Eritrachys antennata ( Distant, 1911 ) Campos & Roell, 2018

Campos, Luiz Alexandre & Roell, Talita, 2018, Nomenclatural changes in Ochlerini (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Discocephalinae), Zootaxa 4434 (1), pp. 184-192 : 185

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.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Eritrachys antennata (Distant, 1911). Paralectotype female of Phereclus antennatus deposited in the BMNH, London. A, B, C; Labels, dorsal, and ventral respectively. Scale bars = 4mm.

FIGURE 2. Eritrachys antennata (Distant, 1911). Paralectotype female of Phereclus antennatus deposited in the BMNH, London. A, B, C, D, E; Labels, dorsal, ventral, lateral view, and genital plates in posterior view respectively. Scale bars = 4 mm.

FIGURE 3. Eritrachys antennata (Distant, 1911). Paralectotype male of Phereclus antennatus deposited in the BMNH, London. A, B, C, D, E; Labels, dorsal, ventral, head and pronotum, and pygophore in posterior view respectively. Scale bars = 4 mm.