Pahabengkakia piliceps Miller, 1941

Chen, Ling, Wang, Yang & Rédei, Dávid, 2021, Taxonomic corrections for East and Southeast Asian Reduviidae (Hemiptera Heteroptera), Zootaxa 4948 (4), pp. 586-598 : 593

Pahabengkakia piliceps Miller, 1941

( Figs. 15–19 )

Pahabengkakia piliceps Miller, 1941: 673 . Holotype: ♀, [ Malaysia:] Selangor, Kanching ; BMNH!

Stalireduvius nodipes Tomokuni & Cai, 2004: 10 . Holotype: ♂, Vietnam: [Bắc Kạn:] Ba B ể; NSMT. New subjective synonym.

Pahabengkakia piliceps: Maldonado (1990: 246) (catalogue, distribution), Wattanachaiyingcharoen & Jongjitvimol (2007: 71) (redescription and photos of adult and immatures, bionomics), Rasmussen (2008: 6, 30) (listed), Alvarez et al. (2019: [1]) (ecology).

Stalireduvius nodipes: Lam et al. (2015: 112) (listed, distribution).

Type material examined. Pahabengkakia piliceps Miller, 1941 . Holotype: ♀, “Type” [circle with red margin], “MALAY PENIN: \ Selangor, F.M.S. \ Kuala Lumpur [pr, crossed over by hw] \ Kanching 18 th miles [hw, with pr dotted underline] \ Dec: 14 th [hw, with pr dotted underline] 192 [pr] 4 [hw, with pr dotted underline] \ H.M. Pendlebury.”, “Brit. Mus. \ 1947-269.”, “Pahabenkakia [sic] \ piliceps \ gen. nov. sp. n [all three lines in N.C.E. Miller’s hw] \ det. N.C.E. Miller 193 [pr] 8 [hw]”; micro-pinned, right antenna, tarsi of right fore, both mid and left hind legs missing ( BMNH) ( Figs. 15–17 ).

Additional specimens examined. LAOS: Bolikhamsay Prov. , Phou Khao Khouay N [ational] B[iodiversity] C[onservation] A[rea], Tad Leuk Waterfall, 280 m, 11–12.iv.1998, from and beneath bark, leg. O. Merkl & G. Csorba, No. 45 (1 ♂ 1 ♀ HNHM) .

Distribution. THAILAND ( Wattanachaiyingcharoen & Jongjitvimol 2007). LAOS (new country record): Bolikhamsay Prov.! VIETNAM: Bắc Kạn Prov. ( Tomokuni & Cai 2004). MALAYSIA: Selangor!; Kuala Lumpur!

Discussion. The type material of Pahabengkakia piliceps consists of a female holotype from Selangor and a female paratype from Kuala Lumpur, now Malaysia ( Miller 1941). Only the holotype ( Figs. 15–17 ) was found in the BMNH in course of the present study. The species is the type species of the currently monotypic genus Pahabengkakia .

Stalireduvius nodipes was described based on a single male (the holotype) from northern Vietnam (Bắc Kạn Prov.) ( Tomokuni & Cai 2004), deposited in NSMT. Its identity is readily ascertainable from the detailed original description and illustrations. This species is the type species of the monotypic genus Stalireduvius .

In spite of the considerable similarity evident from the original description and illustration of P. piliceps ( Miller 1941) , Tomokuni & Cai (2004) did not compare Stalireduvius with Pahabengkakia and did not note the relatedness of their included species, leaving little doubt that they simply overlooked this taxon. Their description and illustrations make it abundantly clear that S. nodipes is conspecific with P. piliceps , and accordingly the subjective synonymy of the two species and also of the two genera is hereby proposed.

Pahabengkakia piliceps seems to be distributed all over Indo-China, extending to the Malay Peninsula. Although it is rare in collections, it is probably frequently overlooked due to its specialized bionomics, treated by Wattanachaiyingcharoen & Jongjitvimol (2007). The latter authors provided a photo of an adult; a better photo of a female from Laos (representing a new country record) is provided here ( Figs. 18–19 ) to facilitate the identification of this genus and species.

Figures

FIGURES 15–19. Pahabengkakia piliceps Miller, 1941. 15, holotype, dorsal view; 16, same, lateral view; 17, same, labels; 18, a non-type female, dorsal view; 19, same, ventral view. Scales in mm. © BMNH (Figs. 15–17).