Coptochilus Amyot & Serville, 1843

Schmitz, Luís Ricardo, Barcellos, Aline & Eger, Joseph, 2020, Revision of Coptochilus (Heteroptera, Scutelleridae, Pachycorinae), Iheringia, Série Zoologia (e 2020021) 110, pp. 1-16 : 2-3

Coptochilus Amyot & Serville, 1843

Coptochilus AMYOT & SERVILLE, 1843 :XVII, 47 (key, description); DALLAS, 1864:576; STÅL, 1864:47 (description); 1867:491 (keyed); WALKER, 1867:53 (catalog); MAYR, 1868:15 (key); STÅL, 1870:9 (catalog); BERG, 1879:26 (synonymy, distribution – Argentina); LETHIERRY & SEVERIN, 1893:33 (catalog); HANDLIRSCH, 1900:131 (stridulation); SCHOUTEDEN, 1904:44–46 (key, description); KIRKALDY, 1903:230 (type); 1909:283 (catalog, synonymy); WEBER, 1930:75 (stridulation); BECKER & GRAZIA-VIEIRA, 1977:66; GRAZIA & SCHWERTNER, 2011:12; EGER et al., 2015:783 (key); COSCARÓN, 2017:326–327 (distribution - Argentina); WEILER et al., 2017:30–31, 35 (external scent efferent system).

Type species: Coptochilus ferrugineus Amyot & Serville, 1843 , by monotypy (see KIRKALDY, 1903:230).

General shape and color ( Figs 1–15). Body oval and somewhat rectangular, length 6.35–9.0 mm. Color variable, usually shades of yellow or red with darker markings; thin impunctate line usually present mesially on pronotum and scutellum. Pronotum and scutellum forming an evenly convex profile, in lateral view. Ventral and dorsal surfaces regularly punctuate, except mesially on venter. Males are usually darker ventrally than females.

Head subquadrangular, mandibular plates concave dorsally, elevated laterally and anteriorly, surpassing to slightly shorter than clypeus ( Figs 16–30). Rostrum reaching or slightly surpassing metacoxae, segment II longer than III and IV together, segment I, almost the same size as segment II ( Figs 2, 5, 11,14). Antennal segment I longer than segment II; segment III 1.5x longer than segment II; segments IV and V subequal in length, fusiform and flattened, each one about twice as long as III; segments I-II cylindrical and III slightly flattened; segments III-V setose ( Fig. 14).

Thorax. Pronotum almost twice as wide as it is long. Humeri not or slightly produced. Cicatrices slightly elevated and partially impunctate. Anterior margin of pronotum slightly sinuous, shallowly concave mesially. Anterolateral margins straight or slightly convex or concave. Posterolateral margins sinuous; posterior margin rectilinear ( Figs 1, 4, 7, 10, 13). Scutellum extending to the end of the abdomen in males, sometimes almost reaching the end of the abdomen in females; small fovea present, usually black. Coria exposed, reaching onto abdominal segment VI. Ostiole of metathoracic scent gland closer to metacoxa than to the lateral margin of metapleura. Ostiolar peritreme short, spout-like, directed laterally ( WEILER et al., 2017). Sterna shallowly concave, prosternum more concave than meso- and metasternum, metasternum almost flat. Tibiae and ventral surface of femora with fine setae; coxae, trochanters, and basal half of femora usually lighter than the remaining leg segments, all segments uniformly light yellow in C. morrisi .

Abdomen ( Figs 2, 5, 8, 11, 14). Posterolateral angles of sternites III–VI projected into small spines. Spiracles and trichobothria separated by a transverse depression on segments IV–VI, which is vestigial on VII. Sternite VII usually at least twice longer than VI mesially, almost twice longer in males of C. morrisi . Spiracles slightly darker than the surrounding surface, except in C. ferrugineus ( Fig. 5) and C. morrisi ( Fig. 11), in which they are hardly distinguishable from punctations.

