The genus Helopeltis, also known as mosquito bugs, is a group of Heteropterans in the family Miridae (capsid bugs) and tribe Dicyphini. They include important pests of various crops, including cacao, cashew, cotton and tea. Now in a different subgenus, a number of similar Afropeltis species are pests in Africa.
Mosquito bugs have a characteristic spine on the scutellum, which is a diagnostic feature.[1] Classification in the field is based on morphological characteristics, with considerable variations in colouration between insects of the same species (although for example, H. theivora is characteristically green and H. antonii red-brown).
With typical Hemipteran sucking mouthparts, they pierce plant tissues and cause damage ranging from leaf tattering and fruit blemishes, to complete death of shoots, branches or whole plants.
There has been evident speciation along the islands of the Malay archipelago and there may be cryptic species in this genus. Helopeltis spp. sensu stricto are important 'new encounter' pests of SE Asian cocoa [2] including:
Very similar to Helopeltis, the African species were placed into Afropeltis by Schmitz (1968).[3] These species usually have a lesser pests status than their Asian counterparts, with Sahlbergella singularis and Distantiella theobromae causing greatest cocoa tree and crop damage in Central and West Africa. Monalonion species, belonging to the same tribe, are similarly minor pests of Latin American cocoa.
Entwistle (1972) lists and maps ten species of Afropeltis attacking cocoa:
The genus Helopeltis, also known as mosquito bugs, is a group of Heteropterans in the family Miridae (capsid bugs) and tribe Dicyphini. They include important pests of various crops, including cacao, cashew, cotton and tea. Now in a different subgenus, a number of similar Afropeltis species are pests in Africa.
Mosquito bugs have a characteristic spine on the scutellum, which is a diagnostic feature. Classification in the field is based on morphological characteristics, with considerable variations in colouration between insects of the same species (although for example, H. theivora is characteristically green and H. antonii red-brown).
{{Delete|G13}}提交刪除。 角盲蝽屬（學名：Helopeltis），亦作角盲椿象屬，是半翅目異翅亞目盲蝽科之下的一個屬[1][2][3]，其物種皆為重要的經濟有害生物，會侵擾可可樹、腰果、棉花及茶樹等農作物，造成破壞，令農民損失。與本屬物種相關的，是曾為本屬亞屬的非洲角盲蝽屬（Afropeltis），只是這些物種的分佈範圍皆在非洲大陸。
角盲蝽屬物種的小楯片（英语：Scutellum (insect anatomy)）上有一條脊棱，是其辨識特徵[4]。本屬物種的辨識乃基於其形態學特徵， with considerable variations in colouration between insects of the same species (although for example, H. theivora is characteristically green and H. antonii red-brown).
如同一般的半翅目物種，本屬物種具有口器，並以其刺穿植物組織，造成不規則形的褐色斑痕，令新梢、枝幹或整棵植物都壞死[1]。 有證據認為本屬物种形成時位於马来群岛沿岸，而本屬可能仍然有隱藏物種（英语：cryptic species）。嚴謹定義（英语：sensu stricto）的角盲蝽屬物種（把非洲角盲蝽物種都排除）在1970年代東南亞的可可種植業來說是個重要的「外來」害蟲屬[5]。現時被認為附合上述定義的物種有14個，分別如下：
Very similar to Helopeltis, the African species were placed into Afropeltis by Schmitz (1968);[10] these species usually have a lesser pests status than their Asian counterparts, with Sahlbergella singularis and Distantiella theobromae causing greatest cocoa tree and crop damage. Monalonion species, belonging to the same 族 (生物), are similarly minor pests of 拉丁美洲n cocoa.
Entwistle (1972) lists and maps ten species of Afropeltis attacking cocoa:
角盲蝽屬（學名：Helopeltis），亦作角盲椿象屬，是半翅目異翅亞目盲蝽科之下的一個屬，其物種皆為重要的經濟有害生物，會侵擾可可樹、腰果、棉花及茶樹等農作物，造成破壞，令農民損失。與本屬物種相關的，是曾為本屬亞屬的非洲角盲蝽屬（Afropeltis），只是這些物種的分佈範圍皆在非洲大陸。
