Coridius subhimalayensis Pal & Lis & Dash & Subba & Rider 2025, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Pal, Amartya
name: Lis, Jerzy A.
name: Dash, Swetapadma
name: Subba, Abhisekh
name: Rider, David A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Dinidoridae
Coridius
Coridius subhimalayensis

description: Coridius subhimalayensis (Strickland, 1932) comb. nov. (Figs. 1, 2)
Cyclopelta subhimalayensis Strickland, 1932: 875.
Type locality: INDIA: Assam: Sadiya.
Type material examined: Lectotype male of Cyclopelta subhimalayensis Strickland, 1932 (Fig. 1A, B), here designated with the following label data— India, Assam, Sadiya, Cyclopelta subhimalayensis Strickland, C. Strickland det. (NZC of ZSI). Paralectotype female of Cyclopelta subhimalayensis Strickland, 1932 (Fig. 2A, B), here designated with the following label data— India, Assam, Sadiya, Cyclopelta subhimalayensis Strickland, C. Strickland det (NZC of ZSI).
Other material examined: INDIA: Arunachal Pradesh: Anjaw district, side of Lohit River near GREF, Hayullang, 28.0646° N, 96.568608° E, 1♀, 24.xi.2022, coll. Gurumayum, S.D. and party (NZC of ZSI).
Redescription
Colouration. Colour uniformly dark brown (Figs. 1A, 2A); head, anterior disk and lateral margins of pronotum black; first three segments of antennae black, segment IV brownish (Fig. 1E); rostrum dark brown with black tip (Fig. 2D).
Head (Figs. 2F, G). Mandibular plates not meeting in front of clypeus (Figs. 2F, G), with a thin linear space between them, apex of head rounded, lateral margins sinuate. Antennae four-segmented with fine hairs, segment II longest, segment III longer than IV, segment I shortest; segment II with a prominent longitudinal groove (Fig. 1E); rostrum short, four-segmented, apex surpassing forecoxae, not reaching mesocoxae (Figs. 2D); eyes slightly pedunculate; ocelli somewhat oval in shape, distance between ocelli larger than distance from ocellus to the eye.
Pronotum (1A, 2A). Pronotal surface ridged, densely punctured, not smooth; a subtriangular pronotal callus present anteriorly on each side of the pronotum.
Scutellum (1A, 2A). Short, reaching only the middle of abdomen; uniformly coloured, darker than posterior disk of the pronotum, densely punctured; apex of scutellum rounded apically.
Hemelytra (1A, 2A). Clavi narrowly triangular. Each corium roughly triangular, with the outer margin narrowly convex, inner margin narrowly sinuate, slightly surpassing the apex of scutellum. Membranes translucent, bearing 10–11 prominent, simple veins on the distal part, reticulate veins present on the proximal part.
Abdomen (Figs. 1B, 2B). Darker on lateral margins, paler medially; connexivum dark brown without patches along intersegments; a pair of trichobothria present posterior to each spiracle.
Legs (Figs. 1D, 2E). Uniformly reddish-brown; femora with one longitudinal row of minute spines on the inner surface; two longitudinal rows of spines on each tibia (Fig. 1D), posterior tibiae in female specimens slightly dilated near the middle (Fig. 2E); tarsi three-segmented.
Male genitalia (Figs. 1F– H). Pygophore (Figs. 1F, G). Dorsal rim broadly excavated, slightly convex medially, apical ventral margin of pygophore prominently curved and rounded. Paramere (Fig. 1H). Paramere medially broad, nearly semi-circular, outer margin (outer lobe) prominently curved and rounded with a minutely protruding outward extension at the basal margin, more or less pointed apically, fringed with setae, with a longitudinal groove along the middle portion.
Measurements (in mm).
Lectotype male (n=1) Body length: 23.00 mm; Head: length 2.62, width (across eyes) 4.51, interocular width 2.44; lengths of antennal segments: I—0.74, II—4.73, III—4.03, IV—3.73; lengths of segments of rostrum: I—1.62, II—1.89, III—1.08, IV—1.02; pronotum: length 7.62, width: 14.68; scutellum: length 8.65, width (at basal angles) 8.56. Non-type and Paralectotype female (n=2) Body length: 24.00–25.00 mm; Head: length 2.63–2.65, width (across eyes) 3.97–4.53, interocular width 2.34–2.46; lengths of antennal segments: I—0.72–0.78, II—4.23–4.70, III—3.74–3.95, IV—2.99–3.71; lengths of segments of rostrum: I—1.65–1.86, II—1.42–1.85, III—1.05–1.12, IV—0.86–1.02; pronotum: length 7.39– 7.65, width: 13.87–14.61; scutellum: length 8.03–8.68, width (at basal angles) 8.07–8.60.
Distribution (Fig. 3). India: Assam (Sadiya) (Strickland, 1932), Arunachal Pradesh (Anjaw) (New record).
Remarks. The transfer from Cyclopelta to Coridius is based on the study of the type specimens. The original description (Strickland, 1932) was based on external morphological characteristics; but our study of male genitalia supports the new placement of this species under the genus Coridius.
Until now, the genus Coridius comprised 40 valid species and one subspecies worldwide (J.A. Lis, 1990; Rolston et al., 1996; B. Lis, 1996; Ahmad et al., 1997; Kocorek, 2003; Boyane et al., 2024), with 13 species recorded from India (J.A. Lis, 1990; Rolston et al., 1996; Boyane et al., 2024). The present study deals with the species Cyclopelta subhimalayensis Strickland, 1932 which was categorized as nomen dubium by Durai (1987) in her revisionary work of the Dinidoridae of the world. In this research, we confirm the rediscovery of the type specimen of Cyclopelta subhimalayensis Strickland, 1932 and also propose the new placement of the species subhimalayensis under the genus Coridius based on external morphological characteristics of the type specimen and the study of male genitalia. According to Durai (1987), species of the genus Coridius usually have five-segmented antennae, but interestingly, a recent study (Boyane et al., 2024) and our present research reveal that among all existing Coridius species, there are two, C. insperatus Boyane, Ghate & Priyadarsanan, 2024 and C. subhimalayensis (Strickland, 1932) comb. nov. exhibit four-segmented antennae.
With the transfer of the species subhimalayensis to the genus Coridius, the total number of valid Coridius species has risen to 41, along with one subspecies.
description: Published as part of Pal, Amartya, Lis, Jerzy A., Dash, Swetapadma, Subba, Abhisekh & Rider, David A., 2025, A new combination in Coridius Illiger, 1807 (Hemiptera: Pentatomoidea: Dinidoridae), rediscovery of the type specimen and solving of a nomen dubium, pp. 289-294 in Zootaxa 5618 (2) on pages 290-293, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5618.2.9, http://zenodo.org/record/15217925