Repipta sanguinea Champion, 1899

Forero, Dimitri & Mejía-Soto, Andrés, 2025, Filling in the gaps for assassin bugs: taxonomic notes and new records of Reduviidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from Neotropical countries, Zootaxa 5584 (4), pp. 451-481 : 468-471

Repipta sanguinea Champion, 1899

Figs. 10A–D ; 12A–D ; 13A–E

Distribution: This species was known only from Panama ( Champion 1899; Maldonado 1990). It is a new species record from Colombia.

Remarks: As mentioned above, R. sanguinea was not treated in Martin-Park et al. (2012). Repipta sanguinea is very similar to R. coccinea ( Herrich-Schäffer,1850) , also from Colombia, because both are mostly reddish species. Herrich-Schäffer (1850) described R. coccinea as being brilliant red (“coccineus”), with a hyaline brown hemelytral membrane, dark antennae, red legs, and red pronotal spines. He also mentioned that in some specimens the antennae and legs might be darkened, and the pronotal spines might be red. When Champion (1899) described R. sanguinea , he failed to compare his new species to R. coccinea , although he mentioned that the pronotal spines were yellow apically, the inner (posterior) portion of the corium and part of the clavus yellowish, and the hemelytral membrane yellow; all these characters setting it apart from R. coccinea . When redescribing R. coccinea, Martin-Park et al. (2012) mentioned that the pronotal spines are yellowish, that leg color could be variable, and that the clavus is brown, and the membrane is hyaline brown. The latter two characters fit Herrich-Schäffer’s description. Because the specimens examined by us have a yellowish membrane and pronotal spines, and a reddish corium with a yellowish area between the corium and the clavus, it fits better the original description of R. sanguinea , thus assigning this identification to them.

As stated above for R. lepidula , because genitalic morphology might be of diagnostic value for identification of species of Repipta , we are documenting the male and female genitalia of R. sanguinea . The pygophore is strongly setose caudally ( Fig. 12 ); the paramere is L-shaped, and strongly setose, with long setae, in all its surface ( Fig. 12A– C ). The endosoma has a pair of rod-like, medial basal sclerotizations, about half as long as the dorsal phallothecal plate ( Fig. 13A, B ); the medial basal lobe has a pair of U-shaped areas beset with small triangular microtrichia, and an apical round field of similar trichia. The dorsal phallothecal plate is flat, elongated, and sharply rounded medially at the apex ( Fig. 13C ). The bursa copulatrix is quadrangular with two large ovoid lateral pouches ( Fig. 13D–E ); with no strong sclerotizations in the anterior area of the bursa where it connects to the median oviduct. Future work should document and carefully compare the genitalia of other Repipta species and reveal if R. sanguinea and R. coccinea are synonyms or valid species.

Examined material: COLOMBIA. Antioquia: 1 ♀, km 12 Rio sucio, Restrepo, 510 m, 16.xi.1976, C. Bernal ( ICN) ; Casanare: 1 ♂, Tauramena , Kiosco Verde, ~ 2.5 km al SW de Tauramena, 5.00385°N 72.77376°W , 526 m, 8–12.ix.2014, S. Tibabuzo ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♀, same data, D. Forero ( MPUJ _ENT) ; Cordoba: 1 ♀, Montelibano, 7°59ˊ31.4˝N, 75°24ˊ35.5˝W, wetland, manual collecting, H. González Pertuz / MPUJ_ENT0075198 ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♂, Montelibano,PIRE – Humedal [= wetland], on vegetation, 6.viii.2006, H.González Pertuz /MPUJ_ENT0075197 ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♂, Pto Libertador, CCSA, rastrojo [=scrub vegetation], entomological net, 14.xi.2005, H. González Pertuz / MPUJ_ENT0075196 ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 adult, sex unknown (without abdomen), Tierralta, Hda. Las Brisas, las Mayorias , grassland, entomological net, 9.iv.2005, H. González Pertuz / MPUJ_ENT0075221 ( MPUJ _ENT) ; Cundinamarca: 1 ♀, Guaduas, 5.vii.1976, A. Bernal ( ICN) ; Meta: 1 ♀, km 4 vía Acacias, C . Cordoba ( ICN) ; 1 ♀, Acacias, La Esmeralda, 514 m, 23.iv.2004, E. Flores ( ICN) ; Vichada: 1 ♀, Gaviotas, 167 m, 20.vii.1973, R. Cortés ( ICN) ; Meta: 1 ♀, San Martín, Reserva el Caduceo, Km 4.5 a San Francisco, 03.671389°N 73.659444°W , 309 m, 30.ix–4.x.2013, L. Camacho ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♀, same data, 30.ix–5.x.2013, P. Duarte ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♂, San Martín , Reserva Rey Zamuro-Matarredonda, ~ 37 km ESE de San Martin, 03.53173°N 73.40181°W , 293 m, 8–12.iv.2019, M. Camelo / gallery forest, manual collecting / MPUJ_ENT0065820 ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♂, same data, C. Salazar, L. Sáenz / gallery forest, low vegetation, manual collecting / MPUJ_ENT0065696 ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♂, same data, S. Ochoa, V. Páez, L. Rodríguez / Sabana [= savannah], manual collecting / MPUJ_ENT0065927 ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♀, same data, 17–21.ix.2018, A. Zapata, D. Cancino, M. Jaimes / edge of gallery forest, manual collecting / MPUJ_ENT0063483 ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♂, same data, J. Molano, M. Rubiano ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♂, same data, 28.viii–1.ix.2017, D. Cáceres ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♀, San Martín, vda. San Francisco, Finca Tocancipá, sabana [= savannah] , 330 m, Romero ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♀, same data, manual collecting, Gordillo, Murillo ( MPUJ _ENT) ; 1 ♀, [Villavicencio] Apiay, granja experimental La Libertad, manual collecting, x.2000 ( MPUJ _ENT) .

Figures

FIGURE 10. Habitus images of Repipta sanguinea. A, B. male; A. dorsal view; B. lateral view; C, D. female; C. dorsal view; D. lateral view.

FIGURE 12. Male genitalia of Repipta sanguinea. A–D. pygophore; A. dorsal view; B. ventral view; C. caudal view; D. lateral left view.

FIGURE 13. Genitalia of Repipta sanguinea. A–C. aedeagus; A. dorsal view; B. lateral left view; C. dorsal view, with dorsal phallothecal sclerite in detail; D, E. bursa copulatrix and adjacent sclerites; D. dorsal view; E. ventral view.