Polytes speculiger Breddin 1906
Creators: name: Rédei, Dávid
name: Tsai, Jing-Fu
name: Eger, Joseph E.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Scutelleridae
Polytes
Polytes speculiger

description: Polytes speculiger Breddin, 1914
(Figs. 13–18)
Polytes speculiger Breddin, 1914: 53. Syntypes: ♂, Peru (Amazonas); depository not stated. Polytes quechuus Eger, 1990: 137. Holotype: ♂, Peru: Machu Picchu; BMNH. Synonymized by Eger (1994: 377). Confirmed subjective synonym.
Polytes speculiger: Eger 1990: 377 (type material), Eger 2015: 4 (in key), Eger et al. 2015: 765 (distribution).
Type material examined. Lectotype (present designation): ♂, “ Peru \ Amazonas” [hw], “coll. \ Breddin”. Pinned, segment IV of left antenna lacking; deposited in SDEI (Figs. 13–15). Paralectotype: ♂, “ Peru \ Amazonas” [hw], “coll. \ Breddin”, “H. Lehmann rev.”, “ Paralectotypus ” [red], “des. \ H. Gaedike \ 1968” [hw], “D E I \ EBERSWALDE”, “ PARATYPE [pr] \ Polytes \ quechuus \ Eger [hw]” [yellow, with pr black frame]. Pinned, segments III–IV of left antenna, segments II–III of right fore tarsus, left mid tarsus lacking; deposited in SDEI (Figs. 16–18).
Discussion. Polytes fenestra Breddin, 1903 was described based on an unspecified number of male(s) and female(s) from Peru (Breddin 1903b). Polytes speculiger Breddin, 1914 was described from Peru (Amazonas) based on at least two males representing two different varieties not provided with available names but referred to as “var. a” and “var. b” (Breddin 1914).
Gaedike (1971) fixed the identity of P. fenestra by designating a specimen from Marcapata as the lectotype, and listed a paralectotype from Amazonas and two paralectotypes from Huancabamba, all Peru. Eger (1990) pointed out that neither of the paralectotypes is conspecific with the lectotype, and he designated the one from Amazonas as a paratype of P. quechuus Eger, 1990. Eger (1990) also claimed that the latter specimen contradicts the original description therefore it is probably not part of the original type series of P. fenes tra. Later Eger (1994) recognized P. quechuus as a junior subjective synonym of P. speculiger.
The type material of P. speculiger has remained unlocated so far. A thorough search in Breddin’s collection deposited in SDEI revealed a male from the type locality of P. s p ec u l i ge r, bearing no identification label but fitting the description of “var. a” of P. s p ec u l i ge r; the specimen is selected as lectotype of this species. This specimen was not listed by Gaedike (1971) and not studied by Eger (1990, 1994). The paratype of P. quechuus deposited in the DEIC, discussed above, perfectly fitting the description of P. speculiger “var. b” and bearing a locality label identical to that of the lectotype, is recognized as part of the original syntype series of P. speculiger as well. Although the possibility cannot be excluded, there is no positive indication that this specimen was part of the original syntype of P. fenestra, therefore it was probably wrongly recognized as syntype and wrongly labelled as paralectotype of the latter species by Gaedike (1971). The subjective synonymy of P. s p e cu l i g er and P. quechuus proposed by Eger (1994) is confirmed now based on the examination of the newly discovered type material of P. speculiger.
Polytes speculiger is readily recognizable based on the pair of unpunctured, yellow lateral patches of the pronotum; Eger (1990) provided a detailed description and illustrations of the male genitalia under the name P. quechuus.
Current status. Polytes speculiger Breddin, 1914, valid species.
description: Published as part of Rédei, Dávid, Tsai, Jing-Fu & Eger, Joseph E., 2016, Lectotype designations and taxonomic corrections on Neotropical Scutelleridae described by G. Breddin (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), pp. 551-558 in Zootaxa 4132 (4) on pages 555-557, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4132.4.6, http://zenodo.org/record/264945