Apateticus halys, (Apateticus)

Roell, Talita, Lemaître, Valérie A., Webb, Michael D. & Campos, Luiz A., 2023, An annotated and illustrated Type Catalogue of the predacious Shieldbugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae) in the Collection of the Natural History Museum, London, Zootaxa 5232 (1), pp. 1-105 : 43-46

halys (Apateticus) Dallas 1851: 105–106. [ Figs 79–80 ]

Original data: “ ♀ ”; “Long. Lin. 6½–7.”; “a. Venezuela. From Mr. Dyson’s Collection. ” [syntypes (range of measurements)]

LECTOTYPE ♀ (designated by Distant 1880: 36): purple-margined lectotype disc; red-margined type disc; “ Venezuela / 47 26”; “1. APATETICUS HALYS ,”; “a”; “NHMUK 010592340”. Fifth right antennomere, and fourth and fifth left antennomeres missing; abdomen damaged; genital plates disjointed ( Fig. 79 ).

PARALECTOTYPE ♀: blue-margined paralectotype disc; “Venezu / 46 75”; “ Arma Apateticus halys Walker’s catal.”; “a”; “NHMUK 010747384”. Fourth and fifth right and left antennomeres missing ( Fig. 80 ).

Current status: Apateticus lineolatus (Herrich-Schäffer, 1840) (first synonymised to Podisus punctipennis Herrich-Schäffer by Stål 1868: 498, then synonymised to Podisus (Apateticus) lineolatus Herrich-Schäffer by Stål 1872: 129; see Schouteden 1907: 70, who pointed out the priority of Apateticus Dallas, 1851 over Podisus Herrich-Schäffer, 1853 ).

Note: Dallas did not state the number of specimens from which he described the species (although we can assume he had at least two since he gave a range of measurements, “Long. Lin. 6½–7.”), only the sex: female. Walker (1867a: 143) listed 2 specimens from the same provenance ( Venezuela, Mr Dyson). We have found 2 female specimens in the collection, with matching data. Distant (1880: 36) stated: “The specimen figured is from Costa Rica, and agrees with some specimens from Guatemala in being much darker in colour than ordinary forms, such as the Venezuelan type in the British Museum, or from ordinary Mexican specimens.” [emphasis ours]. We accept Distant’s mention of “the type” as a valid lectotype designation before 2000 ( ICZN 1999: Art. 74.5); his marking the specimen by a red-margined “Type” disc as he arranged the 63 Pentatomidae drawers in 1899–1900 ( Hampson 1906: 627) confirms which specimen was meant. Thomas (1992: 25) also examined and detailed “the [...] type”.

Figures

FIGURES 73–80. Type specimens deposited in NHMUK. 73–74, Arma grandis; 75–77, Canthecona grandis; 78, Canthecona grisea; 79–80, Apateticus halys. Scale bars: 4 mm.