Male genitalia ( Figs 31–68). Pygophore globose, genital cup broadly open, dorsal and ventral rim both slightly concave, sinuous or subrectilinear ( Figs. 31–45), apical third of ventral surface depressed ( Fig. 76), proctiger rounded, poorly sclerotized. Parameres (pr) hook-like, apex turned laterad ( Figs 46–50). Phallus ( Figs 54–68). Basal plate poorly sclerotized, U-shaped; phallotheca barrel-shaped, mostly transparent, and poorly sclerotized; conjunctiva with three pairs of sclerotized processes. Conjunctival processes II and III (cpII, cpIII, respectively) mostly sclerotized except in C. neotropicalis ( Figs 66–68); conjunctival processes III smaller than conjunctival processes II and the most lateral, even in expanded aedeagus, conjunctival processes II located laterally to aedeagus sensu stricto (aed = vesica). Conjunctival processes I (cpI) positioned behind aedeagus sensu stricto (vesica), wrinkled, entirely or mostly membranous, can be branched. Aedeagus sensu stricto large and subtrapezoidal, sclerotized except on apex, ventral margin of apex concave. When the phallus is expanded, the dorsal part of conjunctival process I, if present, is projected dorsally and the vesica ventrally ( Figs 51–53).

Female genitalia ( Figs 69–73). Valvifers VIII (vf8) subtriangular, sutural lines entirely or partially contiguous. Laterotergites VIII (lt8) subtriangular, spiracles not found, anterior margin of laterotergites IX (lt9) angled or convex, sutural lines parallel or subparallel. Tergite VIII not visible in ventral view. Valvifers IX (vf9) visible, mostly covered by the vf8. Gynatrium ( Figs 74, 75): fecundation canal (fec) proximally “T” shaped, distally cylindrical and sclerotized, hidden dorsally by a posteromedial pounch (pmgp) boneshaped. Spermathecal dilation (sd) elongate coming out of the distal part of the fecundation canal; distal ductus (dd) long, tapering until the proximal flange; proximal flange well developed; distal flange poorly developed, inconspicuous; apical receptacle (ar) irregularly cylindrical ( Fig. 77), reniform ( Fig. 78) or subrectangular ( Fig. 79), always longer than intermediate part (ip).

Distribution ( Fig. 80). Mexico (new record), Costa Rica (new record), Panama (new record), Colombia, French Guiana, Ecuador, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina.

Comments. Coptochilus is distinguished from other genera of Pachycorinae by the dorsally concave head, with lateral margins of mandibular plates elevated ( EGER et al., 2015). The genus is restricted to the Neotropical region, and most of the species are related to one or two dominions proposed by MORRONE (2013). Coptochilus castaneus is the most broadly distributed, ranging from Mexico to Bolivia.

Key to the species of Coptochilus

1. General color yellowish castaneous, with scattered black spots or darker longitudinal stripes on pronotum and scutellum ( Figs 7, 10, 13).......................2

1’. General color dark reddish, black spots absent, darker longitudinal stripes, if present, confined to pronotum ( Fig. 1).....................................4

2. Longitudinal stripes distributed on pronotum and scutellum ( Figs 10, 13), anterior margin of laterotergites IX straight or almost straight ( Figs 72, 73; lt9)...............3

2’. Circular spots distributed irregularly on pronotum and scutellum ( Fig. 7), anterior margin of laterotergites IX angled ( Fig. 71: lt9); widely distributed in Brazil with some records from French Guiana, Argentina, and Paraguay ( Fig. 80)................ C. lentiginosus

3. Mandibular plates longer than clypeus, converging apically, apices separated by less than width of second antennal segment ( Fig. 25); conjunctival processes II acute; conjunctival processes-III well sclerotized, angled near base, apex rounded ( Fig. 63); recorded only in French Guiana ( Fig. 80)............... C. morrisi sp. nov.

3’. Mandibular plates subequal to clypeus, apices not converging over apex of clypeus ( Fig. 28); conjunctival processes II broad, apices rounded; conjunctival processesIII poorly sclerotized with apex acute ( Fig. 66); distributed in Amazon Biome (South Brazilian Dominion sensu Morrone, 2013) ( Fig. 80)........... C. neotropicalis

4. Pronotum yellow to red, elongate macule along each lateral margin, impunctate ( Fig. 1); abdominal sternite VII more than three times longer medially than VI in females, venter mostly yellowish to dark red, with darker areas on intersegments and small transverse bands laterally, posteriorly to spiracles ( Fig. 2); distributed from Mexico to Bolivia (Mesoamerican Dominion and Pacific Dominion sensu stricto) ( Fig. 80)............... C. castaneus

4’. Pronotum uniformly punctate, with some darker, vague longitudinal stripes ( Fig. 4); abdominal sternite VII less than three times longer medially than VI in females, venter also reddish, darker laterally ( Fig. 5); distribution restricted to Atlantic rainforest (Paraná Dominion sensu stricto) ( Fig. 80)................... C. ferrugineus