Kiwisaldula butleri ( White, 1878 ) Larivière & Larochelle, 2016

Larivière, Marie-Claude & Larochelle, André, 2016, Aoteasalda and Kiwisaldula, two new genera of Saldidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), with a key to New Zealand genera and a new synonymy in Zemacrosaldula, Zootaxa 4085 (4), pp. 451-480 : 472-474

Kiwisaldula butleri ( White, 1878) new combination

Salda butleri White, 1878: 160 . Holotype female (BMNH) labelled: “LECTO- TYPE (circular purple-bordered label; typed in 2 lines) / Type (circular red-bordered label; typed) / LECTOTYPE S. butleri B. White R. Cobben 1961 (red label; first word typed, remainder text handwritten) / New Zealand (handwritten) / Salda butleri B.W (handwritten) / Salda butleri BW. (long folded label; handwritten) / Pres. by Perth Museum. B.M. 1953-629. (typed) / BMNH(E) #1005935 (typed).” Fair condition; antennae missing; left clavus damaged; left mid and hindlegs missing; right foreleg missing; right mid and hindlegs missing tibia and tarsi; mounted on card next to two nymphs.

Salda bulteri [sic]: Hutton, 1904: 223.

Acanthia butleri: Kirkaldy, 1909: 27 .

Saldula butleri: Drake & Hoberlandt, 1950: 7 .

Remarks. The female holotype of Salda butleri was borrowed from the Natural History Museum, London (BMNH). It is mounted on a rectangular card with two nymphs next to it. White’s (1878) description under the heading “49. S. Butleri , n. sp. ”, was based on a single adult specimen provided by Hutton. This clearly excludes the two nymphs from the type series despite Cobben’s lectotype label associated with this material, which suggests that in 1961 he considered the three specimens to be syntypes. Fortunately, a lectotype designation was never published by Cobben; the BMNH and Cobben’s lectotype labels associated with the holotype should be ignored.

The two nymphs, and apparently several others collected by Hutton, may have been dealt with separately by White (1878) under the heading “50. Salda sp ”, with the comment “Too immature to determine, but evidently allied to the last [ S. butleri ].”

Larivière & Larochelle (2004) erroneously listed the holotype of Salda butleri as being a male although White’s description of the “sides of abdomen below, and last segment, broadly pale” was evidently based on a female specimen.

The holotype specimen was collected by “Professor Hutton” [= FW Hutton]. It is labelled as having originated from “ New Zealand ”. Between 1874 and 1880 Hutton was provincial geologist of Otago [Province], lectured both in geology and zoology at the University of Otago, occupied the position of curator of the Otago Museum and, for a brief period (1877–1880), was appointed professor of natural science at the university ( Parton 2013). Although the precise type locality is not known for this species, Hutton’s collecting grounds around the year of its description were on the South Island, and most likely in the Otago Province (most of the southern third of South Island from the Waitaki River in the north). However, if the specimen was collected slightly earlier it could also be from the Canterbury Province (north of the Waitaki River); Watt (1977) reported that around 1865–1970 Hutton sent beetles to London from Otago and Canterbury, with types from this material nearly all ending up in the Natural History Museum, London. The above information and the fact that no North Island taxon could be matched to the holotype, suggest that S. butleri is a South Island species.

Salda butleri bears the hallmarks of Kiwisaldula species. It is hereby transferred to this genus; the new combination Kiwisaldula butleri is thus established.