Graptocleptes Stål, 1867

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 : 389

Graptocleptes Stål, 1867

Graptocleptes was included among “the group of Neotropical wasp-mimetic harpactorine genera” by Maldonado & Lozada (1992), which, according with these authors, although it is a somewhat artificial way of grouping genera, helps to sort out specimens quickly from unidentified material. The species included in these genera are mimetic of Braconidae and/or Ichneumonidae and in need of a comprehensive revision in order to clarify their systematics ( Gil-Santana et al. 2015). An updated key to the wasp-mimicking genera of Neotropical Harpactorini was presented by Gil-Santana (2015).

Ten species are currently included in Graptocleptes ( Maldonado 1990, Gil-Santana et al. 2013). They can be recognized by consulting Stål (1872), who provided a synopsis of the characteristics of eight species, and the subsequent descriptions of G. varians Champion, 1899 ( Champion 1899) and G. formosus Miller, 1951 ( Miller 1951) . Champion (1899) stressed the fact that G. varians is extremely variable in color, while Stål (1872) recognized morphological and color variation in G. bicolor ( Burmeister, 1838) , recorded with more details by Gil-Santana et al. (2013).