Phasmatocoris praecellens ( Bergroth, 1911 )

Gil-Santana, Hélcio R., 2018, A new species of Phasmatocoris from French Guiana, with short taxonomic notes on two described species and an updated key (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae), Zootaxa 4413 (3), pp. 491-506 : 501-503

Phasmatocoris praecellens ( Bergroth, 1911)

( Figs. 35–38 )

Bergroth (1911) described Myiagreutes and M. praecellens based on a single female specimen from French Guiana.

Despite the differences in the armature of the fore femora of Myiagreutes and Phasmatocoris , “the similarity of the highly specialized male genitalia” of Ph. praecellens and Ph. spectrum indicated their synonymy ( Wygodzinsky 1966). The dorsal phallothecal plate of Ph. praecellens ( Wygodzinsky 1966: figs. 86, O) is quite more similar to that of Ph. papei sp. nov. ( Figs. 28–29 ) than that of Ph. spectrum ( Wygodzinsky 1966: figs. 87, P), while the entirely sclerotized ventral wall (as recorded in the paratype, Figs. 26 , 30 ) of Ph. papei sp. nov. seems similar to that of Ph. praecellens ( Wygodzinsky 1966: figs. 86, L). These additional similarities support the synonym proposed by Wygodzinsky (1966).

Wygodzinsky (1966) stressed that superficially identical males of Ph. praecellens possess different phalli, therefore this taxon might be a complex of at least two different species; being a female, the holotype of Ph. praecellens cannot be assigned to any of these two potential species.

The female examined here shows extensive pale markings ( Figs. 35–36 ), which agree with the original description of the species ( Bergroth 1911), while the basal cell of forewing does not separate subbasal and discal cells with the base of the latter narrowly meeting apex of the former ( Figs. 36, 38 ). However, the specimen of Ph. praecellens figured by Wygodzinsky (1966: plate 2, fig. 2) seems darker, with fewer pale markings, while his schematic drawing of the forewing of this species ( Wygodzinsky, 1966: fig. 86, C) clearly shows the subbasal and discal cells being largely separated by a basal cell.

The significance of these differences is not possible to be clarified due to the scarce material available. The fore tibia of the specimen examined nevertheless possesses a calamistrum-like brush formed by a cluster of stiff setae on a shallow dorsal excavation of the fore tibiae and an apicoventral dense cluster of golden stiff setae ( Fig. 37 ).

Specimen examined. FRENCH GUIANA, Bélizon, vii. 2001, leg. H. Gaspard (1 female, MNHN).

Figures

FIGURES 35–38. Phasmatocoris praecellens, female. 35, lateral view, scale bar 2.0 mm; 36–37, scale bar 1.0 mm; 36, forewing and abdomen, dorsal view; 37, fore leg, apex of femur, tibia and tarsus, inner surface, lateral view; 38, portion of forewingwhere the apexof subbasal cell meetsthe base of discal cell (pointed by an arrow),sb, subbasal cell, bc, basalcell, dc, discal cell, scale bar 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 27–31. Phasmatocoris papei sp. nov., male genitalia, scale bar 0.2 mm. 27–29, dorsal view; 27, articulatory apparatus, ba, basal arms, bb, basal bridge; 28–29, dorsal phallothecal plate, struts (st) and short sclerotization of dorsalwall of phallosoma (sdw); 28, paratype; 29, holotype; 30–31, ventral view; 30, paratype, sclerotization of ventral wall of phallosoma; 31, holotype, apical third of sclerotization of ventral wall of phallosoma.

FIGURES 25–26. Phasmatocoris papei sp. nov., male genitalia, phallus, lateral view, scale bar 0.5 mm. 25, holotype; 26, paratype, art app, articulatory apparatus, asvw, apical third of sclerotization of ventral wall of phallosoma, dp, dorsal phallothecal plate, dps, dorsal process of endosoma, lps, large process of endosoma, svw, sclerotization of ventral wall of phallosoma, vps, ventral process of endosoma.