Phasmatocoris spectrum Breddin, 1904

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 : 503-504

Phasmatocoris spectrum Breddin, 1904

( Figs. 39–42 )

Phasmatocoris spectrum is the type species of Phasmatocoris by monotypy ( Wygodzinsky 1966, Maldonado- Capriles 1990).

The male holotype of this species ( Figs. 39–42 ) is from Bolivia ( Breddin 1904) and it was redescribed by McAtee & Malloch (1925) and Wygodzinsky (1966). These authors did not record the calamistrum-like structure of the fore tibia, as pointed by Forero (2006) in relation to Wygodzinsky (1966). Forero (2006), however, described a similar structure presumably homologous with the calamistrum-like brush in Ph. spectrum based on non-types from Colombia.

The examination of the holotype of Ph. spectrum deposited in SDEI ( Figs. 39–42 ) showed that only one of the fore legs is still entire, glued to a card pinned with the specimen, while only the coxa remained of the other leg ( Figs. 39, 41 ). The presence of the calamistrum-like brush formed by a clustered stiff setae on the dorsal excavation of the fore tibiae ( Fig. 42 ) and an apicoventral dense cluster of golden stiff setae could be confirmed in the holotype.

Wygodzinsky (1966: 281, identification key) gave the general color to Ph. spectrum as piceous, while in his redescription of the species (p. 290) based on the male holotype he recorded the general coloration of head, thorax, and appendages as testaceous and of abdomen as ochraceous. He also mentioned two provisionally identified specimens of Ph. spectrum being somewhat darker than the holotype, fuscous rather than testaceous. However, the general coloration testaceous, somewhat paler (ochraceous) in the abdomen (and not a general blackish coloration) are in accordance not only with the original description of Ph. spectrum ( Breddin 1904) , but also with the redescription of McAtee & Malloch (1925) of the holotype, and the examination of the latter ( Fig. 39 ) during the present study. The key presented here, although it is based on that of Wygodzinsky (1966), reflects these findings.

Material examined. Male holotype: Phasmatocoris / spectrum / Type! Bredd. [handwritten label] // Dtsch. Entomol. / Institut Berlin // Coll. / Breddin // TYPUS [red label] // Holotypus [red label] ( SDEI).

Discussion. With the exception of the lateral, parallel auxiliary row of a few setae, all other modifications to the fore tibiae recorded by Pape (2013) and Gil-Santana (2015) were recorded in the species examined here. Therefore, the calamistrum-like structure occurs at least in several species of Phasmatocoris , but its presence or absence has remained undocumented in many species of the genus. The presence of this structure suggests a potential arachnophilous association, but currently no field observation is available about the bionomics of these species.

With the new species described here, 18 species are now included in Phasmatocoris , two of them recorded from French Guiana.

Figures

FIGURES 39–42. Phasmatocoris spectrum, male holotype deposited in SDEI. 39, lateral view; 40, labels; 41, genitalia portions and a foreleg glued to a card pinned with the specimen; 42, portion of theleg glued to the paper board,arrows point to the dorsal excavation of the fore tibiae and stiff setae onit.