Brachysandalus bicolor ( Villiers, 1948 )

Swanson, Daniel R., 2019, Doomed to a vile lot: new taxa, notes, and an updated generic key for the Old World corsairs (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Peiratinae), Zootaxa 4700 (2), pp. 196-228 : 198-199

Brachysandalus bicolor ( Villiers, 1948)

( Fig. 1 )

Lestomerus (Brachysandalus) bicolor Villiers, 1948: 241 .

Pirates sin: Linnavuori, 1984: 17. Synonymized by Coscarón & Linnavuori, 2007: 65.

Lestomerus (Brachysandalus) bicolor was described by Villiers (1948) from several localities in northern and central Africa, being separated from regional congeners primarily by color pattern. Villiers (1968a) later raised Brachysandalus Stål, 1866 to full generic status, thereby treating his species as Brachysandalus bicolor . Sixteen years later, Pirates sin Linnavuori, 1984 was described from Iraq. Coscarón (1997) transferred Linnavuori’s species to Brachysandalus , and the two authors subsequently synonymized that species with L. (B.) bicolor in a redescription based on specimens of Pirates sin in Linnavuori’s collection, as well as examination of Villiers’ holotype in Paris ( Coscarón & Linnavuori 2007) ( Fig. 1 A–C). The species has remained enigmatic in being largely disjunct from most other members of Brachysandalus , a genus comprising 17 other species, with 13 species known from Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and four species from Malaysia and Indonesia.

Material Examined. KENYA: Meru National Park, Bwatherongi Campsite , 30 April–30 June 1987, Stanton Braude, det. D. R. Swanson 2017 [1 female] ( UMMZ) ( NEW COUNTRY RECORD); [SOUTH] SUDAN: Upper Nile, Renk-Malakal , 3–5 January 1963, Linnavuori, det. D. R. Swanson 2018, AMNH _ IZC 00321062 , 00321063 [1 male, 1 female] ( AMNH) ; TANZANIA: Ilonga , light trap, November 1966, I. A. D. Robertson, det. D. R. Swanson 2018, AMNH _ IZC 00321065 [1 female] ( AMNH); idem. February 1967, AMNH _ IZC 00321064 [1 male] ( AMNH) ( NEW COUNTRY RECORD) .

Distribution. Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti ( Villiers 1948); Cameroon ( Villiers 1968a); South Sudan ( Linnavuori 1974); Somalia ( Linnavuori 1976); Iraq ( Linnavuori 1984); Saudi Arabia ( Coscarón & Linnavuori 2007); Kenya, Tanzania (present study) (summarized in Fig. 2 ).

Remarks. The specimen from Kenya was taken in essentially the same locality as Sphodrembas fumipennis gen. et sp. nov. and a specimen of Lestomerus basilewskyi Villiers, 1962 (see Additional Material Examined).

Even though Villiers (1948: 241) gave the type locality as “Côte des Somalis”, he provided further details on page 242: “Côte des Somalis: Mont Goudah, 1.500 m., sur le plateau de Dai (E. Aubert de la Ruë).” I have equated this with the Goda Mountains in Tadjourah Region, Djibouti. Putshkov & Putshkov’s (1987) listing from Eritrea almost certainly refers to the Djibouti locality. Additionally, the locality of “ Saudi Arabia, E. Al As ’ad” ( Coscarón & Linnavuori 2007) could not be located and therefore does not appear in Figure 2 .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Brachysandalus bicolor: male holotype of Lestomerus bicolor (MNHN): (A) dorsal habitus, (B) lateral habitus, (C) labels; adult female (UMMZ): (D) dorsal habitus, (E) lateral habitus, (F) labels. Scale bar =2 mm.

FIGURE 2. Distribution of Brachysandalus bicolor based on present study and previous literature records.