Brachyplatys subaenus (Westwood, 1837)

Forero, Dimitri, 2021, Two newly introduced Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera) species in Colombia: Brachyplatys subaenus (Plataspidae) and Thaumastocoris peregrinus (Thaumastocoridae), Papéis Avulsos de Zoologia 61, pp. 1-7 : 2

Brachyplatys subaenus (Westwood, 1837) ( Fig. 1 )

Remarks: The highest diversity of Plataspidae is found in tropical and subtropical regions of the Eastern Hemisphere, with a few species widely distributed in the temperate Palearctic ( Schuh & Weirauch, 2020). The first species of Plataspidae recorded from the Western Hemisphere was Megacopta cribraria (Fabricius, 1798) , discovered in the USA in 2009 (Eger et al., 2010). This species is found from China (temperate and tropical) to tropical Asia and Australia, and it is associated mainly with kudzu Pueraria montana var. lobata (Willd.) Maesen & Almeida , and which has been considered recently a pest of soybeans Glycine max (L.) (Ruberson et al., 2013). A second plataspid found in the Western Hemisphere is B. subaenus , which was first discovered in Panama in 2012, being also the first record from the Neotropical region ( Aiello et al., 2016). This species was initially misidentified in Panama as B.vahlii (Fabricius,1787) but later correctly identified as B. subaenus by Rédei (2016). Rédei (2016) provided diagnostic characters that help identify this species and differentiate it from B. vahlii .

Plataspidae species feed primarily on legumes ( Schaefer, 1988), being B. subaenus no exception, which is known to feed on a variety of legumes species in its native range in Indomalaya,although other plant species in various families have also been recorded as host plants ( Rédei, 2016). In the Neotropical countries in which B. subaenus has been found, it has been recorded on the following Fabaceae host plants: the cultivated Cajanus cajan (L.) Mill sp., Glycine max , and Mucuna pruriens (L.) DC ( Aiello et al., 2016; Añino et al., 2018, 2020; Carmona-Ríos, 2019; Perez-Gelabert et al., 2019); the endemic and cultivated Phaseolus vulgaris L. (Perez-Gelabert et al., 2019), Gliricidia sepium (Jacq.) Kunth ex Walp. ( Añino et al., 2018; Carmona-Ríos, 2019); and the endemic Leptolobium panamense (Benth.) Sch.Rodr. & A.M.G.Azevedo ( Aiello et al., 2016) . It has also been found on the following non-Fabaceae host species: Bactris gasipaes Kunth , Schefflera actinophylla (Endl.) Harms ( Aiello et al., 2016) , and Zea mays L. ( Añino et al., 2020). In Colombia, B. subaenus has no recorded host plant species.

Distribution: Known in the Neotropical region from Costa Rica ( Carmona-Ríos, 2019), Panama ( Añino et al., 2018), Dominican Republic (Perez-Gelabert et al., 2019), Guadeloupe ( Anonymous, 2020), and Ecuador ( Añino et al., 2020). Additional localities can be found on iNaturalist (http://www.inaturalist.org) for some of these countries. Newly recorded from Colombia from two localities, in Cali (Valle del Cauca) and Isla Grande (Bolívar).

Examined material: COLOMBIA. Valle del Cauca, 1 female, Cali, calle 5 con carrera 39, 03.4265°N, 76.5454°W, 974 m, 11 Abr 2019, D. Forero, dentro de edificio, en vuelo [within building, flying], MPUJ_ENT0063186 (MPUJ_ENT).

iNaturalist observations: COLOMBIA. Bolívar, 1 adult, sex not determined, Isla Grande , 10.1807°N, 75.7249°W, 16 Mar 2019, C.M. Rangel, https://www.inaturalist.org/ observations/21342531 . Valle del Cauca, 1 adult, sex not determined, Cali, Villa Fatima , 03.3519°N, 76.5097°W, 02 Jan 2021, L. Rubio, https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/68191884 ; nymphs, Cali, Mariposario Andoke, km 6, Parcelación La Reforma ,vía a Cristo Rey , 03.4261°N, 76.5719°W, 01 May 2021, https://www.inaturalist.org/ observations/76232278 .

Figures

Figure 1. Brachyplatys subaenus, female specimen from Cali (Valle del Cauca,Colombia) [MPUJ_ENT0063186]. (A) Dorsal view; (B) ventral view; (C) lateral view; (D) detail of scent gland apparatus in ventral view.