Nomenclatural changes in Ochlerini (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Discocephalinae)
Author
Campos, Luiz Alexandre
Author
Roell, Talita
text
Zootaxa
2018
2018-06-14
4434
1
184
192
journal article
29887
10.11646/zootaxa.4434.1.12
f37f98ce-6c5a-4047-941c-a37ba64d1421
1175-5326
1290912
57A75D01-B5B6-462D-9A1D-FAD9D6A1C00E
Eritrachys antennata
(
Distant, 1911
)
,
NEW COMBINATION
Phereclus antennatus
Distant, 1911
: 247
–248;
Grazia
et al.
(2015
: 719
).
Eritrachys bituberculata
Ruckes, 1959
: 11
–13, fig. 4;
Rolston (1992: 15, fig. 23)
;
Campos & Grazia (2006: 153, figs. 8, 17, 23, 28)
;
Ortega-León & Thomas (2010: 61–64, fig. 1)
;
Grazia
et al
. (2015
: 717
).
NEW SYNONYMY
Material examined.
COSTA RICA
, male
lectotype
(
Fig. 3
), here designated, with the following labels: “Mokri, Talamanca, Atantique. H. Pittier.”; “
Phereclus antennatus
Dist.
”; “Distant Coll. 1911–383.”; “
♂
”; “
SYNTYPE
”; “
NHMUK
010592524”.
Female
paralectotype
(
Fig. 2
); labels: “Talamanca
Costa Rica
(Pittier)”; “
♀
”; “
SYNTYPE
”; “
NHMUK
010592523”.
COLOMBIA
, female
paralectotype
(
Fig. 1
), labels: “
Colombia
Cali 96-68”, “
Phereclus antennatus
type
Dist.”;
BRIT
.
MUS
.
TYPE
No.
HEM
. 697”; “
Type
”; “
♀
”; “
Syntype
”; “
NHMUK
010592522”.
Comments.
Phereclus
Stål, 1862
is known for 3 species,
P. pluto
Stål, 1862
,
P. punctatus
(
Dallas, 1851
)
, and
P. antennatus
. In the key to genera of Ochlerini (
Rolston 1992
),
Phereclus
groups with those genera whose eyes are separated from pronotum, and can be distinguished by having the labium arising before an imaginary plane bisecting head at anterior limit of eyes. After examining the
syntypes
of
P. antennatus
, we observed that the labium arises after such imaginary plane (
Figs. 1C
,
2C
,
3C
), in disagreement with the aforementioned. The
syntypes
also have several characteristics diagnostic to
Eritrachys
Ruckes, 1959
, the most evident ones being the shape of the head with pedunculate and prominent eyes exceeding the width of the anterior pronotal margin, and separated from pronotum by more than half of the diameter of one eye (
Ruckes 1959
;
Rolston 1992
) (
Figs. 1–3
). We propose here transferring
P. antennatus
to the genus
Eritrachys
Ruckes, 1959
, and after comparing the
syntypes
of
P. antennatus
with photos of
E. bituberculata
(AMNH) and with the descriptions and illustrations of both
E. bituberculata
and
E. brailovskyi
Ortega-León & Thomas, 2010
(
Ruckes 1959
;
Ortega-León & Thomas 2010
), we propose
P. antennatus
as senior synonym of
E. bituberculata
. This synonymy is proposed based on general morphology (clypeus longer than mandibular plates, pronotum not elevated, pronotum with 1+1 elevated tubercles), and the shape of the genital plates and pygophore.
In the BMNH, these 3 syntypes of
P. antennatus
were inside a pinning tray labeled “
Eritrachys bituberculata
”. Perhaps someone has previously observed this taxonomic misconception but has never proposed a new combination.