Phylogeny and Revision of Oplomus Spinola, 1837 (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae).

• Grant number: 24/18018-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2025
• End date: May 31, 2027
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Zoology - Taxonomy of Recent Groups
• Principal Investigator: Talita Roell
• Grantee: Isabella Dias e Silva
• Host Institution: Museu de Zoologia (MZ). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Oplomus (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae) Spinola, 1837 is a genus of stink bugs that currently contains 12 species - O. annotatus Uhler, 1863; O. catena (Drury, 1782); O. cruentus (Burmeister, 1835); O. dichrous (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1838); O. ebulinus (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1844); O. festivus Dallas, 1851; O. mundus Stål, 1862; O. mutabilis Stål, 1862; O. pulcher (Dallas, 1851); O. pulchriventris Horváth, 1911; O. punctatus Montandon, 1895 and O. salamandra (Burmeister, 1835) - distributed throughout the American continent, presenting a variety of coloration, from aposematic, bright, to neutral. Within Heteroptera, the species of Asopinae, including Oplomus, have the feeding based on thepredation of other insects, with great potential for controlling agricultural pests.This widespread feeding habit is not repeated in the other subfamilies of Pentatomidae, whose representatives are phytophagous. However, there is a lack of systematic studies for the group, with a gap in knowledge of the genus, which has been little investigated from a cladistic, behavioral or taxonomic point of view. Previously proposed identification keys do not include all the morphological variations of the group and knowledge of the type material is scarce, which makes the correct identification of the Oplomus species a challenge. This project aims to test the monophyly of Oplomus Spinola, 1837 and establish strategies for the identification of its species based on a taxonomic review of the group. The cladistic analysis will be based on the parsimony criterion, evaluating a set of morphological data, based on the examination of insects dry or preserved in alcohol from national and foreign entomological collections.