Taxonomical notes on Oriental and Pacific jewel bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Scutelleridae)

Abstract

Taxonomical problems of various species of Oriental and Pacific jewel bugs are discussed. The identities of problematic species are clarified and their diagnostic characters are presented and illustrated. Coleotichus borealis Distant, 1899, erroneously synonymized with C. excellens Walker, 1867; and Brachyaulax cyaneovitta (Walker, 1867), erroneously synonymized with B. oblonga (Westwood, 1837) by previous authors, are recognized as distinct species. The following new synonymies are proposed: Poecilocoris lewisi (Distant, 1883) = P. separabilis Yang, 1934, syn. n.; P. rufigenis Dallas, 1851 = P. capitatus Yang, 1934, syn. n.; P. druraei (Linnaeus, 1771) = P. heissi Ahmad & Kamaluddin, 1982, syn. n.; Cantao ocellatus (Thunberg, 1784) = C. pakistanensis Ahmad & Kamaluddin, 1996, syn. n. Lectotypes are designated for Tectocoris (now Brachyaulax) oblonga, P. capitatus, P. separabilis, Poecilocoris lewisi var. peipingensis Yang, 1934, and Callidea (now Lamprocoris) obtusa Westwood, 1837. A neotype is designated for Scutellera (now Lamprocoris) lateralis Guérin-Méneville, 1838. As a consequence of the neotype designation, Lamprocoris lateralis will become a junior objective synonym of L. obtusus. Reversion to the senior name L. obtusus is considered to be undesirable, therefore, in order to preserve stability, no nomenclatural changes are proposed in this paper, but an application has been submitted to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature to suppress L. obtusus.