Castolus bicolor Maldonado, 1976
A striking sexually dimorphic new species of Castolus (Hemiptera: Heteroptera Reduviidae) from Colombia, with new records from Neotropical countries and taxonomic notes on the genus
Forero, Dimitri
Mejía-Soto, Andrés
Zootaxa
2021
2021-10-08
5048
4
538
560
RQPG
Breddin, 1904
Breddin
1904
[151,586,1770,1797]
Insecta
Reduviidae
Castolus
Animalia
Hemiptera
10
548
Arthropoda
species
nigriventris
( Fig. 6A)
Castolus bicolor Maldonado, 1976, new synonym.
Remarks. Maldonado (1976)did not include C. nigriventris Breddin, 1904in his key or in his taxon treatment section. He stated that Breddin’s holotypeseems to be lost, and apparently was not at the DEI. We recently contacted Dr. S. Blank (DEI) and he confirmed that Breddin’s type is not there. We also contacted Dr. M. Husemann (ZMUH) who stated as well that Breddin’s type is not there, so apparently Breddin’s type could be lost. Alternatively, Dr. Blank indicated that it might still be possible for Breddin’s type to be unlabeled as a type and be sitting along his undetermined material, as has been the case with other Breddin type material. Unfortunately, so far, we have not been able to find such specimen. FIGURE 6.Dorsal view of Castolustype specimens. A.holotype of Castolus bicolor Maldonado, 1976(synonym of C. nigriventris Breddin, 1904); B.holotype of C. bolivari Brailovsky, 1982; C.holotype labels of C. bicolor Maldonado, 1976. Maldonado (1976)indicated that Breddin’s description was insufficient to identify this species, but we disagree. Breddin (1904)described C. nigriventrisas follows: “...a dull black, broad animal, in which only a longitudinal band of the posterior lobe of the pronotum, along with its broad posterior margin and the slender spicules of the humeral angles, as well as the hemelytra, and a very narrow margin of the abdomen [connexivum], are somewhat dull light yellow.” Following Breddin’s description it is clear that this particular and striking color pattern, being mostly black with yellow hemelytra and black and yellow posterior pronotal lobe, is exactly the same as the color pattern described for C. bicolorMaldonado( Fig. 6A). The only difference is that the pale areas in the holotypeof C. bicolorare rather orange than yellow. Therefore, because of the same coloration patter between the two species, we synonymize Maldonado’s species under Breddin’s. Maldonado (1976)also offered an intriguing observation, he mentioned that he had examined a female specimen from Trinidadwith less extensive black areas on the pronotum, but otherwise very similar to the holotypeof C. bicolor. He hypothesized that this might be the female of the specimen he described. Unfortunately, he did not illustrate this specimen. Similar to what happens in C. lineatusand other species, some color variation might occur, with an extreme sexually dimorphic condition in C. rafaeli sp. nov.
Material examined. Castolus bicolor Maldonado, 1976. HOLOTYPE: TRINIDAD[ AND TOBAGO]— 1 ♂; W.I. [West Indies], Arima Valley; 800–1200 ft.; Feb 1966; J. G. Rozencollector / (red label) HOLOTYPE/ AMNH_ IZC 00343371(barcode)/ “ Castolus bicolordet. Maldonado” J Maldonado C1975 ( AMNH).
Distribution: Castolus nigriventrisis known from Bolivia( Breddin 1904) and Trinidad and Tobago( Maldonado 1976).
3383561395
1966-02
J. G. Rozen
Trinidad and Tobago
305
Valley
12
550
1
1
Arima
holotype
3383561317
AMNH
Trinidad and Tobago
12
550
IZC 00343371
1
holotype
3383561314
[551,1300,330,357]
AMNH
J Maldonado C
Trinidad and Tobago
Maldonado
12
550
1
holotype