Arocatus sericans ( Stål, 1859 )

Gao, Cuiqing, Kondorosy, Előd & Bu, Wenjun, 2013, A Review Of The Genus Arocatus From Palaearctic And Oriental Regions (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Lygaeidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 61 (2), pp. 687-704 : 697-699

Arocatus sericans ( Stål, 1859)

( Figs. 3J, K, S, T , 5I–L , 7 )

Lygaeus sericans Stål, 1859: 240 . Holotype (female): China, Hong Kong; NHRS.

Arocatus continctus Distant, 1906: 410 . Lectotype ( Slater, 1978: 856) (female) ( Fig. 7C, D ): Sri Lanka, Eppawela; BMNH. New synonymy.

Caenocoris dimidiatus Breddin, 1907: 45 . Lectotype ( Gaedike, 1971: 116) (male) ( Fig. 7E, F ): Ceylon, Negombo; DEIC. New synonymy.

Graptostethus parvus Distant, 1918: 422 (syn. A. Slater, 1985: 316, with A. continctus ). Syntype (s): Australia, Queensland, Townsville; BMNH.

References. — Distant, 1904: 15 (redescription, distribution); Stichel, 1959: 314 (listed); Slater, 1964a: 20 ( continctus , catalogue), 29 ( sericans , catalogue), 41 ( dimidiatus , catalogue); Slater, 1964b: 57 ( continctus , keyed); Scudder, 1968: 156 (long-distance dispersal); Zheng & Zou, 1981: 19 ( continctus , keyed, redescription); Slater & O’Donnell, 1995: 3 ( continctus , catalogue); Hua, 2000: 187 ( continctus , listed); Péricart, 2001: 38 ( sericans , continctus , catalogue), 39 ( dimidiatus , catalogue).

Diagnosis. — Dorsum of body with semidecumbent and moderately long erect white hairs. Head red, with black spot from vertex to apex of clypeus; ventral surface of head red. Pronotum with broad longitudinal black vittae, without slightly elevated median keel at middle behind calli. Scutellum black with red median vitta. Hemelytra black, only red at its extreme base. Antennae and legs black. Posterior margin of pygophore and cuplike sclerite not fused, in the middle of each of them with a process ( Fig. 3J, K ). Paramere as shown in Figs. 3S, T , 5I – L .

Type material examined. — Holotype of A. sericans , female: China. // Kinb. // (red) Typus ( NHRS) . Lectotype of Arocatus continctus , female, Sri Lanka, Eppawela/ N.C. P. 9-05, coll. Distant, 1888 ( BMNH) ; Lectotype of Caenocoris dimidiatus , male, Negombo, Ceylon, coll. Horn ( DEIC) .

Additional material examined. — CHINA: Hainan: 3 males, 3 females, Yaxian, 1935 ( NKUM) ; 1 male, 1 female, Nada, coll. Y. Zhou, Apr.1963 ( NKUM) ; 2 males, Datianpolu natural reserve, Dongfang, coll. G. P. Zhu & Y. R. Mu, 28 Apr.2009, alt. 100 m,

at light ( NKUM); 1 male, 1 female, Tongguling National Natural reserve, Wenchang , coll. X. Zhang & Z. H. Fan, 18 Jul.2008 ( NKUM) ; Guangxi: 1 male, 1 female, Longrui, Ningming , coll. L. Wei, 9 May 1984, alt. 130 m ( NKUM) ; INDIA: Tamil Nadu: 1 male, 6 km S Kotagiri, Elk Falls , 11°25'N 76°52'E, coll. L. Dembicky & P. Pacholátko, 12–16 May 1997, alt. 1650 m ( NHMW) ; 2 males, Madura [= Madurai], coll. J. Dubreuil ( NHMW) ; 3 females, Madura [= Madurai], coll. J. Dubreuil ( HNHM) ; many species, Coimbatore , coll. P. S. Nathan, May 1947 ( NMPC) . Territory of Puducherry: many specimens, Karikal , Kurumbagaram, coll. P. S. Nathan, May 1950 ( NMPC) ; 1 female, Pondichéry , coll. Signoret / continctus det. Distant ( NHMW) ; SRI LANKA: 7 males, 2 females, coll. Brown, 1899, (1 male, 1 female) continctus det. Distant ( NHMW) ; VIETNAM ( North ): 2 males, 52 km SW of Lang Son, 21.35N 106.30E, coll. P. Pacholátko & L. Dembicky, 27 Apr. – 6 May 1996, 370 m ( NHMW) ; ETHIOPIA: 1 female, “Abyssinia” [= Ethiopia], Kovács, Bubassa, Jun. [1]911( HNHM) .

Host plants. — Gomphocarpus spp. and Nerium oleander ( Slater, 1985) .

Distribution. — Asia: China (Hainan, Hongkong, *Guangxi, Taiwan), India (Tamil Nadu, Territory of Puducherry), Japan? Korea? Sri Lanka, * Vietnam; Africa: * Ethiopia, Guinea?

(Mt. Nimba), Nigeria; Australia. This species is reported for the first time from Vietnam and Ethiopia.

Remarks. — The holotype of A. sericans was examined by us, in addition, the photographs of the holotype of A. sericans are available at the website of Swedish Museum of Natural History (http://www2.nrm.se/en/het_nrm/s/arocatus_sericans. html). Lectotype and specimens identified as A. continctus by W. L. Distant examined by us are undoubtedly conspecific with it, therefore we propose synonymy of the two species. The lectotype of Caenocoris dimidiatus Breddin, 1907 , described from Ceylon [= Sri Lanka], Negombo, collected by Horn, was also studied. The specimen is conspecific with A. sericans , therefore C. dimidiatus is synonym of A. sericans too.

Due to the past confusion between the A. pseudosericans , new species and A. sericans , the distribution of A. sericans in Japan and Korea is doubtful at present. The mount Nimba is situated in the border between Guinea, Ivory Coast and Liberia. It is unsure, where it is collected on the Mt. Nimba, so the distribution of this species in Guinea is also uncertain.

Figures

Fig. 3. A–G, J, K, Pygophores in posterodorsal or posterior view. A, B, A. melanocephalus; C, D, A. melanostoma; E, F, A. pseudosericans, new species; G, A. rufipes; J, K, A. sericans. H, I, L–T: Left parameres in different aspects. H, I, A. rufipes; L, M, A. melanocephalus; N–P, A. melanostoma; Q, R, A. pseudosericans, new species; S, T, A. sericans. Scale bars = 0.5 mm (A–G, J, K), 0.1 mm (H, I, L–T).

Fig. 5. Right parameres in four different aspects. A–D, A. melanocephalus; E–H, A. pseudosericans, new species; I–L, A. sericans. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

Fig. 7. A–B, A. sericans. A, dorsal view; B, ventral view; C–D, A. continctus, lectotype. C, lateral view; D, dorsal view; E–F, Caenocoris dimidiatus, lectotype. E, dorsal view; F, labels. Scale bars = 5.0 mm.