Blissidae

Blissidae
Ischnodemus sabuleti
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Suborder: Heteroptera
Infraorder: Pentatomomorpha
Superfamily: Lygaeoidea
Family: Blissidae
Stål, 1862[1]

The Blissidae are a family in the Hemiptera (true bugs), comprising nearly 50 genera and 400 species.[2] The group has often been treated as a subfamily of the Lygaeidae but was resurrected as a full family by Thomas Henry (1997).[3]

The adult insects are elongate, typically four times as long as broad, and in some species, up to seven times. Short wings are common in many species.

All the species feed on the sap of plants, mostly grasses, and most of the species live between the sheaths of leaves.[2] The most economically important species is the true chinch bug, Blissus leucopterus, a destructive pest of corn crops in the United States.

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  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference Slater1979 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Henry was invoked but never defined (see the help page).