Auchenocrepis alboscutellata Puton, 1874

Auchenocrepis alboscutellata Puton, 1874 View in CoL ( Heteroptera ¦ Miridae )

is an Eremian species and widely distributed in North Africa, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, Pakistan and Tropical Africa ( CARAPEZZA et al., 2024). Furthermore, A. alboscutellata was found on the Italian island of Pantelleria ( CARAPEZZA, 1995). The species is monophagous and associated with Tamarix sp. ( Tamaricaceae ) ( ELLIS, 2022; CARAPEZZA et al., 2024).

Recently, A. alboscutellata was observed for the first time in the Canary Islands ( Spain)¦ On 08- 06-2025, the second author found an adult specimen ( Fig. 1 View Fig ) and several nymphs in the Barranco de La Pared near the village of La Pared , located at the western coast of the island of Fuerteventura (coordinates¦ 28.2169841106, -14.2202984406, accuracy¦ 81 m). The specimens were found on their host plant Tamarix canariensis Willd. (see here) GoogleMaps . Three photographs of the adult specimen were uploaded to the online database iNaturalist (see here).

Based on a photograph and after comparing it with specimens in his collection, the adult specimen of A. alboscutellata reported herein was determined by Paride Dioli (pers. comm.).

Apart from A. alboscutellata , two endemic species of the genus Auchenocrepis Fieber, 1858 have been reported from the Canary Islands, so far¦ Auchenocrepis nigricornis Wagner, 1954 from the island of Gran Canaria and Auchenocrepis similis Wagner, 1954 from the island of Fuerteventura ( AUKEMA et al., 2006, 2013; RIEGER, 2020; ROCA-CUSACHS et al., 2020). According to Paride Dioli (pers. comm.), the systematic position of A. similis “is rather doubtful and, in any case, should be verified by looking at the shape of the genitalia (paramera) in E. Wagner’s collection in Hamburg ”.