Pirates ambiguus Mulsant & Rey, 1873

Liu, Yingqi, Pluot-Sigwalt, Dominique, Guilbert, Eric & Cai, Wanzhi, 2022, Catalogue of type specimens of Peiratinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae) preserved in the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, Zootaxa 5110 (1), pp. 1-85 : 62

Pirates ambiguus Mulsant & Rey, 1873

Original data: “Le P. ambiguus se trouve dans les environs de Lyon et surtout dans le midi de la France ” ( Mulsant & Rey 1873: 59).

Type: Syntype 1 ♂: “ TYPE des. Putshkov” // “ ♂ ” // “ MUSÉUM PARIS 1943 COLL. E. MULSANT” // “ Pirates ambiguus M. R.” ( Fig. 49 ) .

Type locality: Environs de Lyon [Southern France] .

Current status: Junior synonym of Peirates hybridus (Scopoli, 1763) ( Puton 1899: 48) .

Remarks: Mulsant & Rey (1873) did not designate a type material, but indicated a broad distribution of this species, mentioned both sexes and indicated variances of measurements in their description, therefore evidently, they had several specimens at their disposal. The individual studied, to be considered as a syntype, is most probably the sole survivor of the type material, being one of the 16 scant escaped specimens of the destruction of the rich collection of Mulsant (1797–1880). They were deposited at MNHN by R. Paulian (1913–2003) (see Paulian 1944).

The current status of this species is controversial. Maldonado (1990), following Puton (1874: 233, 1875: 96), treated this species as a synonym of Peirates hybridus (Scopoli, 1763) . Coscarón (1997) followed this interpretation. Putshkov & Putshkov (1987: 135, 1996: 178) and Putshkov & Moulet (2009: 471), however, listed it as a synonym of P. stridulus (Fabricius, 1787) . It must be stressed that P. stridulus and P. hybridus are two very similar species; Ribaut (1920) gave good diagnostic characters for them. The first author (YL) found that the syntype is more in accordance with the diagnostic characters of P. hybridus provided by Ribaut (1920). Accordingly, here we treat P. ambiguus as a junior synonym of P. hybridus , but a more detailed study is needed to clarify the relationship between P. hybridus and P. stridulus .

Figures

FIGURE 49. Syntype ♂ of Pirates ambiguus Mulsant & Rey, 1873. Scale bar: 2 mm.