Revision of the genus Orthocephalus Fieber, 1858 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae)

The Palaearctic genus Orthocephalus Fieber, 1858 is revised. The generic names Anapomella Putshkov, 1961 and Oraniella Reuter, 1894 are synonymized with Orthocephalus Fieber, 1858; providing for three comb. nov.-O. arnoldii (Putshkov, 1961), O. tibialis (Reuter, 1894), and O. tristis (Reuter, 1894). The following new species-level synonymies are established: O. niger Reuter, 1879 = O. bivittatus Fieber, 1864, O. parvulus Reuter, 1891 = O. saltator (Hahn, 1835), and O. beresovskii Reuter, 1906 with all its varieties = O. funestus Jakovlev, 1881. Piezocanum medvedevi Putshkov, 1961 is transferred to Orthocephalus and the replacement name O. putshkovi nom. nov. is proposed to remove the homonymy with O. medvedevi Kiritshenko, 1951. Keys to males and females, and data on distribution and host plants are given for all 23 species of the genus, including Orthocephalus turkmenicus sp. n. (Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkmenistan). Color digital habitus images and genitalic illustrations are provided of female specimens for all species and males for most of the species. Scanning electron micrographs are used to illustrate characteristic features for Orthocephalus and related groups. A phylogenetic analysis, including 33 taxa and 35 characters, is presented. The main results of this study are support for a sister-group relationship between Orthocephalus and Pachytomella, the monophyly of Orthocephalus as here diagnosed, and the relatively apical position of the clade containing Anapomella arnoldii and Oraniella tibialis within Orthocephalus.