Placophyllopus cothurnatus Blöte, 1938

Brailovsky, Harry, 2021, Illustrated key to the genera included in the tribe Acanthocephalini (Hemiptera Heteroptera: Coreidae: Coreinae), with descriptions of three new genera, seven new species, new taxonomic rearrangements, and a key to genera of Placoscelini, Zootaxa 5082 (5), pp. 457-475 : 474

Placophyllopus cothurnatus Blöte

Type species: Placophyllopus cothurnatus Blöte, 1938: 277 . NEW SYNONYMY .

Breddin (1903), described Meluchopetalops new genus with one new species, M. banausus , from Bolivia. Brailovsky (2009) added the second species M. nigrolineatus from Colombia, Suriname, and Venezuela, and added new distributional records to M. banausus ( Bolivia and Peru). Blöte (1938) described and illustrated Placophyllopus with one new species, cothurnatus from Peru (Pachitea).

During the revision of the generic status of Acanthocephalini , the type specimens of M. banausus (DEIC) and P. cothurnatus (RMNH) were examined and compared, and not founded any significant differences in color or morphology. So, I am placing P. cothurnatus as a subjective junior synonym of M. banausus .