Revision of the genus Polymerus (Heteroptera: Miridae) in the Eastern Hemisphere. Part 1: Subgenera Polymerus, Pachycentrum subgen. nov. and new genus Dichelocentrum gen. nov.

The paper represents the first part of a series dealing with the Eastern Hemisphere species of the genus Polymerus Hahn, 1831 and includes a redescription of the genus and the nominative subgenus, and descriptions of Pachycentrum subgen. nov., P. (Polymerus) russatus sp. nov. and P. (Pachycentrum) unciniger sp. nov. The specific name P. funestus Reuter, 1906 is transferred from the subgenus Poeciloscytus Fieber, 1858 to the nominative subgenus and synonymised with P. pekinensis Horváth, 1901. New combinations for seven African, Indian, and Australian species are proposed: Charagochilus aureus (Ballard, 1927) comb. nov., Ch. bimaculatus (Poppius, 1910) comb. nov., Ch. consanguineus (Distant, 1904) comb. nov., Ch. flavipes (Distant, 1904) comb. nov., Ch. madagascariensis (Poppius, 1914) comb. nov., Ch. obscuratus (Poppius, 1914) comb. nov., Proboscidocoris solitus (Walker, 1873) comb. nov. The species Polymerus nitidus (Odhiambo, 1959) is returned to the genus Proboscidocoris. Five African and Arabian species are included in the new genus Dichelocentrum gen. nov.: D. alkadanum (Linnavuori & van Harten, 2005) comb. nov., D. flora (Linnavuori & van Harten, 2005) comb. nov., D. longirostre (Reuter, 1905) comb. nov., D. ornatifrons (Odhiambo, 1959) comb. nov. and D. transvaalicum sp. nov. The specific name Polymerus xerophilus Linnavuori, 1975 syn. nov. is synonymised with D. ornatifrons comb. nov. Key, diagnoses, data on distribution, and illustrations of the parameres, entirely inflated vesica and the gynatrium are provided for all recognised species from the subgenera Polymerus, Pachycentrum subgen. nov. and the genus Dichelocentrum gen. nov.