Brachyaulax oblonga ( Westwood, 1837 )

Tsai, Jing-Fu & Rédei, Dávid, 2010, Taxonomical notes on Oriental and Pacific jewel bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Scutelleridae), Zootaxa 2572, pp. 25-47 : 36-40

Brachyaulax oblonga ( Westwood, 1837)

Figs. 41–44 , 49–56 , 66–68 , 71–72

Tectocoris oblonga Westwood, 1837: 14 . Syntype (s): Indonesia: Java; OXUM!

Scutellera buprestoides Walker, 1867: 16 . Holotype: Malaysia, Pulo Penang; BMNH. Synonymized by Distant 1899: 35. Scutellera maculigera Walker, 1867: 16 . Holotype: Indonesia: Java; BMNH. Synonymized by Distant 1899: 35. Scutellera pubescens Walker, 1868: 507 . Holotype: Indonesia: Sumatra; BMNH. Synonymized by Distant 1899: 35. Scutellera oblonga var. splendens Schouteden, 1904b: 297 . Syntype (s) (♂): locality not given; MRAC?

References. Germar 1839: 129 (diagnosis); Dallas 1851: 19 (record); Dohrn 1859: 2 (list); Walker 1867: 15 (records); Stål 1873: 14 (listed, record);? Distant 1879: 44, 45 (listed, variability);? Atkinson 1887: 164 (redescription, distribution, record); Lethierry & Severin 1893: 22 (catalogue, distribution);? Distant 1899: 35, 50 (listed, synonymy); Breddin 1900: 278 (record);? Distant 1901: 100 (records);? Distant 1902: 52 (redescription, habitus, figures, distribution); Schouteden 1904a: 24 (catalogue); Kirkaldy 1909: 303 (catalogue, distribution);? Kirkaldy 1910: 109 (list);? Oshanin 1912: 4 (catalogue, distribution);? Hoffmann 1932: 9 (list);? Hoffmann 1935a: 30 (catalogue, distribution);? Tang 1935: 283 (catalogue, distribution);? Zhang et al. 1983: 48 (listed);? Chen et al. 1985: 45 (records);? Jiang 1985: 56 (record);? Zhang & Lin 1986: 60 (listed);?Zhang & Zhu 1989: 14 (record);? Chen 1990: 153 (listed);? Zhang & Lin 1990: 1 (listed);? Chen 1995: 22 (redescription, habitus, host plant, distribution);? Hua 2000: 167 (distribution, host plants); Fischer 2001: plate 13 (spermatheca);? Bu et al. 2002: 244 (redescription, distribution);? Göllner-Scheiding 2006: 192 (catalogue, distribution).

Type material examined. LECTOTYPE (Ψ) (present designation): “ Type ” [circle with red margin, printed]; “Java” [handwritten]; “ oblonga Hope ” [handwritten, folded]; “ Brachyaulax \ oblonga \ Westw.” [handwritten]; “ TYPE. \ = = \ WESTW. ( HOPE) \ C. Hemipt. 1837 \ Part I, page 14. \ Distant, P.Z.S. \ 1900, p. 807-825.” [with red frame, printed + handwritten]; “ TYPE HEM.: No 29 \ TECTOCORIS \ OBLONGA \ WESTWOOD \ HOPE DEPT. OXFORD” [with black frame, handwritten + printed]. Pinned, right antenna, left antennal segments III and IV, all legs distad of trochanters except left hind femur and tibia missing; female terminalia removed, dissected, preserved in plastic microvial filled with glycerol, pinned with the specimen; deposited in OXUM ( Figs. 41–44 ).

Other specimens examined. INDONESIA. Java: unspecified locality, collector unknown (1 ɗ [ Figs. 52–56 , 66–68 ], 2 ΨΨ [Figs. 71–72], HNHM); Malang, collector unknown (1 ɗ, HNHM); Sukabumi, 2000’, 1893, leg. H. Fruhstorfer, coll. M. Noualhier, 1898 (1 ɗ, MNHN).

FIGURES 69–72. Female genitalia of Brachyaulax cyaneovitta ( Walker, 1867) ( Taiwan) (69–70) and B. oblonga ( Westwood, 1837) (Java) (71–72). 69, 71, gynatrial complex in dorsal view; 70, 72, apical receptacle of spermatheca. Scales in mm. Lettering: fec: bifurcated apical part of fecundation sclerite; ml: membranous lobe of dorsal wall of vagina associated with fecundation sclerite; t8 = tergite VIII.

Discussion. Brachyaulax cyaneovitta was decribed from China by Walker (1867). Later it was synonymized with B. oblonga (described from Java) by Distant (1899). In his monograph on the Hemiptera of British India, Ceylon, and Burma, Distant (1902) recognized only a single widely distributed species in South and Southeast Asia, B. oblonga , and recorded it from several localities from India, continental Southeast Asia, and the Malay Archipelago. Esaki (1926) considered the synonymy proposed by Distant (1899) as erroneous. Hoffmann (1935a, b) treated B. cyaneovitta as a distinct species or as a variety of B. oblonga . All other authors subsequent to Distant (1902) recognized B. cyaneovitta as conspecific with B. oblonga .

We examined a syntype of B. oblonga ( Figs. 41–44 , hereby designated as lectotype), the holotype of B. cyaneovitta ( Figs. 45–48 ), as well as a few additional specimens from various localities. We concluded that the two taxa are different in species level. The diagnostic characters of the two species are presented in Table 3 .

Because of the long confusion about the identities of B. oblonga and B. cyaneovitta , the distributions of the two species should be critically reconsidered. We examined specimens of B. cyaneovitta from India, China, Taiwan, and Vietnam; however, possibly several previous records of B. oblonga from various localities in continental Southeast Asia refer to other species of Brachyaulax , among them B. cyaneovitta . Some of the papers providing redescriptions and illustrations of “ B. oblonga ” ( Yang 1934, 1962; Kumar 1965; Hsiao & Zheng 1977) clearly refer to B. cyaneovitta , and these are listed above under B. cyaneovitta . All other papers which contain records of B. oblonga from continental South and Southeast Asia are considered by us as doubtful and are marked with ‘?’ in the reference list of B. oblonga .

Figures

FIGURES 41 – 48. Lectotype of Brachyaulax oblonga (Westwood, 1837) (41 – 44) and holotype of B. cyaneovitta (Walker, 1867) (45 – 48). 41, 45, dorsal view; 42, 46, lateral view; 43, 47, ventral view; 44, 48, labels. Scale in mm; photos of labels not to scale. Photos by K. Horváth (41 – 44) and L. Dembický (45 – 48).

FIGURES 49 – 63. Brachyaulax oblonga (Westwood, 1837) (49 – 56) and B. cyaneovitta (Walker, 1867) (57 – 63). 49, 57, head of male, dorsal view; 50, 58, head and prothorax of female, lateral view; 51, 59, pterothoracic pleuron, evaporatorium densely dotted; 52, 60, pygophore, dorsocaudal view; 53, posterior margin of pygophore, dorsal view; 61, pygophore, dorsal view; 54 – 56, 62 – 63, left paramere from different aspects. Scales in mm.

FIGURES 64 – 68. Phalli of Brachyaulax cyaneovitta (Walker, 1867) (64 – 65) and B. oblonga (Westwood, 1837) (66 – 68). 64, 66, lateral view; 65, 68, ventral view; 67, dorsal view. Scales in mm. Lettering: cj = conjunctiva; CP-II: lateral conjunctival process; CP-III: ventrolateral conjunctival process.