Anthocoris pilosus (Jakovlev, 1877)

After study of available European and Siberian materials, Péricart (1972) concluded that the differences in the length of pilosity on the legs and on the pronotal margins between Anthocoris pilosus (Jakovlev) and A. sibiricus Reuter appearing from the original descriptions were not significant at an Eurosibirian species level, so he considered A. pilosus a junior synonym of A. sibiricus. The question was raised again and discussed by Elov & Kerzhner (1977), who confirmed the stability of the above mentioned differences, and pointed out the apparent absence of intermediate specimens in the (poorly documented) overlapping Mongolian and north Chinese areas of the two taxa; on the other hand they confirmed the similarity of the male claspers, and Péricart (unpublished) later found no differences in the copulatory tubes of females. So in the absence of sufficient materials from the mentioned critical areas, some doubt remains. Later, papers on chorology by western authors used partly Péricart's statement and partly Elov & Kerzhner's statement, and papers by Eastern authors followed the second one, which, as the more recent, is retained here.