Predation, Copulation, Oviposition and Functional Morphology of Tibia, Rostrum and Eggs as Tools in the Biosystematics of Reduviidae (Hemiptera)

The subfamily composition of family Reduviidae needs comprehensive reassessment based on multidisciplinary tools of biosystematics. This paper analyses the diagnostic characteristic features of subfamilies of Reduviidae based on prey types, mode of predation, tibia, tibial pad architecture, tibial and tibial pad indices, rostrum with special reference to maxillary stylets, mode of copulation and oviposition, eggs with special reference to chorionic and opercular architecture and egg index. The observations on predation, copulation and oviposition, functional morphological characters of tibia, tibial pad, rostrum and eggs were found not only useful to demarcate the subfamilies but also to trace the existing affinity among them.