Phasmatocoris praecellens ( Bergroth, 1911 )

Gil-Santana, Hélcio R., 2021, A new species of Phasmatocoris Breddin, 1904 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae) from Ecuador, with taxonomic notes and an updated key of the genus, Revista Chilena de Entomología (Rev. Chil. Entomol.) 47 (3), pp. 573-589 : 585-586

Phasmatocoris praecellens ( Bergroth, 1911)

( Figs. 36-39 )

Type material. Myiagreutes praecellens Bergroth, 1911 . [ FMNH], Syntype ♀: [handwritten:] Myiagreutes / praecellens / Bergr. ♀ // French / Guiana // [bordered label:] [handwritten:] Emesa / ( Myiagreutes ) / praecellens / Bergr. [printed at left, below:] Det McAtee / and Malloch // [printed red label:] SYNTYPE // [printed blue label:] Photographed / 2019 / Pekka Malinen // [printed label:] [at left:] QR Code [at right:] http://id.luomus.fi/ / GZ.45901 / FRENCH GUAIANA.

Myiagreutes and M. praecellens were described by Bergroth (1911) based on a single female specimen from French Guiana ( Figs. 36-39 ). Despite the differences in the armature of the fore femora of Myiagreutes and Phasmatocoris , “the similarity of the highly specialized male genitalia” of Ph. praecellens and Ph. spectrum Breddin, 1904 indicated the synonymy between these genera ( Wygodzinsky 1966). As an additional evidence, when describing Ph. papei, Gil-Santana (2018a) recorded that the basal plate struts of Ph. praecellens (cf. Wygodzinsky 1966: fig. 86O) seemed quite more similar to that of Ph. papei ( Gil-Santana 2018a: figs. 28- 29) than that of Ph. spectrum ( Wygodzinsky 1966: fig. 87P), while the sclerotization of the ventral wall ( Gil-Santana 2018a: figs. 26, 30, Gil-Santana 2018b: figs. 1-2) of Ph. papei seemed similar to that of Ph. praecellens ( Wygodzinsky 1966: fig. 86L). These additional similarities support the synonym proposed by Wygodzinsky (1966) ( Gil-Santana 2018a).

Wygodzinsky (1966) recorded superficially identical males of Ph. praecellens showing differences in their phalli indicating that there are possibly two different species indistinguishable by external characters. However, because the holotype of Ph. praecellens is a female, it cannot be assigned to any of these two potential species ( Gil-Santana 2018a).

Gil-Santana (2018a) examined a female from French Guiana which showed extensive pale markings, which agreed with the original description of the species ( Bergroth 1911) and also with the holotype examined here ( Figs. 36-37 ), while the basal cell of forewing did not separate subbasal and discal cells with the base of the latter narrowly meeting apex of the former ( Gil-Santana 2018a: figs. 36, 38). On the other hand, the specimen of Ph. praecellens figured by Wygodzinsky (1966: plate 2, fig. 2) seems darker, with fewer pale markings, while his schematic drawing of the forewing of this species ( Wygodzinsky 1966: fig. 86C) clearly shows the subbasal and discal cells being largely separated by a basal cell, what was recorded in the forewing of the holotype too ( Fig. 39 ). Therefore, there is a need to examine more specimens of this species in order to clarify if these differences are part of an intraspecific variation or characteristics of different species as suggested by Wygodzinsky (1966).

In regard to the depression on the dorsal surface of the fore tibiae, covered with medium-sized dense stiff setae, compatible with the calamistrum-like structure ( Wygodzinsky 1966), it had already been recorded in Ph. praecellens ( Wygodzinsky 1966; Gil-Santana 2018a), and it was confirmed once more by examining the syntype of this species.

Figures

Figures 36-39. Myiagreutes praecellens Bergroth, 1911, syntype female, deposited in FMNH. 36-38. Photographs taken by Pekka Malinen and supplied by Heidi Viljanen (FMNH). 36.Dorsal view, some portions of legs and part of abdomen. 37. Lateral view. 38. Labels. 39. Forewing, median portion, dorsal view; sb, subbasal cell; bc, basal cell; dc, discal cell.