Pachycoris torridus var. laetissimus 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
Pachycoris
Pachycoris torridus
Pachycoris torridus (scopoli, 1772) var. laetissimus breddin, 1906

description: Pachycoris torridus (Scopoli, 1772) var. laetissimus Breddin, 1906
P. torridus (Scopoli, 1772) var. moestissimus Breddin, 1906
Pachycoris torridus var. laetissima Breddin, 1906: 191. Syntype (s): “von Paraguay bis Columbien” [= from Paraguay to Colombia]; depository not stated.
Pachycoris torridus var. moestissima Breddin, 1906: 191. Syntype (s): Brasilien [= Brazil]: S[an]ta Catharina; coll. Breddin.
Pachycoris klugii [in error] var. laetissima: Kirkaldy 1909: 286 (catalogue).
Pachycoris klugii [in error] var. moestissima: Kirkaldy 1909: 286 (catalogue).
Type material examined. Pachycoris torridus var. laetissimus Breddin, 1906. Lectotype (present designation): ♀, [a small dark red square without text], “ Brasilien \ Espiritu Santo” [hw, with double pr frame], “coll. \ Breddin”, “H. Lehmann rev.”, “ Pachycoris \ torridus \ Scop” [Breddin’s hw, with hw frame]. Pinned, segments III–IV of left antenna lacking; deposited in SDEI (Figs. 7–9).
Pachycoris torridus var. moestissimus Breddin, 1906. Lectotype (present designation): ♀, [a small dark red square without text], “St. Catharina ” [hw], “coll. \ Breddin”. Pinned, both antennae, left fore tarsus, segments II–III of right fore tarsus, and left hind leg lacking; deposited in SDEI (Figs. 10–12).
Discussion. Two varieties of P. torridus were described by Breddin (1906). Both names were proposed with incorrect gender ending; since they are combined with the masculine generic name Pachycoris Burmeister, 1835, their gender ending is hereby changed to masculine following ICZN (1999, Article 34.2). Both names are available and deemed to be of subspecific rank according to ICZN (1999, Articles 10.2, 45.6.4). The depository of its type material has remained unknown so far. For Pachycoris torridus var. moestissimus, proposed for an uniformly black form lacking dorsal markings, a type locality (“Sta. Catharina ” = Santa Catarina state of South Brazil) was given. A single specimen from the same locality was located among unidentified specimens originating from Breddin’s collection deposited in the SDEI and designated as lectotype. No type locality was specified for P. torridus var. laetissimus, an uniformly “rusty yellow” (“rostgelb”) form with black markings at anterior and lateral margins and cicatrices of pronotum; Breddin (1906) stated that it was distributed in South America from Paraguay to Colombia, but he did not have specimens from Central America. From among the 80 specimens of P. torridus found in Breddin’s collection we selected for lectotype the one that fits the original description the best.
These varieties have not been treated subsequently by any authors except Kirkaldy (1909) who placed them as varieties of P. klugii Burmeister, 1835. The distribution of P. klugii is restricted to Mexico and, to a limited degree, some countries south of Mexico in Central America. Because the two varieties were described from South America, Kirkaldy’s (1909) action was clearly in error.
Pachycoris torridus is a highly polychromatic species; the lectotypes of both varieties are conspecific with P. torridus and do not merit recognition even at subspecies level, therefore we recognize them as new junior subjective synonyms of P. torridus. A photo of another common variety and a brief review of the bionomics of this species were provided by Eger et al. (2015).
Current status. New junior subjective synonyms of Pachycoris torridus (Scopoli, 1772).
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 page 555, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4132.4.6, http://zenodo.org/record/264945