The new Checklist of the Italian Fauna: Heteroptera

An updated version of the ‘Checklist of the Italian Fauna’ for the suborder Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera) is presented here. The list reflects the state of art of chorological knowledge of both aquatic and terrestrial Italian Heteroptera in November 2020. The checklist records 1395 species-group taxa belonging to 6 infraorders and 48 families. The total number of species-group taxa includes 44 taxa currently considered endemic to Italy, 12 subendemic, 13 introduced and 10 cryptogenic. The distribution of Italian Heteroptera in the new checklist is based on the subdivision of Italy in two macro-regions, Continental Italy and Peninsular Italy, and two major islands, Sicily and Sardinia. Compared to the previous Checklist by Faraci & Rizzotti Vlach, published in 1995, the new one contains nomenclatural changes, additions and exclusions of species based on the perusal of 220 literature sources. The main changes concern the families Miridae (21 synonymies, 26 exclusions and 34 additions), Rhyparochromidae (15 exclusions and 14 additions) and Pentatomidae (13 exclusions and 5 additions). Explanatory notes are provided for all the updates of the new checklist. The full data set is attached to this paper as supplementary files, while a simplified version is freely accessible from the LifeWatch Italy Data Portal (https://dataportal.lifewatchitaly.eu/data) where it is expected to be regularly updated.