Apiomerus pictipes Herrich-Schaeffer, 1846

Berniker, Lily, Szerlip, Sigurd, Forero, Dimitri & Weirauch, Christiane, 2011, 2949, Zootaxa 2949, pp. 1-113 : 29-30

Apiomerus pictipes Herrich-Schaeffer Figs 1–15, 17, Map 5

Apiomerus pictipes

Herrich-Schaeffer 1846: 75 (original description); Walker 1873: 67 (catalog); Lethierry and Severin 1896: 145 (catalog); Champion 1899: 233 (key); Gillette and Baker 1895: 60 (regional checklist); Uhler 1904: 364 (regional checklist); Fracker 1913: 236 (taxonomy); Readio 1927: 154 (key); Wygodzinsky 1949: 17 (catalog); Costa Lima et al. 1951: 343 (revision); Maldonado 1990: 7 (catalog).

Herega pictipes

Stål 1862: 455 (catalog)

Apiomerus (Herega) pictipes

Stål 1872: 98 (catalog); Van Duzee 1916: 30 (checklist); Van Duzee 1918: 258 (catalog).

Apiomerus pictipes pittieri

Costa Lima et al. 1951: 345 (original description); Maldonado 1990: 7 (catalog)

Type data: Neotype (here designated): 1 ♂; MEXICO: Colima: 10 mi W Colima [19.326 ° N 103.845 ° W], 01 Aug 1954 / M. Cazier, W. Gertsch, Bradts Collectors / Apiomerus pictipes Herrich-Schaeffer Det. by S. L. Szerlip 1975 / Univ. Calif. Insect Survey Specimen # 176380 / NEOTYPE ♂ Apiomerus pictipes Herrich-Schaeffer 1846 Det. by: Berniker & Szerlip 2011 / ( UCR _ ENT 00010431 ) ( AMNH) .

Diagnosis: Recognized by the posterior pronotal lobe being solid black, solid yellow, or black with an anterior band of red or orange, hemelytra that are yellow, red or orange ( Fig. 1L), abdominal venter black and yellow striped, gonapophysis 8 with two distinct sclerotizations ( Fig. 15L).

Redescription: Male: Medium-sized, total length 14.4–15.6 mm. COLORATION: HEAD: Black. THORAX: Anterior pronotal lobe black posteriorly, red or orange anteriorly, posterior pronotal lobe usually black with anterior band of red or orange, sometimes uniformly black or yellow, margin of posterior pronotal lobe pale yellow to white, scutellum black with yellow margin, thoracic pleura black with a yellow circle on supracoxal lobes, corium yellow, orange or red, foreleg black and red or orange, midleg similar to foreleg, hind leg black or black distally, red or orange proximally ( Figs 1L, 15D). ABDOMEN: Black, with yellow stripes ventrally, connexivum pale yellow to white, pygophore orange to black. STRUCTURE: HEAD: about 2/3 as long as pronotum, about 4 times width of eye, length of eye in dorsal view about 1/4 of head length. THORAX: pronotum 1.3 times wider than long, anterolateral angle truncate, disc of anterior lobe with paired greatly convex lobes, posterior margin straight. ABDOMEN: pygophore about 1/5 length of abdomen, rami of the median process of the pygophore gently concave, nearly horizontal, ramus as long as base width ( Figs 2L, 3L, 4L, 5L). GENITALIA: distal portion of tergite 9 with setae on entire distal portion, posterior margin of dorsal phallothecal sclerite rounded in dorsal view ( Fig. 8D), apex in dorsal view narrow, less than half the width of dorsal phallothecal sclerite, endosomal struts fused only at base, dorsolateral lobe divided into proximal and distal portion, proximal lobe semi-circular or tongue shaped, distal lobe subdivided into a medial and lateral lobe ( Fig. 8D), medial lobe smooth, lateral lobe with small denticles, median basal sclerotization tongue shaped ( Fig. 8A), distal dorsal lobe with a horseshoe-shaped field of strong denticles ( Figs 6L, 7L).

Female: Total length 14.7–15.8 mm. STRUCTURE: ABDOMEN: syntergite 9/10 with distal margin emarginate ( Fig. 11L). GENITALIA: gonapophysis 8 with two distinct sclerotizations ( Fig. 15L), bursa copulatrix with two narrow, transverse sclerotized folds ( Fig. 14L).

Biology: Individuals have been collected during all months of the year from sea level to 3000 m above sea level. They have been collected at night and on the following plants: Amaranthus viridis (Amaranthaceae) , Carica papaya (Caricaceae) , Heliantus sp. ( Asteraceae ), Mimosa pigra (Fabaceae) , and on foliage of citrus.

Distribution: Mexico south to Venezuela and Colombia (Map 5).

Discussion: Apiomerus pictipes exhibits the most extreme polychromatism among the members of the pictipes and crassipes species groups. Individuals can be categorized into at least five fairly distinct color morphs. These are found in the following regions: 1) Mexico to Costa Rica, 2) the Yucatan Peninsula, 3) Honduras, 4) Panama and 5) Colombia and Venezuela (see Fig. 17D). The first is the most common form and is represented by the type described by Herrich-Schaeffer (1846) from “middle america”. Even within the range of the first form, individuals vary from light orange to red. Individuals from Costa Rica and Nicaragua vary in the color pattern of the pronotum, some of them having very little or no black bands on the posterior pronotal lobe. The individuals found on the Yucatan Peninsula are darker in color and resemble the darkest forms of A. flaviventris , although they are significantly smaller. Where individuals of the common form in Mexico are colored bright red or orange on the corium and pronotum, these individuals are a deep red, giving an overall darker appearance. The Honduras form has red hemelytra, but lacks the corresponding red banding on the pronotum, as well as a posterior pronotal and mesoscutal margin, giving the appearance of an almost black habitus except for the corium color. These individuals closely resemble A. rufipennis , although that they are clearly members of the pictipes species group based on the median process of the pygophore in the male and the extensions of tergite 8 in the female. The Panama form is similar to individuals from Mexico, except that it is pale yellow instead of orange or red. Those individuals found in Colombia and Venezuela, the southern end of the distribution are often smaller than those found further north, and are orange to light brown in color. We refrain from describing these forms as new species because they cannot be distinguished from each other based on genitalia, and because A. pictipes has long been recognized as a highly variable species ( Champion 1899).

Costa Lima et al. (1951) described Apiomerus pictipes pittieri based on a specimen from the U. S. National Museum collected in Venezuela; this specimen matches the color form described above for individuals from South America. The designation was based primarily on differences in color. Since this species is highly polychromatic, new species or subspecies should not be described based on color alone. Dissections of A. pictipes pittieri showed no genitalic differences compared to other males of A. pictipes and the subspecies is here synonymized.

The only other member of the pictipes species group is A. flaviventris and where these two species meet in Mexico, they can be separated based on differences in color pattern and size.

Type designation: As with Apiomerus flaviventris , attempts to locate the type of A. pictipes have have been unsuccessful (see A. flaviventris type designation). A neotype has been selected based on the type locality (“Middle America”) and features of the specimen shown on the color plate in Herrich-Schaeffer’s original description (1846).

Material examined: See Appendix; 976 specimens examined.