Brachycerocoris camelus Costa, 1863

Salini, S. & Roca-Cusachs, M., 2021, Review of the Oriental species of the genus Brachycerocoris Costa, 1863 (Hemiptera: Pentatomoidea: Pentatomidae: Podopinae s. l.) with description of two new species, Zootaxa 5040 (4), pp. 507-527 : 509-510

Brachycerocoris camelus Costa, 1863

( Fig. 1a, b & Fig. 7. 1a–d )

Material examined. CHINA: Fukien: 1♀ [ DAR], Chungan, Bohea hill, 9.x.1939, T. C. Maa .

Differential diagnosis. Similar to B. petrii sp. nov., separated from the other two specie s B. dromedarius and B. davidii sp. nov. by the absence of the pointed tubercle on lateral mandibular plates. Differs from B. petrii sp. nov. in the presence of a well developed central tubercle on anterior half of pronotum, which is distinctly longer than width at the base of tubercle; the apex of central tubercle on anterior half of pronotum nearly truncate; the central margin connecting base of central tubercle (anteriomedial tubercle) of scutellum with posteromedial tubercle, C-shaped in lateral view; the pygophore with the caudal angles developed into long, stout horn-like processes, divergent each other; the paramere L-shaped, apex of crown as long as broad, round and clubbed at apex with concave depression on innerside and a dense tuft of setae, projected caudad at the base of the depression; stem of uniform width throughout ( Schaefer et al. 1996: Figs. 3 C & D ).

Male genitalia. Genital capsule subquadrangular, caudal angles developed into long, stout horn-like processes, apically slightly divergent from each other. Ventral rim deep, concave, broadly U-shaped. Paramere with single, straight arm, crown broad, slightly L-shaped, round and clubbed at apex. Dense tuft of setae at the innerside of the joint between arm and crown ( Schaefer et al. 1996).

Remarks. Schaefer et al. (1996) dealt with two species of Brachycerocoris namely B. camelus and B. dromedarius . The second author had an opportunity to examine the single female specimen of B. camelus in David Rider’s laboratory and could clearly associate it with the habitus images and morphological description given by Schaefer et al. (1996) for B. camelus . The female genitalia of B. camelus was not dissected out by considering the comparatively less significance of it in species determination and also to avoid the destruction of the single available specimen; whereas the availability of enough materials of B. dromedarius in the personal collection of the second author [MRC] facilitated the authors to dissect out and study the post abdominal structures of this species besides comparing the external morphology of it with the description given by Schaefer et al. (1996). Based on this study the authors could understand that the figures ( Fig. 3.A & B of Schaefer et al. 1996) labelled as B. camelus actually correspond to B. dromedarius and the other ( Fig. 3.C & D of Schaefer et al. 1996) would obviously that of B. camelus as only two species were dealt with.

Distribution. China!, India?, Sri Lanka?

Distributional remarks. The general external morphology of B. camelus and B. petrii Salini and Roca-Cusachs , sp. nov. resemble each other in general external morphology and can lead to erroneous identification unless the fine details of the external morphology and of male genitalia are closely examined. Therefore, the records from India and Sri Lanka probably correspond to the species B. petrii Salini and Roca-Cusachs , sp. nov., though the records need verification. This is because an effort to study the post abdominal structures of the species of Brachycerocoris available from those regions was never attempted. It is also evident from the differences pointed out by Schaefer (1997) among the specimens collected from India and China with respect to the length and height of medial tubercle on pronotum and scutellum and the shape of tubercle between eyes.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of Brachycerocoris camelus Costa. a, Habitus (dorsal); b, Habitus (lateral). Scale bar equals 1 mm.

FIGURE 3.Habitus of Brachycerocoris dromedarius (Vollenhoven). a, Habitus (dorsal); b, Habitus (lateral). Scale bar equals 1 mm.

FIGURE 7. SEM photographs: 1, Brachycerocoris camelus Costa; 2, Brachycerocoris petrii sp. nov.; 3, Brachycerocoris dromedarius (Vollenhoven); 4, Brachycerocoris davidii sp. nov. (a, head; b, external peritreme and evaporatoria; c, Detail of peritreme; d, female terminalia with deligned profile (yellow) for the left valvifers. Brachycerocoris camelus (7.1a–d) carries the scale bar and the numbering for all the serial photographs.