Orius vicinus

This is probably the Orius species that I've encountered most often, but the identification of some has been uncertain.

Most of the Orius that I've found have been female but this male was more confidently identified.

male Orius vicinus showing paramere, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows (Norfolk, UK), 11th August 2020

Separation of females from Orius majusculus is most safely achieved by examining the copulatory tube between the seventh and eighth abdominal segments (short on vicinus, long on majusculus). The key indicates that this is best seen on cleared and stained specimens, so I was expecting it to be a membranous structure that needs to take up dye to be seen easily. However, in 2021 I finally managed to dissect a female well enough to be able to be confident I had found the right bit of its anatomy and it is in fact easily visible without staining. What I'd previously suspected might be the copulatory tube on earlier specimens clearly wasn't!

female Orius vicinus showing copulatory tube, St Mary's churchyard, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 25th July 2021

Although I may not have found the right bit previously, I suspect the IDs were most likely correct anyway. On this one I think I can see the actual copulatory tube in the photo (albeit angled away from the camera) as well as the (blue-stained) tube I thought might be it.

female Orius vicinus showing copulatory tube, North Elmham (Norfolk, UK), 31st July 2020

This one was found by suction. The sclerotised section of copulatory tube is short but under high magnification an additional length of unsclerotised tube can also be seen. It's not entirely clear to me whether I'm meant to be judging the full length of this tube including the unsclerotised section or just the more obvious dark section. If the former then it certainly seems short enough to be vicinus rather than majusculus, but if the latter then I'm less clear that it can't be majusculus. The insect was small, at the bottom end of the size range given for vicinus, and majusculus is normally larger than vicinus. On balance therefore I'm tentatively settling on vicinus. I've not found majusculus yet, so may need to review this when I get more experience of both species.

female Orius vicinus showing copulatory tube (2 views), Wendling Beck Environment Project (Norfolk, UK), 25th August 2025