Brontostoma abbas Carpintero, 1980

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 : 452-453

Brontostoma abbas Carpintero, 1980

Figs. 1A–D , 2A–C

Distribution: Previously known only from Venezuela ( Carpintero 1980; Maldonado 1990). It is a new species record from Colombia.

Remarks: This species was only known from its original description ( Carpintero 1980). Carpintero (1980) did not provide any habitus images of the taxa described by him, therefore we are providing images of both a macropterous male ( Figs. 1A, B ) and a brachypterous female ( Fig. 1C ). The examined specimens differ from the male holotype in having only the lateral areas of the posterior lobe of the pronotum reddish, whereas the holotype ( Fig. 1D ) has almost all the posterior lobe reddish except for a small anteromedial, rounded black area, similar to what is found in the examined brachypterous female ( Fig. 1C ). The brachypterous females have a coloration pattern on the forewings similar to those of males, in which most of the posterior area of the corium and the basal area of the clavus are reddish ( Fig. 1C ). This color pattern on the forewing of brachypterous specimens cannot be confused with that of the more commonly found B. basalis ( Stål, 1859) , in which most of the forewing is reddish ( Gil-Santana 2020), not only the posterior margin of the corium as in B. abbas . Furthermore, B. abbas can be differentiated from B. basalis by having the clavus reddish on its basalmost area, with the remaining area dark, and on the apical half the adjacent corial area dark as well. In B. basalis , these claval and corial areas are yellowish ( Gil-Santana 2020). In addition, the corium of B. abbas has a broad reddish band on its posterior portion with the remainder corial area black ( Figs. 1A–C ), a corial color pattern not found in any of the color variations of B. basalis . Another similarly colored Brontostoma species is B. infensum Wygodzinsky, 1951 , known from Argentina (and probably also from Peru and Brazil, see Gil-Santana 2020). Bronstostoma abbas shares with B. infensum the apical claval and adjacent corial area dark, but in B. abbas , the ventral abdominal markings are well defined, not irregular as in B. infensum . The corium in B. infensum is mostly red, different from the strongly bicolorous corium of B. abbas .

These color differences among B. abbas , B. basalis , and B. infensum are congruent with their male genitalic structure. Gil-Santana and collaborators have shown that in Brontostoma species the genitalia possess good characters for species delimitation (e.g., Gil-Santana 2020, 2023; Gil-Santana et al. 2021; Gil-Santana & Baena 2009). These three species are more similar among them than to other Brontostoma species because of the shape of the medial process of the endosoma (mp), which is a broad U-shaped sclerite ( Figs. 2B, C ). Of these, B. abbas is most similar to B. basalis because the apices of the parameres are close together in repose, the medial process of the pygophore (mpp) is not visible in ventral view, the dorsal phallothecal sclerite (dps) is deeply emarginate apically, and the medial margin of the apical portion of the endosomal struts is sinuate ( Gil-Santana 2020). These two species can be distinguished by the shape of the mpp and the structure of the dps. In B. basalis , the mpp is more rounded and narrower, whereas in B. abbas it is slightly flattened dorsally and wider ( Fig. 2A , arrow). In B. basalis the dps has a lateral ventral fold which is strongly curved outward on its basal half, whereas in B. abbas the ventral fold is not curved outwards ( Fig. 2B ). In addition, the dps of B. basalis is recurved apically, whereas in B. abbas is flattened apically ( Fig. 2C , arrow).

Carpintero (1980) described B. abbas based on a single specimen from Acarigua, in Portuguesa State, Venezuela. The examined specimens from Colombia suggest that this species is commonly found in the biogeographic region denominated the Sabana province ( Morrone 2017), what is called “Los Llanos” in Venezuela and Colombia, where the holotype of B. abbas was described from. The single examined locality in the Magdalena Valley (Puerto Boyacá, Boyacá) suggests that this species could be nonetheless found in other areas as well, although evidence for this is scant.

Examined material: Holotype. Venezuela: 1 ♂, Portuguesa, Acarigua, R.U. Carcavallo ( MACN) [photograph examined, courtesy of H.R. Gil-Santana].

Other examined specimens: COLOMBIA. Boyacá: 1 ♂, Puerto Boyacá, laguna P’Agagua [Cienaga Palagua], 10.xi.1976, H. Bernal, ICN029255 ( ICN) ; 1♀, San Luis de Gaceno , 04°49ˊN 73°10ˊW, 281 m, 13.iv.1995, X. Espitia ( UNAB) ; Casanare: 1 ♂, Aguazul, v[ere]da Ag Lindo [Agualinda] , f[in]ca Caño Negro , 05°13ˊN 72°85ˊW, 447 m, entomological net, 14.vii.2012, C. Pimentel ( UNAB) ; 1 ♂, caserío indígena Mochuelo , selva de galería [=gallery forest], 100 m, F. Ortiz, ICN029253 ( ICN) ; 1♂, Paz de Ariporo , 05°33ˊN 71°55ˊW, 340 m, 8.iv.1998, S. Torres ( UNAB) ; Cundinamarca: 1 ♂, La Vega , 04°59ˊ57˝N 74°20ˊ23˝W, 1230 m, 6.iv.1997, E. Bastias ( UNAB) ; 1 ♀, Medina , v[ereda] de palo, 4°26ˊ30˝N 73°13ˊ39˝W, 1420 m, 10.v.2019, C. Sarmiento y Taxonomia Animal, manual collecting ( ICN) ; 1♂, Pacho , 05°07ˊ57˝N 74°09ˊ42˝W, 1798 m, may 1999, A. Vergara ( UNAB) ; Meta: 1 ♂, alto Menegua, P[uer]to López , 17.iv.1992, J. C. Ochoa ( MPUJ _ ENT) ; 1 ♂, Apiay , 11.ix.1976, Gerardo Chavarro, ICN029257 ( ICN) ; 1 ♂, Cumaral, f[in]ca Agualinda , 04°16ˊ16.8˝N 73°29ˊ38.5˝W, 452 m, 30.ix.2017, manual collecting, L. Buitrago ( UNAB) ; 1 ♂, Cumaral, Veracruz , 04°17ˊN 73°33ˊW, 240 m, 18.iv.1992, R. Yepes ( UNAB) ; 1 ♂, Humacitas, pantalla [=screen] 9-11, 7.x.1971, Isabel de Arévalo, ICN028768 ( ICN) ; 1 ♂, Puerto Lleras , 14.vi.1970, F. Sarmiento, ICN029256 ( ICN) ; 1 ♂, Puerto López , v[ere]da La Libertad km 21, 04°05ˊN 72°58ˊW, 184 m, 17.iv.2000, O. Parra ( UNAB) ; 1 ♂, Remolinos , 300 m, 19.iii.1993, E. Garzón ( MPUJ _ ENT); 1 brachypterous ♀, Remolinos, Cafam Llanos , 24.iii.1996 ( MPUJ _ ENT) ; Vichada: 1 ♂, Gaviotas , 180 m, 1.vii.1995, F. Cortéz, ICN 036188 ( ICN) ; 1 ♂, Gaviotas , 168 m, 12.v.1985, O. M. Moreno, ICN 029254 ( ICN) .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus images of Brontostoma species. A–C. Brontostoma abbas; A. male, dorsal view; B. male, lateral view; C. brachypterous female, dorsal view; D. Holotype male of B. abbas; E–F. B. colossus, macropterous female; E. dorsal view; F. lateral view.

FIGURE 2. Male genitalia of Brontostoma abbas. A. pygophore, dorsal view; B. aedeagus, dorsal view, arrow indicates flat ventral fold of dps; C. aedeagus, lateral right view.