Corrected Species Identification of the Predator Orius Pumilio (Heteroptera: Anthocoridae) in a Research Colony

Our laboratories have reported on the predatory minute pirate bugs (Family Anthocoridae) in a research colony that was obtained in Dec 2002. The species was originally thought to be Orius insidiosus (Say) (Ferkovich & Shapiro 2004a, 2004b, 2007; Ferkovich & Shapiro 2005a, 2005b, 2005c; Ferkovich et al. 2007). However, specimens from the colony were identified as O. pumilio (Champion) by T. Lewis (USDA, ARS, Wapato, WA) in Apr 2008, not O. insidiosus as previously reported in the publications listed above. In response to the discovery of O. pumilio in our acquired colony, repeated collections from flower heads of false Queen Anne’s Lace ( Ammi majus ) on an organic farm in Gainesville, Florida, yielded both species in unequal numbers and at differing sex ratios. Conclusive identifications of O. pumilio from the laboratory colony and field collections, and O. insidiosus from field collections, were confirmed by T. Henry (USDA-ARS Systematic Entomology Laboratory, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.).