Aradus

Aradus
Temporal range: Aptian–Recent
Adult female Aradus cinnamomeus
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Heteroptera
Family: Aradidae
Subfamily: Aradinae
Genus: Aradus
Fabricius, 1803
Species

200+, see text

Aradus is a genus of true bugs in the family Aradidae, the flat bugs. It is distributed worldwide, mainly in the Holarctic.[1] There are around 200[2] or more[1] species in the genus.

Most Aradus feed on fungi, often in dead trees.[3] Some species are pyrophilous, associating with burned habitat such as forests after wildfires. They feed on the particular fungi that grow on burnt wood.[2] Examples include A. laeviusculus, which eats fungi growing on burned conifers, and A. gracilis, which occurs in large numbers on burned South Florida slash pine (Pinus elliottii var. densa).[3]

Species include:

Aradus sp., adult
Aradus flavicornis

References

  1. ^ a b Larivière, M. C. and A. Larochelle. (2006). An overview of flat bug genera (Hemiptera, Aradidae) from New Zealand, with considerations on faunal diversification and affinities. Festschrift zum 70, 181-214. pg. 190.
  2. ^ a b Schmitz, A., et al. (2010). Distribution and functional morphology of photomechanic infrared sensilla in flat bugs of the genus Aradus (Heteroptera, Aradidae). Arthropod Structure & Development 39(1), 17-25.
  3. ^ a b Deyrup, M. and J. G. Mosley. (2004). Natural history of the flat bug Aradus gracilicornis in fire-killed pines (Heteroptera: Aradidae). Florida Entomologist 87(1), 79-81.