Castolus subinermis ( Stål, 1862 )

Forero, Dimitri & Mejía-Soto, Andrés, 2021, A striking sexually dimorphic new species of Castolus (Hemiptera: Heteroptera Reduviidae) from Colombia, with new records from Neotropical countries and taxonomic notes on the genus, Zootaxa 5048 (4), pp. 538-560 : 550-552

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.5048.4.4

publication LSID

lsid:zoobank.org:pub:CF8898E7-BCAF-42B9-986B-6C4CFD1A9519

DOI

https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5570420

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/52663A49-8F1F-FFF1-FF30-FE05FEDC0A15

treatment provided by

Plazi

scientific name

Castolus subinermis ( Stål, 1862 )
status

 

Castolus subinermis ( Stål, 1862) View in CoL

( Figs. 7–8 View FIGURE 7 View FIGURE 8 )

Castolus annulatus Maldonado & Brailovsky, 1992 View in CoL , new synonym

Mucrolicter alienus Elkins, 1962 View in CoL , new synonym

Remarks. Stål (1862) described Repipta subinermis , which he later transferred to Castolus ( Stål 1872) . He based his description on females from Mexico and deposited them at the NHRS and NHMW. We are here designating a lectotype for Repipta subinermis , selecting the syntype deposited at NHMW that fits the length indicated by Stål (1862) and which was figured by Champion (1899, his fig. 6, Tab 17) ( Sehnal 2000), thus following Recommendation 74B of the ICZN (1999). Maldonado (1976) in his synopsis of Castolus stated not having examined specimens of C. subinermis , but nonetheless included this species in his identification key. Brailovsky (1982) provided additional distributional data for species of Castolus including C. subinermis . Maldonado and Brailovsky (1992) later described as new C. annulatus , based on some of those “ C. subinermis ” specimens, indicating that Brailovsky’s (1982) identification of C. subinermis was in error and that they belonged to a new species. Maldonado and Brailovsky (1992) did not provide comparative notes on how to separate these two species. Studying photos of the lectotype and paralectotype of C. subinermis ( Figs. 8A, B View FIGURE 8 ), and the holotype of C. annulatus ( Fig. 7A View FIGURE 7 ), show that both are similar in having rather short humeral angles, and a similar head, pronotal, hemelytral, and ventral abdominal coloration patterns. Given that Maldonado (1976) never stated having examined the syntype series of C. subinermis , he probably had an erroneous concept for this species, and thus the confusion about the identity of C. subinermis (e.g., Maldonado & Brailovsky 1992). Therefore, we formally synonymize C. annulatus under C. subinermis .

Elkins (1962) described Mucrolicter to accommodate the new species M. alienus , and stated that this genus is related to, but different from, Castolus due to its trifid median process of the pygophore. Maldonado (1976) showed that males of Castolus species have a patch of hairs next to the median process of the pygophore, sometimes on raised tubercles giving the impression of a trifid posterior margin on the pygophore (e.g., C. nigriventris [as C. bicolor ], C. spissicornis , C. plagiaticollis ). Nevertheless, the situation is more complex because some species of Castolus apparently exhibit tumescent areas adjacent to the median process (e.g., C. pallidus ), being an intermediate between a non-raised area (e.g., C. lineatus ) ( Maldonado 1976; Swanson & Chordas 2018) and a fully protruding one as the one exhibited by Mucrolicter ( Elkins 1962) . Even when the holotype of M. alienus ( Fig. 7B View FIGURE 7 ) has some minor color differences when compared to the lectotype of C. subinermis , for instance the smaller dark area on the posterior lobe of the pronotum and the darker apex of the femora ( Fig. 8A View FIGURE 8 ), the structure of male pygophore ( Fig. 7B View FIGURE 7 ) is identical to the drawing presented by Maldonado & Brailovsky (1992), in which their holotype ( C. annulatus ) has a color pattern extremely similar to that of the lectotype of C. subinermis . Therefore, because Mucrolicter is monotypic, and given the evidence presented, we here propose the formal synonymy of Mucrolicter under Castolus .

Distribution. Mexico ( Maldonado & Brailovsky 1992; Stål 1862), Guatemala ( Elkins 1962; Zhang & Weirauch 2013), Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, and Panama ( Elkins 1962).

Material examined. Castolus subinermis ( Stål, 1862) . LECTOTYPE: MEXICO • 1 ♀; “ Mexico ” Coll. Signoret. / “ subinermis ” det. Stal / B.C.A. Rhyn. II. Castolus subinermis St. ” / Sp. figured. / (red label) Syntypus Repipta subinermis Stål, 1862 etik. Hecher 1996 REDV . 211/1 / Lectotype Repipta subinermis Stål, 1862 Desig. by D. Forero & A. Mejía ( NHMW) .

PARALECTOTYPE: MEXICO • 1 ♀; Mexico. / Signt. / “ subinermis Stål ” / (red label) Typus / NHRS-GULI 000000502 / Paralectotype Repipta subinermis Stål, 1862 Desig. by D. Forero & A. Mejía ( NHRS) .

OTHER TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype of Castolus annulatus . MEXICO — Oaxaca • 1 ♂; “Tuxtepec, Oaxaca”; “29-III-76”; “J. Bueno” leg. / (red label) HOLOTYPE / “ Castolus annulosus Maldonado [and] Brailovsky 1992” ( UNAM).

Holotype of Mucrolicter alienus . GUATEMALA • 1 ♂; “ Guatemala, bananas” / [USA] “Mobile, Ala”; “III/11/37” / “ Mucrolicter alienus Elk. ” 1961 Det. J.C. Elkins / (red label) HOLOTYPE / UCR_ENT 00007989 (bar code) ( USNM) .

NHMW

Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien

NHRS

Swedish Museum of Natural History, Entomology Collections

UNAM

Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico

USNM

Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of Natural History

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hemiptera

Family

Reduviidae

Genus

Castolus

Loc

Castolus subinermis ( Stål, 1862 )

Forero, Dimitri & Mejía-Soto, Andrés 2021
2021
Loc

Castolus annulatus

Maldonado & Brailovsky 1992
1992
Loc

Mucrolicter alienus

Elkins 1962
1962
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