Calliclopius nigripes ( Linnaeus, 1767 )

Gil-Santana, Hélcio R., 2022, New records, taxonomic notes, and the description of a new species of Harpactorinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae) from French Guiana, Zootaxa 5105 (3), pp. 381-400 : 384

Calliclopius nigripes ( Linnaeus, 1767)

( Figs. 3–5 )

Calliclopius nigripes has been recorded from Belize, Brazil, British Honduras, Colombia, Cuba, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela ( Stål 1872, Bergroth 1905, Maldonado 1990, Gil-Santana et al. 2003), without a clear statement of its occurrence in French Guiana. However, Costa Lima et al. (1948) mentioned a male from the latter country among the specimens of C. nigripes examined by them. Based on this information, Swanson & Chordas III (2018) recorded the species from French Guiana (D. Swanson pers. inf.) in a paper about Reduviidae of Belize, while a photograph of a live specimen, taken by J.-M. Bérenger in French Guiana, was presented by Weirauch et al. (2014). Therefore, the present record is only a confirmation of the presence of C. nigripes in French Guiana.

Forero (2004) discussed the color variation of this species, recognizing three forms based on the following main set of differences: pale portion of the corium of hemelytra narrow to variably larger, reddish, orange or whitish colored; membrane of hemelytra completely opaque or semitransparent; middle and hind femora and tibiae reddish, orange yellowish or those femora reddish with respective tibiae orange. The general size showed to be variable among these forms too. “Form 1”, with the whitish pale marking on corium, middle and hind femora and tibiae reddish and a smaller general length, was believed to correspond to C. nigripes albipennis Stål, 1872 , while specimens with corium marked with reddish or orange and middle and hind femora and tibiae orange yellowish, and relatively larger size would represent the nominotypical form ( Forero 2004). However, Linnaeus (1767) in his short original description of Cimex nigripes , mentioned these parts and also the abdomen as reddish. In any case, Forero (2004) argued that similar variability has been observed in other Reduviidae , but a detailed study of the male genitalia would be useful to ascertain the taxonomic situation of these forms and confirm that it is only a polychromatic species. The two males examined here, collected in the same region, showed differences in relation to coloration of markings of corium, femora and abdomen, which were reddish or yellowish ( Figs. 3–4 ). Because Calliclopius is monotypic, the identification of C. nigripes follows that of the genus, which, besides other characteristics, may be separated from all other Apiomerini by the concavity between the eyes ( Stål 1868, 1872, Gil-Santana et al. 2003, 2015) ( Fig. 5 ).

Distribution. Belize, Brazil, British Honduras, Colombia, Cuba, French Guiana (confirmed record), Guadeloupe, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

Material examined. FRENCH GUIANA, Bélizon , xii.1997, leg. H. Gaspard, 2 males ( MNRJ) .

Figures

FIGURES 1–8. Apiomerini species. 1–2, Apiomerus nitidicollis Stål, 1872, males, dorsal view, scale bar 5.0 mm, 1, the arrow points to the strongly curved apex of middle tibia; 3–5, Calliclopius nigripes (Linnaeus, 1767), males, dorsal view; 3–4, scale bar 5.0 mm; 5, head (most of the setae of the neck excluded), scale bar 1.0 mm; 6–8, Sphodrolestes vittaticollis Stål, 1867, 6–7, dorsal view, scale bar 5.0 mm; 6, female; 7–8, male, 8, head, lateral view, the arrow points to the spiniform tubercle in the gular region, scale bar 0.5 mm.