Mesopyrrhocoris fasciatus Hong & Wang, 1990

Kment, Petr, 2021, A review of the fossil taxa originally assigned to Pyrrhocoridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), Zootaxa 5081 (4), pp. 579-586 : 580

Mesopyrrhocoris fasciatus Hong & Wang, 1990

Mesopyrrhocoris fasciata Hong & Wang, 1990: 95 ; 96: figs 49–52; 248; pl. 13: fig. 3 (original description in Chinese, illustrations). Holotype: unsexed specimen in dorsal view, China, Shandong, Laiyang Basin, Tuanwang Town, Ligezhuang , Laiyang group 3; Shuinan Formation : Lower Cretaceous (coll. Beijing Natural History Museum , Beijing, China).

Mesopyrrhocorix [incorrect subsequent spelling] fasciata: Yao et al. (2004) : 34 (checklist, listed in Pyrrhocoridae ); Yao et al. (2010): 155 (checklist, listed in Pyrrhocoridae ).

Mesopyrrhocoris fasciata: Shcherbakov (2008) : 407 (transferred to Cimicomorpha incertae sedis); Stehlík (2013): 574 (listed in Cimicomorpha); Nicholson et al. (2015): Supplement p. 106 (listed in Cimicomorpha); Liu et al. (2020): 3 (checklist, listed in Pyrrhocoridae ); Schuh & Weirauch (2020): 184 –185 (listed in Pyrrhocoridae ).

Comments. Mesopyrrhocoris fasciata Hong & Wang, 1990 was described from the Lower Cretaceous of Laiyang Basin (Shandong, China) and originally placed into Pyrrhocoridae ( Hong & Wang 1990) . Shcherbakov (2008) wrote that it ‘should be transferred to Cimicomorpha, but its more precise affiliation remain[s] unknown due to insufficient preservation’. The action of Shcherbakov was accepted by Stehlík (2013) and Nicholson et al. (2015), but it was overlooked by other authors who kept listing Mesopyrrhocoris in Pyrrhocoridae (cf. Yao et al. 2010, Liu et al. 2020, Schuh & Weirauch 2020). Based on examination of the available illustrations of M. fasciatus by Hong & Wang (1990), I agree with the classification suggested by Shcherbakov (2008).

As the generic names ending with - coris (a Latinized Greek noun meaning true bug) are masculine, the ending of the species name is corrected as Mesopyrrhocoris fasciatus to be in agreement with the gender of the generic name, in accordance with ICZN (1999: Art. 31.2).