O. Merkl szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 66. (Budapest, 2005)

New and little-known thread-legged assassin bugs from Central and South Asia (Heteroptera, Reduviidae: Emesinae) D. RÉDEI Department of Entomology, Corvinus University of Budapest H-l 118 Budapest, Ménesi út 44., Hungary. E-mail: dredei@freemail.hu Abstract - Myiophanes (Myiophanes) zebrina sp. n. (India) and Myiophanes (Myiophanes) incompta sp. n. (Pakistan) are described. The new species are related to M. greeni DISTANT, 1903. The apterous male and female of Ploiaria turkestanica P. V. PUTSHKOV, 1984 are described based on specimens from Azerbaijan and Armenia. With 21 figures. Key words - Heteroptera, Reduviidae, Emesinae, Myiophanes, Ploiaria, new species, new records, pterygopolymorphism. INTRODUCTION Comprising approximately 90 genera and more than 900 described species, thread-legged bugs or Emesinae is one of the most species-rich subfamilies in the family Reduviidae (MALDONADO-CAPRILES 1990). Due to their peculiar body form, in the first place the strong tendency to the lengthening and narrowing of the body and appendages, the subfamily has attracted special attention for a long time, and numerous works have been produced on the group: a world monograph (DOHRN 1860, 1863) (now outdated), and surveys of the American (McATEE & MALLOCH 1925), Philippine and Malayan (McATEE & MALLOCH 1926), African (VILLIERS 1949) and Australian (WYGODZINSKY 1956) faunas. A modern comprehensive survey of the subfamily on worldwide basis was presented by WYGODZINSKY (1966). However, despite the extensive research, our knowledge on the real diversity of the subfamily is obviously far from satisfactory, and there is still much basic taxonomic work to be done. Also many known taxa in the subfamily still require further systematic study. Nevertheless, the number of spe-