Brachyplatys hemisphaerica ( Westwood, 1837 )

Nicolas, Vincent, Carapezza, Attilio, Rider, David A. & Kment, Petr, 2024, New records, diagnostics and preliminary checklist of the superfamily Pentatomoidea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from the Comoro Islands, Zootaxa 5481 (1), pp. 1-29 : 17

Brachyplatys hemisphaerica ( Westwood, 1837)

( Fig. 28 )

Material examined. MAYOTTE: Boungoudranavi , 21.x.2021, 1♀, V. Nicolas lgt. & det. ( VNBF) .

Biology. Listed as a pest species in rice fields of Lake Alaotra, Madagascar ( Rafarasoa et al. 2015, as Brachiplastis hemisphaeryca [sic!]).

Distribution. Comoros: Mayotte (new record), Madagascar (e.g., Reuter 1887, as Brachyplatys Stumpffii sp. nov.; Brancsik 1893; Montandon 1897; Bergroth 1907; Cachan 1952; Rafarasoa et al. 2015), Mauritius ( Orian 1956, no exact record), Réunion ( Orian 1956, no exact record; Vayssières et al. 2001).

Comment. Westwood (1837: 17) described Plataspis hemisphaerica with note ‘Habitat in Brasilia?’ In the catalog part of the same paper the distribution is given as ‘Ind, Orient. [= India orientalis, East India]’ ( Westwood 1837: 5, as Platycephala hemisphaerica ). In both cases the given distribution is an apparent error. Stål (1876) stated the distribution of the species as unknown (‘patria ignota’).

Figures

FIGURES 24–29. Habitus of Comoro Pentatomidae and Plataspidae: 24—Antestiopsis clymeneis cf. galtiei (Frappa, 1934), 25—Piezodorus hybneri (Gmelin, 1790), 26—Bagrada hilaris (Burmeister, 1835), 27—Stenozygum mirabile (Signoret, 1861) (scale bar 5 mm), 28—Brachyplatys hemisphaerica (Westwood, 1837), 29—Coptosoma maculatum Westwood, 1837. Photos: V. Nicolas (24–26, 28–29), T. Ramage (27).