Castolus subinermis ( Stål, 1862 )

Forero, Dimitri & Mejía-Soto, Andrés, 2021, A striking sexually dimorphic new species of Castolus (Hemiptera: Heteroptera Reduviidae) from Colombia, with new records from Neotropical countries and taxonomic notes on the genus, Zootaxa 5048 (4), pp. 538-560 : 550-552

Castolus subinermis ( Stål, 1862)

( Figs. 7–8)

Castolus annulatus Maldonado & Brailovsky, 1992 , new synonym

Mucrolicter alienus Elkins, 1962 , new synonym

Remarks. Stål (1862) described Repipta subinermis , which he later transferred to Castolus ( Stål 1872) . He based his description on females from Mexico and deposited them at the NHRS and NHMW. We are here designating a lectotype for Repipta subinermis , selecting the syntype deposited at NHMW that fits the length indicated by Stål (1862) and which was figured by Champion (1899, his fig. 6, Tab 17) ( Sehnal 2000), thus following Recommendation 74B of the ICZN (1999). Maldonado (1976) in his synopsis of Castolus stated not having examined specimens of C. subinermis , but nonetheless included this species in his identification key. Brailovsky (1982) provided additional distributional data for species of Castolus including C. subinermis . Maldonado and Brailovsky (1992) later described as new C. annulatus , based on some of those “ C. subinermis ” specimens, indicating that Brailovsky’s (1982) identification of C. subinermis was in error and that they belonged to a new species. Maldonado and Brailovsky (1992) did not provide comparative notes on how to separate these two species. Studying photos of the lectotype and paralectotype of C. subinermis ( Figs. 8A, B), and the holotype of C. annulatus ( Fig. 7A), show that both are similar in having rather short humeral angles, and a similar head, pronotal, hemelytral, and ventral abdominal coloration patterns. Given that Maldonado (1976) never stated having examined the syntype series of C. subinermis , he probably had an erroneous concept for this species, and thus the confusion about the identity of C. subinermis (e.g., Maldonado & Brailovsky 1992). Therefore, we formally synonymize C. annulatus under C. subinermis .

Elkins (1962) described Mucrolicter to accommodate the new species M. alienus , and stated that this genus is related to, but different from, Castolus due to its trifid median process of the pygophore. Maldonado (1976) showed that males of Castolus species have a patch of hairs next to the median process of the pygophore, sometimes on raised tubercles giving the impression of a trifid posterior margin on the pygophore (e.g., C. nigriventris [as C. bicolor ], C. spissicornis , C. plagiaticollis ). Nevertheless, the situation is more complex because some species of Castolus apparently exhibit tumescent areas adjacent to the median process (e.g., C. pallidus ), being an intermediate between a non-raised area (e.g., C. lineatus ) ( Maldonado 1976; Swanson & Chordas 2018) and a fully protruding one as the one exhibited by Mucrolicter ( Elkins 1962) . Even when the holotype of M. alienus ( Fig. 7B) has some minor color differences when compared to the lectotype of C. subinermis , for instance the smaller dark area on the posterior lobe of the pronotum and the darker apex of the femora ( Fig. 8A), the structure of male pygophore ( Fig. 7B) is identical to the drawing presented by Maldonado & Brailovsky (1992), in which their holotype ( C. annulatus ) has a color pattern extremely similar to that of the lectotype of C. subinermis . Therefore, because Mucrolicter is monotypic, and given the evidence presented, we here propose the formal synonymy of Mucrolicter under Castolus .

Distribution. Mexico ( Maldonado & Brailovsky 1992; Stål 1862), Guatemala ( Elkins 1962; Zhang & Weirauch 2013), Honduras, Belize, Nicaragua, and Panama ( Elkins 1962).

Material examined. Castolus subinermis ( Stål, 1862) . LECTOTYPE: MEXICO • 1 ♀; “ Mexico ” Coll. Signoret. / “ subinermis ” det. Stal / B.C.A. Rhyn. II. Castolus “ subinermis St. ” / Sp. figured. / (red label) Syntypus Repipta subinermis Stål, 1862 etik. Hecher 1996 REDV . 211/1 / Lectotype Repipta subinermis Stål, 1862 Desig. by D. Forero & A. Mejía ( NHMW) .

PARALECTOTYPE: MEXICO • 1 ♀; Mexico. / Signt. / “ subinermis Stål ” / (red label) Typus / NHRS-GULI 000000502 / Paralectotype Repipta subinermis Stål, 1862 Desig. by D. Forero & A. Mejía ( NHRS) .

OTHER TYPE MATERIAL: Holotype of Castolus annulatus . MEXICO — Oaxaca • 1 ♂; “Tuxtepec, Oax- aca”; “29-III-76”; “J. Bueno” leg. / (red label) HOLOTYPE / “ Castolus annulosus Maldonado [and] Brailovsky 1992” ( UNAM).

Holotype of Mucrolicter alienus . GUATEMALA • 1 ♂; “ Guatemala, bananas” / [USA] “Mobile, Ala”; “III/11/37” / “ Mucrolicter alienus Elk. ” 1961 Det. J.C. Elkins / (red label) HOLOTYPE / UCR_ENT 00007989 (bar code) ( USNM) .