Published May 17, 2017 | Version v1
Journal article Open

Search for the blind vampire: First record of Eoctenes Kirkaldy in Southern Luzon, (Hemiptera: Polyctenidae), with key to the Cimicoidea, ectoparasitic on bats in the Philippines

  • 1. Institute of Weed Science, Entomology, and Plant Pathology, College of Agriculture and Food Science, University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines

Description

Polyctenidae Westwood, also known as bat bugs, is a haematophagous group of hemipterans exclusively ectoparasitic on bats and is closely related to Cimicidae Latreille. These bugs are dorsoventrally flattened with conspicuous ctenidia, apterous, anophthalmus, possess well-developed legs, and reproduce via pseudoplacental viviparity. They are rare compared to other insect taxa ectoparasitic on bats as evinced by a relatively small number of museum collections and described taxa. Worldwide, it is represented by 2 subfamilies, 5 genera, and 32 species. In the Philippines, it is only represented by two species from the genus Eoctenes Kirkaldy: E. spasmae (Waterhouse) and E. intermedius (Speiser). The first Philippine record for the genus was reported in 1961 from Northern Luzon. This paper presents the first record of Eoctenes in Southern Luzon, with key to the Cimicoidea ectoparasitic on bats in the Philippines.

Files

Search for the blind vampire final upload.pdf

Files (588.2 kB)

Name Size Download all
md5:89f678254f0841ee71e28ba95e45fc00
588.2 kB Preview Download