Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 20, 2026

Acanthocephala (bug)

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".

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Jul 20, 2026
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Acanthocephala
Acanthocephala terminalis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Clade: Pancrustacea
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Heteroptera
Family: Coreidae
Subfamily: Coreinae
Tribe: Acanthocephalini
Genus: Acanthocephala
Laporte, 18331
Species

40 species; see text

Acanthocephala, also known as spine-headed bugs,23 is a New World genus of true bugs in the family Coreidae.1 The scientific name is derived from the Greek ἄκανθα (akantha) meaning "thorn/spine" and κεφαλή (kephalé) meaning "head".4

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).5

Distribution

Acanthocephala species are found in North, Central, and South America.5

Species

There are 40 described species of Acanthocephala divided into 5 subgenera as follows:5

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

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

References

  1. McPherson, J.E.; Packauskas, R.J.; Sites, R.W.; Taylor, S.J.; Bundy, C.S.; Bradshaw, J.D.; Mitchell, P.L. (2011). "Review of Acanthocephala (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Coreidae) of America north of Mexico with a key to species" (PDF). Zootaxa. 2835: 30–40. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.2835.1.2. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
  2. Taber, Stephen Welton; Fleenor, Scott B. (2003). Insects of the Texas Lost Pines. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. p. 296 pp. ISBN 1585442364.
  3. Taber, Stephen Welton; Fleenor, Scott B. (2005). Invertebrates of Central Texas Wetlands. Texas Tech University Press. p. 328 pp. ISBN 0896725502.
  4. "Indo-European Lexicon: PIE Etymon and IE Reflexes". The University of Texas at Austin Linguistics Research Center. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
  5. Olivera, Leonela; Melo, María Cecilia; Dellapé, Pablo Matías. "Revisiting Acanthocephala (Hemiptera, Coreidae): a phylogenetic framework for establishing species relationships and developing a new subgeneric classification". Arthropod Systematics & Phylogeny. 84: 253–279. doi:10.3897/asp.84.e182696.
Further reading

Further reading

  • Yonke, T.R.; Medler, J.T. (15 May 1969). "Description of Immature Stages of Coreidae. 2. Acanthocephala terminalis". Annals of the Entomological Society of America. 62 (3): 474–476. doi:10.1093/aesa/62.3.474.
External links

Media related to Acanthocephala (insect) at Wikimedia Commons