Pselliopus punctipes Amyot and Serville 1843
Creators: name: Forero, Dimitri
name: Mejía-Soto, Andrés
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Reduviidae
Pselliopus
Pselliopus punctipes

description: Pselliopus punctipes Amyot and Serville, 1843
Fig. 9B
Distribution: Pselliopus punctipes Amyot & Serville, 1843 has been recorded from Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, French Guiana, and Suriname (Brailovsky et al. 2007; Champion 1899; Maldonado 1990; Stål 1862). This species represents a new generic and species record from Colombia.
Remarks: Pselliopus punctipes is easy to recognize because of the irregular dark bands on the legs, the spined humeral angles, the shortly tuberculate posterior pronotal lobe, and the few long spines on the anterior pronotal lobe (Champion 1899). Finding this species in Colombia fills the gap between Panama and other areas in northern South America.
There is some variation in the color pattern of this species. The head ranges from dorsally being nearly entirely black to just having a few longitudinal spots on its posterior lobe and adjacent to the ocelli. Similarly, the extension of the dark area adjacent to the base of the spine at the humeral angles of the pronotum is variable. It ranges from nearly covering the entire posterior half of the posterior lobe to being restricted to the base of the humeral spines. The dark area does not extend into the posterior recurved flange of the posterior margin of the pronotum. The disc of the posterior lobe has a few medium-sized setae whose bases are always black.
Examined material: COLOMBIA. Chocó: 1♂, Rio Sucio, La Balsa, 7°2ˊ26˝N, 77°20ˊ16˝W, 50–80 m, F. Fernandez / ICN037902 (ICN); Casanare: 1 ♀, Tauramena, Kiosco Verde, ~ 2.5 km SW de Tauramena, 526 m, 5.00385°N 72.77376°W, 25–29.viii.2014, D. Forero (MPUJ _ENT); 1 ♂, Trinidad, reserva natural La Palmita, 05.4202°N 71.5997°W, 182 m, 18–23.viii.2019, J. Ariza, R. García / flooded gallery forest / MPUJ_ENT0069978 (MPUJ _ENT); Córdoba: 1 ♀, Los Córdobas, la Salada, platanal [= banana plantation], manual collecting, vi.2005, C. Fernández / MPUJ_ENT0011097 (MPUJ _ENT); 1 ♀, Pto. Libertador CCSA, rastrojo [= scrub vegetation], insect net, 30.i.2006, H. G. Pertúz / MPUJ_ENT0011096 (MPUJ _ENT). Cundinamarca: 1 ♀, Guayabetal, 4.22777°N 73.81638°W, 1200 m, 1.vi.1969, A. Uribe / UCR_ENT00045995 (UNAB); 1 adult sex not determined (abdomen missing), La Mesa, 2.ix.1991, B. B. / ICN028123 (ICN); 1 ♂, La Vega, 4.99083°N 74.33972°W, 1230 m, 14.ix.1996, C. Salas / UCR_ENT 00045993 (UNAB); Santander: 1 ♂, Suaita, Hacienda Santa Barbara, 6.10000°N 73.43333°W, 1550 m, Y. Sossa & R. Garzon / UCR_ENT 00045994 (UNAB); Tolima: 1 ♂, El Guamo, 20.vi.1976, A. Bernal / ICN028122 (ICN); Valle del Cauca: 1 ♂, Buenaventura, Bajo Calima, centro forestal UT [universidad del Tolima], 70m, entomological net, 21.iii.1995 / MPUJ_ENT0011102 (MPUJ _ENT).
description: Published as part of Forero, Dimitri & Mejía-Soto, Andrés, 2025, Filling in the gaps for assassin bugs: taxonomic notes and new records of Reduviidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from Neotropical countries, pp. 451-481 in Zootaxa 5584 (4) on page 466, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5584.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/14853500