Composition and affinities of the New Zealand heteropteran fauna (including Coleorrhyncha)

Abstract

Wise's checklist (Bulletin of the Auckland Institute and Museum 11, 1977) of Hexapoda recorded 102 genera in 23 families of Heteroptera (including Coleorrhyncha) for New Zealand. The fauna currently (1997) totals 127 genera in 29 families. This paper provides an alphabetical checklist of families and valid genus-group names, along with the major bibliographic references documenting nomenclatural changes since 1977. For each family the numbers of genera recorded for New Zealand, Australia, and the world are compared, as well as the numbers of New Zealand and Australian endemics. No family is endemic to New Zealand but 36% of genera are endemic. The families Acanthosomatidae, Aenictopecheidae, Aradidae, Corixidae, Enicocephalidae, Lygaeidae, Miridae, Peloridiidae and Tingidae include laxa shared between New Zealand and other Southern Hemisphere land masses. Extant distribution patterns, in general, suggest an East Gondwana origin.

Keywords:

• Heteroptera
• Coleorrhyncha
• taxonomy
• checklist
• biogeography