wang, X. 2009. Survey and identification of pest insects on banana crop in Hainan. Southwest China Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 22 (6): 1619-1622. Dolling, W.