HEMIPTERA Classification
Order Hemiptera meaning 'half-wing', better known as 'true bugs' of the world, have around 85,000 described species (Gullan & Cranston 1994). The order Hemiptera is comprised of two historically known suborders: Heteroptera (bugs) and Homoptera (aphids, cicadas, spittle bugs, jumping plant lice, leafhoppers, planthoppers, scale insects and white flies) (Schuh & Slater 1995).
Five suborders are recognized (Gullan & Cranston 1994):
(* Together known as AUCHENORRHYNCHA due to morphological and molecular data)
A defining characteristic of the Order Hemiptera are the modified forms of their mouthparts (Davies 1988) . The mandible and maxilla are modified into a proboscis, forming concentric stylets that are needle-like in appearance. The stylets are found in a grooved labium forming a tubular shaped sucking rostrum as seen in Figure 2 (Schuh & Slater 1995). The rostrum contains two canals used independently for sucking and the other for expelling saliva (Dolling 1991). The rostrum has a downward projection which forms an anteriorly grooved channel where the stylets are located (Davies 1988),
The mouthparts have been modified within the suborders, due to different environmental conditions forcing these adaptations to occur (Schuh & Slater 1995).
The modified feeding types within the suborders are:
PHYTOPHAGY
PREDATION
HEMATOPHAGY
Five suborders are recognized (Gullan & Cranston 1994):
- HETEROPTERA
- COLEORRHYNCHA
- STERNORRHYNCHA
- CICADOMORPHA*
- FULGOROMORPHA*
(* Together known as AUCHENORRHYNCHA due to morphological and molecular data)
A defining characteristic of the Order Hemiptera are the modified forms of their mouthparts (Davies 1988) . The mandible and maxilla are modified into a proboscis, forming concentric stylets that are needle-like in appearance. The stylets are found in a grooved labium forming a tubular shaped sucking rostrum as seen in Figure 2 (Schuh & Slater 1995). The rostrum contains two canals used independently for sucking and the other for expelling saliva (Dolling 1991). The rostrum has a downward projection which forms an anteriorly grooved channel where the stylets are located (Davies 1988),
The mouthparts have been modified within the suborders, due to different environmental conditions forcing these adaptations to occur (Schuh & Slater 1995).
The modified feeding types within the suborders are:
PHYTOPHAGY
PREDATION
HEMATOPHAGY