Family MALCIDAE Stål, 1865
I. M. Kerzhner
The family (for a long time considered as a subfamily of Lygaeidae) includes three genera and about 35 species. Most species are distributed in the Oriental Region and East Palaearctic, and a few in tropical Africa.
The morphology and phylogenetic relationships are discussed by Štys (1967) and Henry (1997b).
Malcidae are plant feeders; Chauliopinae and at least some Malcinae feed on legumes.
World catalogue: J.A. Slater (1964a) with additions by J.A. Slater & O'Donnell (1994). Palaearctic catalogue: Kerzhner (2001d). The Chinese species were reviewed by Zheng & Zou (1981a) and Zheng (1999).