Apiomerus nitidicollis Stål, 1872

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 : 382-384

Apiomerus nitidicollis Stål, 1872

( Figs. 1–2 )

Apiomerus nitidicollis was described based on specimens from “Brasilia borealis” [= north Brazil] ( Stål 1872). Apiomerus pulchripes Walker, 1873 , downgraded to a junior synonym of Ap. nitidicollis by Distant (1903), was described based on specimens from Northern Brazil too. Besides Brazilian specimens, Costa Lima et al. (1951) and Gil-Santana et al. (2003) mentioned a female and a male of this species from Suriname and Colombia, respectively.

Stål (1872) named two varieties to Ap. nitidicollis based on the color of the coria of hemelytra: “ var. nigripennis ”, with the hemelytra completely black and “ var. discopterus ”, with the central portion of the coria golden yellowish (“croceo”). Photos of a male syntype deposited in the NHRS has been made freely available at: http://www2. nrm.se/en/het_nrm/d/apiomerus_discopterus.html. According to these images, the central portion of the coria of the hemelytra are reddish to pale reddish, similarly to an individual examined here ( Fig. 1 ). It is possible that in other specimen(s) examined by C. Stål, the central portion of the coria were paler as mentioned in his description, similarly to another specimen studied ( Fig. 2 ). Gil-Santana et al. (2003) emphasized the high similarity in dimensions and general coloration between specimens of Ap. nitidicollis with hemelytra bicolored (“ var. discopterus ”) to another member of Apiomerini , Calliclopius nigripes ( Linnaeus, 1767) , whose record from French Guiana is confirmed here. In both species, the head, thorax and fore legs are black, while the middle and hind femora and tibiae, and the abdomen are pale yellowish to reddish. These similarities make plausible to suppose that they share a mimetic model, including sets of variation in color (see below).

The two males examined here agree well with the descriptions and diagnosis of Ap. nitidicollis ( Stål 1872, Walker 1873, Costa Lima et al. 1951) ( Figs. 1–2 ). A remarkable characteristic of this species is the strongly curved apices of middle tibiae ( Stål 1872, Costa Lima et al. 1951) ( Fig. 1 ). Distribution. Brazil, Colombia, French Guiana (new record), Suriname.

Material examined. FRENCH GUIANA, Bélizon, xii, 1997, leg. H. Gaspard, 1 male ; Sinnamary, PK 90, 09.xii.1996, leg. H. Gaspard, 1 male ( 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.