New paper!

Rémy G. D. et al.: "On the Origin of the Tingidae (Insecta, Heteroptera)".

The hypothesis of a Gondwanian origin of the family Tingidae (Insecta, Heteroptera) has been promoted and seems to be generally accepted by specialists. However, the area of emergence and diversification of the clade, South American or Australian, is still debated and cannot be solved without integrating Vianaidinae, a subfamily considered as the sister of all the other Tingidae, into phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses. This study aims to propose a molecular phylogeny integrating the three known Tingidae subfamilies for the first time, to date the emergence of the great clades using fossil calibrations and to test the origin of Tingidae. We tested the effect of different a priori parameters and sets of fossil calibrations. The uniform probability distribution gives older ages of the emergence of the main clades than the exponential and lognormal probability distributions. The emergence dates of the main clades differ slightly according to the number of calibrations with the exponential probability distribution, but significantly with the uniform probability distribution. We tested the hypothesis of the Gondwanian origin of Tingidae using DEC and DIVALIKE analysis. Tingidae may originate between the Neotropical and Afrotropical regions and spread out in Eastern and Northern regions mainly by long distance dispersal.

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New paper!

Sanchez-Muelas J. et al.: "A new introduced species in South America: the Asian water bug Synaptonecta issa (Distant, 1910) (Heteroptera, Micronectidae)".

Background
Corixoidea is the only group of water bugs (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Nepomorpha) that does not exhibit strictly predatory habits. Two families have been recorded from the Neotropics: Corixidae and Micronectidae. The latter is represented by three genera in the region: Monogobia Nieser & Chen, 2006, Synaptogobia Nieser & Chen, 2006 and Tenagobia Bergroth, 1899. At least four species of Corixoidea have been introduced into non-native areas: Micronecta ludibunda Breddin, 1905 to North America; Synaptonecta issa (Distant, 1910) to North America, the Caribbean Islands and New Zealand; Trichocorixa verticalis (Fieber, 1851) to Europe, Africa and New Caledonia; and T. reticulata (Guerin-Meneville, 1857) to Hawaii.
New information
Here, we record S. issa from South America for the first time. We collected specimens in the Municipality of Buenaventura, Department of Valle del Cauca, Pacific Region of Colombia. We found it in a permanent freshwater lagoon, in areas dominated by the aquatic plant Cabomba cf. haynessi. We also found the native Neotropical micronectid Tenagobia signata (White, 1879) at the same site and report its first record from Colombia. The introduction pathway of S. issa into South America and any environmental impacts that it might cause locally remain unknown and should be investigated.

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New paper!

Chen Z., Li H. & Cai W.: "New species and novel mitochondrial gene rearrangements in the thread-legged bug genus Chinemesa (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae)".

The thread-legged bug genus Chinemesa Wygodzinsky, 1966 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae: Emesini) is a small group of five species endemic to the Oriental Region. However, the species diversity of this genus is still far from completely explored, especially in the mainland of Asia. Here we describe three new species, C. ornata sp. n., C. pulchella sp. n. and C. weilingfengi sp. n., from southern China. Based on the newly sequenced mitochondrial genomes of four Chinemesa species, we detected two gene rearrangement patterns in the genus: a translocation of trnI and trnQ in all four species, and a loss of trnW in C. pulchella sp. n. Both gene rearrangements are novel within Reduviidae as well as Heteroptera, and can be explained by the tandem duplication-random loss (TDRL) model. Phylogenetic analyses based on mitogenomic datasets recovered the monophyly of Chinemesa, with the translocation of trnI-trnQ as a potential molecular synapomorphy for the genus.

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