New bug species discovered at Wuyishan National Park in SE China’s Fujian

Wuyishan National Park in southeast China’s Fujian Province recently announced the discovery of a new species of resin assassin bug.

The new species was discovered during a background survey into biological resources organized by the national park’s center for scientific research and monitoring and conducted by over 20 research institutes, including the Nanjing Institute of Environment Sciences under the Ministry of Ecology and Environment and China Agricultural University (CAU).

Photo shows Ectinoderus sinicus, a new species of resin assassin bug. (Photo/Chen Zhuo)

A research team headed by Cai Wanzhi, a professor at CAU, collected specimens of the species at the national park in August 2020 and April 2021.

The species was named Ectinoderus sinicus, and the findings were published in the Journal of Asia-Pacific Entomology, a scientific journal.

Ectinoderus sinicus belongs to Ectinoderus, the type genus of the tribe Ectinoderini in the family Reduviidae. It is the first time that the genus was discovered in China.

The discovery of Ectinoderus sinicus represents the northernmost distribution record of the genus in the subtropical region of East Asia.