The flat bug fauna of East African countries has never been the subject of a comprehensive study. Most descriptions and distribution data are from colonial times, with most records coming from what is present day Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi. In this checklist, the data from all available literature was assembled, and references are given for 16 genera and 37 species.

BACKGROUND Water bugs in general play an important role in freshwater ecosystems, and knowledge about them is essential for the study of water biology and the proper management of aquatic habitats. The Neotropical fauna is relatively well known, but the existence of large under-collected areas makes taxonomic and faunistic studies concerning the aquatic and semiaquatic bugs from tropical Americ...

Flexitibia, a new genus, in the division Euagorasaria of the assassin bug subfamily Harpactorinae from Yunnan Province of China is described. The type species, Flexitibia orientalis sp. nov., is described and illustrated. A key to the closely related genera is provided. The type specimens are kept in the Entomological Museum of China Agricultural University, Beijing.

The recent catalog of Neotropical Nabidae is corrected and updated. Synonymies, species, and references that were overlooked are now included. 11 genera and 83 species are presently known from this region.

The apterous East African Mezirinae flat bug genus Neochelonoderus Hoberlandt 1967 is revised. In addition to known species from Burundi (N. basilewskyi) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (N. straeleni), two new species from Tanzania (N. talaus n. sp. and N. areius n. sp.) and one from Zambia (N. hoberlandti n. sp.) are described and illustrated. A key to the species of Neochelonoderus is pr...

The previously known distribution area of the genus Grossander Slater, 1976 (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Rhyparochromidae, Drymini) is broadened with the description of two new species: Grossander papuanus sp. nov. (New Guinea) and Grossander eylesi sp. nov. (Burma, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia). Grossander (Oculoander) subgen. nov. is created for these new taxa. Drawings of habitus and m...

Triatomines are insects that are taxonomically included in the Hemiptera order and the Heteroptera suborder within the Reduviidae family and in the Triatominae subfamily [1]. These organisms are of great medical importance, because all of the species that belong to the Triatominae subfamily are both bloodsucking and susceptible to infection from the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi Chagas, 1909 (Kin...

Two new species of Prolixandromyces (Laboulbeniales) parasitic on Rhagovelia (Heteroptera: Veliidae) are described and illustrated: Prolixandromyces benjaminii from the Philippine Islands and P. lanceolatus from Africa (Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and South Africa) and Asia (Indonesia: Sulawesi, Sumba, Timor; Malaysia: Selangor; and Sri Lanka). In order to accommodate these speci...

New hosts and parasitism notes for the mite Leptus (Acari: Erythraeidae) in Brazil. Larval erythraeid mites are common ectoparasites of harvestmen (Opiliones). Studies describing insects as potential hosts have received little attention. Specimens of an undescribed species of the genus Leptus were collected in association with predatory and phytophagous Heteroptera bugs in a secondary forest in...

Within Belostomatinae water bug species (Heteroptera, Belostomatidae) it has been hitherto believed that the completion of embryonic development is successful only if eggs are incubated on male hemelytra. Nevertheless, we found egg successful hatching from a back-brooding Belostoma elegans (Mayr) and B. micantulum (Stål) females, as well as from fertilized eggs kicked off from four back-brooder...