Polytoxus minimus China , 1940

Rédei, Dávid & Tsai, Jing-Fu, 2010, A survey of the saicine assassin bugs of Taiwan (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (1), pp. 15-32 : 25

Polytoxus minimus China, 1940

Polytoxus minimus China, 1940: 206 . HOLOTYPE (♀): China: ‘Fukien’ [= Fujian], ‘Foochow’ [= Fuzhou] (BMNH). Polytoxus wygodzinskyi Ren, 2004: 149 . Unavailable name.

References. HOFFMANN (1944): 2 (catalogue); HSIAO & REN (1981): 406 (redescription, distribution, figure); MALDONADO CAPRILES (1990): 476 (catalogue); LIN (2003): 124 (distribution); PUTSHKOV & PUTSHKOV (1996): 206 (catalogue, distribution); HUA (2000): 210 (distribution); ISHIKAWA & YANO (2002): 352 (diagnosis, male genitalia, figures, records, distribution), 358 (in key).

Material examined. TAIWAN: FUJIAN COUNTY: Kinmen, Gugang, 19.vii.1995, leg. W. I. Chou (1 ♀, NTU).

Diagnosis. This species is characterized by its small size (5.5–6.5 mm), dark colour, the proepisternum being produced into a short and acute process, and the relatively short basal cell of the fore wing as illustrated by CHINA (1940: 207, Fig. 1b ). It is readily identified by the characters given in the redescription and figures by ISHIKAWA & YANO (2002).

Distribution. Japan: the Ryūkyūs (Ishigaki Is., Iriomote Is., Yonaguni Is.); China: Guangxi, Fujian; Taiwan: Kinmen! (new record).

Taxonomy. REN (2004) provided a brief description and illustrations of Polytoxus wygodzinskyi . Although she used the Chinese equivalent of the words ‘new species’, she clearly indicated that she is going to properly describe the species in a forthcoming paper. Becasue she did not designate any types, it is not an available name according to Article 16.4 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (ICZN 1999). We are not aware of any subsequent, nomenclaturally valid publication of this name.According to the brief description and the accompanishing illustrations, this species from south-eastern China does not differ from P. minimus .

Figures

Figs.1–10. Polytoxus fuscovittatus (Stål, 1860). 1 – head and thorax, dorsal view; 2 – same, lateral view; 3 – exposed parts of meso- and metanota, dorsal view; 4 – same, dorsolateral view; 5 – left fore wing; 6–10 – variability of the lengths of humeral and mesoscutellar processes, posterior views (6 – Myanmar, male; 7 – Philippines:Luzon, female; 8 – Malaysia: Sarawak, female; 9 – Philippines: Negros, male; 10 – Philippines: Luzon, male). Scales in mm.