Acanthocephala, also known as spine-headed bugs, is a New World genus of true bugs in the family Coreidae. The scientific name is derived from the Greek ἄκανθα (akantha) meaning "thorn/spine" and κεφαλή (kephalé) meaning "head".
Taxonomy and phylogeny Acanthocephala is a member of the tribe Acanthocephalini and its most speciose genus. Stål divided the genus into three subgenera in 1870: A. (Acanthocephala), A. (Metapodius), and A. (Spilopleura). In 1902, A. (Metapodius) was replaced with A. (Metapodiessa) by Kirkaldy as the former was a homotypic synonym of A. (Acanthocephala). Packauskas synomymized the subgeneric names under Acanthocephala in his 2010 catalog. In 2023, Spilopleura was elevated as a separate genus by Olivera et al.. In 2026, Olivera, Melo, and Dellapé reinstated A. (Acanthocephala) and A. (Metapodiessa) as valid subgenera and established 3 new subgenera: A. (Contrastata), A. (Pronoptera), and A. (Spinipedia).
Distribution Acanthocephala species are found in North, Central, and South America.
Species There are 40 described species of Acanthocephala divided into 5 subgenera as follows:
Subgenus Acanthocephala (Acanthocephala) Laporte, 1833 A. carioca Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. equalis (Westwood, 1842) A. flaviantennata Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. gamboensis Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. guatemalena Distant, 1881 A. harryi Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. latipes (Drury, 1782) A. nigra Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. rufa Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. pleuritica (Costa, 1863) A. scutellata (Signoret, 1862) A. spinosa Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024
Subgenus Acanthocephala (Contrastata) Olivera, Melo & Dellapé, 2026 A. thomasi (Uhler, 1872)
Subgenus Acanthocephala (Metapodiessa) Kirkaldy, 1902 A. affinis (Walker, 1871) A. angusta Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. angustipes (Westwood, 1842) A. apicalis (Westwood, 1842) A. bicoloripes (Stål, 1855) A. concolor (Herrich-Schäffer, 1841) A. consobrina (Westwood, 1842) A. dallasi (Lethierry & Severin, 1894) A. distanti Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. femorata (Fabricius, 1775) A. granulosa (Dallas, 1852) A. latiantennata Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. luctuosa (Stål, 1855) A. surata (Burmeister, 1835) A. terminalis (Dallas, 1852) A. unicolor (Westwood, 1842)
Subgenus Acanthocephala (Pronoptera) Olivera, Melo & Dellapé, 2026 A. alata (Burmeister, 1835) A. brunnea Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. declivis (Say, 1832) A. macrotuberculata Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. maculata Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. mercur (Mayr, 1865) A. panamensis Distant, 1881 A. pilosa Olivera, Dellapé & Melo, 2024 A. pittieri (Montandon, 1895) A. thoracica (Dallas, 1852)
Subgenus Acanthocephala (Spinipedia) Olivera, Melo & Dellapé, 2026 A. heissi (Brailovsky, 2006)
References
Further reading
External links