Canthecona caerulea

Roell, Talita, Lemaître, Valérie A., Webb, Michael D. & Campos, Luiz A., 2023, An annotated and illustrated Type Catalogue of the predacious Shieldbugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae) in the Collection of the Natural History Museum, London, Zootaxa 5232 (1), pp. 1-105 : 28

caerulea (Canthecona) Dallas 1851: 89–90 . [ Fig. 28 ]

Original data: “ ♁”; “a. Port Natal. From Dr. Krauss’s Collection. ” [syntype (s)]

SYNTYPE ♁: blue-margined syntype disc; red-margined type disc; “40.6.26.329.”; “ Canthecona caerulea identified by Dallas.”; “a”; “NHMUK 010592171”. Left antenna, and fourth and fifth right antennomeres missing ( Fig. 28 ).

Current status: Afrius purpureus (Westwood, 1837) (first synonymised to Canthecona Yolofa (Guérin-Méneville, 1831) , as a var. by Stål 1862a: 496; synonymised by Stål 1870: 44; see Roell et al. 2019: 25).

Notes: This specimen appears in Walker (1867a: 130), as specimen “d” under yolofa . It is likely that Dallas had only one specimen but we cannot be sure. We therefore consider the specimen a syntype. David & Dickinson (2016: 15) remarked: “Names that in their original form used ligatures are incorrect original spellings (Art. 27) but when the ligature is resolved and two letters replace it the names become correct original spellings (Art. 32.2.2.).” and later, p. 20, “Article 58.1 (I.C.Z.N., 1999) states that species-group names that contain -ae- and - oe-, but are otherwise identical, are deemed to be homonyms when included in the same genus (Art. 58); indeed, classical Latin dictionaries list coerul- as a variant of caerul- ( Gaffiot, 1934).” Dallas (1851: 89) had originally named the species “ CANTHECONA caerulea ”; this was an incorrect original spelling. The correct original spelling should be “caerulea”, as in our entry. Robertson (2009: 22) erroneously stated that Thomas (1994: 152) had spelled the specific epithet “coerulea”; this is an incorrect subsequent spelling.

Figures

FIGURES 25–32. Type specimens deposited in NHMUK. 25, Platynopus borneensis; 26, Bodetria brenthoides; 27, Oechalia bryani; 28, Canthecona caerulea; 29, Stiretrus caeruleus; 30, Arma caliginosa; 31, Bodetria chrysochlora; 32, Oplomus chrysomela. Scale bars: 4 mm.