Microplax albofasciata (Costa), a Palearctic (mainly Mediterranean) species of the small family Oxycarenidae, is reported from California as the first record for the New World. Adults of this little-known lygaeoid bug were found in 2012 and 2013 at the Hastings Natural History Reservation in northern Monterey County. It is suggested that this immigrant heteropteran arrived from the Mediterranean Basin in shipments of ceramic tiles (or quarry products) and that California’s similar Mediterranean climate aided its establishment. A diagnosis, description, and illustrations are provided to facilitate the recognition of M. albofasciata in the Nearctic Region.
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23 March 2015
First North American Record of the Palearctic Microplax albofasciata (Costa) (Hemiptera: Lygaeoidea: Oxycarenidae)
A. G. Wheeler Jr,
Thomas J. Henry
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California
Heteroptera
invasion pathways
Mediterranean
new records
nonindigenous species