Heteroscelis lepida ( Stål, 1862 )

Sampaio, Vinicius Gomes, Roell, Talita & Campos, Luiz Alexandre, 2023, Revision of Heteroscelis Latreille, 1829 (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae) with the description of a new species from Colombia, Zootaxa 5278 (3), pp. 401-438 : 417-421

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 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Geographic distribution of Heteroscelis Latreille, 1829. The countries highlighted for each species on the small maps are based on literature data. The points marked for each species are from the specimens examined in this paper, and from records retrieved from iNaturalist.

FIGURE 15. Heteroscelis lepida (Stål, 1862), female.A, dorsal; B, ventral; C, lateral; D, head and pronotum in dorsal view; E, external scent efferent system; F, tibial expansion. Scale bars: A–D = 2mm, E, F = 1mm.

FIGURE 16. Phyllochirus lepidus Stål, 1862, female holotype. A–D, dorsal, lateral, genital plates, and labels, respectively (NHMW). Scale bars: A, B = 2mm, C = 1mm. © by Natural History Museum Vienna, Hemiptera Image Collection, Vienna, Harald Bruckner, 2022; published with permission.

FIGURE 17. Bodetria scutellaris Walker, 1868, male holotype. A–D, dorsal, lateral, posterior, and labels, respectively (NHMUK). Scale bar:A–C = 2mm. © by The Natural History Museum, London, United Kingdom, Talita Roell, 2022; published with permission.

FIGURE 18. Heteroscelis lepida (Stål, 1862), male.A, B, pygophore, posterior.Abbreviations: dr = dorsal rim; par = parameres; vr = ventral rim; X = segment X. Scale bar = 0.5mm. © by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama, Marleny E. Rivera, 2022; published with permission.

FIGURE 19. Heteroscelis lepida (Stål, 1862), female. A, B, genital plates, ventroposterior; C, D, internal genitalia, ventral. Abbreviations: cs = capsula seminalis; id = inner duct of vesicular area; laVIII = laterotergites VIII; laIX = laterotergites IX; md = median duct of vesicular area; od = outer duct of vesicular area; pi = pars intermedialis; tgIX = secondary thickening of valvulae IX; vfVIII = valvifer VIII; vfIX = valvifer IX; vi = thickening of vaginal intima; X = segment X. Scale bars = 1mm.