Heteroscelis lepida (Stål, 1862)

(Figs. 1, 15–19)

Phyllochirus lepidus Stål, 1862: 93; Stål 1870: 31 (syn.).

Bodetria scutellaris Walker, 1868: 529; Stål 1870: 31 (syn.); Distant 1880: 33, 1900: 63; Thomas 1992: 48.

Heteroscelis lepida: Stål 1870: 31; Distant 1880: 33, 1900: 63; Pirán 1961: 88; Thomas 1992: 48; Brailovsky & Mayorga 1994: 34; Arismendi & Thomas 2003: 224; Cambra et al. 2018: 5; Lupoli 2019: 80; Cazorla 2021: 10; Rider & Swanson 2021: 7; Castro-Huertas et al. 2022: 9; Roell et al. 2023: 77.

Heterosceloides lepida: Schouteden 1907: 20; Kirkaldy 1909: 30; Pirán 1961: 88 (syn.).

Types examined

MEXICO. Phyllochirus lepidus Stål, 1862; female holotype; “ México. Coll. Signoret”, “ lepidus set. Stål”, “ lepidus ”, “ Heterosceloides lepidus Stål ”; (NHMW). Photo examined (Fig. 16).

MEXICO. Bodetria scutellaris Walker, 1868; male holotype; “ Holotype ”, “Type”, “Vera cruz / 5466”, “ Bodetria scutellaris ”; “NHMUK 010592395”; (NHMUK). Photo examined (Fig. 17).

Other material examined. PANAMA. Panama: (Canal Zone, Madden Forest, 9.05, -79.37), 1 male, 8.I.1971 H. Stockwell (STRI), Smithsonian Tropical Research institute, photo examined. VENEZUELA, Falcon: (Las dos Bocas, 11.30129, -69.41226), 1 female, 29.I.1967 R. Cassares (UFRG). COLOMBIA, Antioquia: (Santa Fé de Antioquia, Hacienda Cotové - UNAL, 600 m. 6.5316, -75.8260), 1 female, 6.X.2000 A. Botero, et al. (UNAB). 1 female, no data (UFRG).

Records retrieved from iNaturalist

MEXICO, Veracruz: (Puente Nacional, 19.34434, -96.464912), 31.X.2016.

MEXICO, Veracruz: (Puente Nacional, 19.343728, -96.464263), 25.IX.2017.

COSTA RICA, Puntarenas: (Puntarenas, 10.275075, -84.812452) 25.V.2017.

COLOMBIA, Sucre: (Galeras, 9.147859, -74.978428), 18.II.2017.

VENEZUELA, Falcon: (Miranda, 11.41002, -69.679581), 5.XII.2022.

Diagnosis. Body iridescent-blue, with a large triangular red or orange spot on scutellum; vesicular area of female genitalia subequal in length to the proximal part of the ductus receptaculi.

Redescription

HEAD: Mandibular plates equal to or slightly surpassing clypeus, anteriorly rounded, separated at apex; head length anterior to the eyes equal to 2/3 of the total length of the head (Fig. 15, D); labium reaching the metasternum; proportion of labiomeres: I<II>III<IV; proportion of antennomeres: I<II<III<IV ≅ V.

THORAX: Scutellum with a large triangular red or orange spot, covering the entire frenal lobe and the central portion of the postfrenal lobe; coria longer than the scutellum, not reaching the posterior margin of the connexival segment VI, uniformly punctured; membranes dark, surpassing posteriorly the abdomen; metapleural evaporatoria not surpassing posteriorly the anterior limit of coxae; peritreme disc-shaped, surpassing half the pleural width; apex of peritreme rounded, posterior margin arched, convex, anterior margin almost straight (Fig. 15, E); foretibial length on average 3.5x larger than the width of the dorsal tibial expansion (Fig. 15, F).

ABDOMEN: Uniformly punctured; urosternite III tubercle not surpassing the posterior margin of metasternum; posterior angles of urosternites III to VII ending in minute spine (Fig. 15, B).

Male

GENITALIA (Fig. 18): Pygophore with dorsal rim concave; ventral rim slightly sinuous, medially concave; segment X with surface corrugated; head of parameres laterodorsally directed in posterior view.

Remarks: The only description of the internal male genitalia was made by McDonald (1966). Based on his description and illustrations (McDonald 1966: 121, figs. 300–302) we interpret the phallus having the conjunctival dorsal lobe (conjunctival appendages sic McDonald) with one pair of projections, and the ventral lobes with three projections each.

Female

MEASUREMENTS (n=3). Head length 1.24 ± 0.22 (1.00–1.44); width 1.34 ± 0.07 (1.26 –1.40); pronotum length 1.75 ± 0.21 (1.57–2.00); width 3.88 ± 0.24 (3.70–4.16); scutellum length 2.25 ± 0.27 (2.01–2.56); width 2.18 ± 0.11 (2.10–2.32); length of antennomeres: I 0.33 ± 0.04 (0.30–0.37), II 0.62 ± 0.15 (0.50–0.80), III 0.81 ± 0.19 (0.69–1.04), IV 1.09 ± 0.17 (0.90–1.20); V 1.00 ± 0.11 (0.88–1.12); length of labiomeres: I 0.53 ± 0.14 (0.37–0.64), II 0.71 ± 0.08 (0.63–0.80), III 0.40 ± 0.09 (0.30–0.48), IV 0.61 ± 0.11 (0.50–0.72); width of foretibal expansion 0.65 ± 0.26 (0.50–0.96); width of abdomen 3.41 ± 0.36 (3.20–3.84); total length 6.31 ± 0.64 (5.67–6.96).

GENITALIA (Fig. 19): Valvifers VIII posterior margin shallowly concave over the plates of sternite IX, truncate over the base of laterotergites VIII; laterotergites VIII wider than long, with spiracles close to the lateral margin; segment X with the posterior margin straight; valvulae IX with 1+1 bean-shaped secondary thickenings with the proximal margin laterally elongated; capsula seminalis oval.

Distribution: United States of America (Texas), Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica (new record), Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, French Guyana. (Fig. 1).