The Pelocoris (Hemiptera: Naucoridae) fauna of Texas. (1995)

Pelocoris has been thought to be represented in Texas predominantly by a single species, P. femoratus, with an enigmatic Montandon record of P. biimpressus from North America (probably Texas) in 1898. Herein, we clarify the presence of P. biimpressus, add P. carolinensis to the list, and provide a distribution map and illustrations to distinguish the three species. RESUMEN-Se ha pensado que el genero Pelocoris esta representado en Texas predominantemente por una sola especie, P. femoratus, con un inico registro de P. biimpressus en Norte America (posiblemente en Texas) por Montandon en 1898. En este articulo clarificamos la presencia de P. biimpressus, registramos ademas P. carolinensis y proporcionamos un mapa de la distribuci6n de las tres especies e ilustraciones para diferenciarlas. Presently, the genus Pelocoris is represented in the United States by three described species. Pelocoris femoratus (Palisot de Beauvois) is reported to range from Canada south to Uruguay (Polhemus and Polhemus, 1988), although records outside the United States probably pertain to other species. In the United States and Canada, it is widespread across the east, ranging from Ontario south to Florida and Texas (Polhemus and Polhemus, 1988). Pelocoris carolinensis Torre Bueno is sympatric with P. femoratus, but has a more restricted range, having been recorded from North Carolina to Florida (La Rivers, 1948) and across the gulf coast states to Louisiana (Penn, 1951). Pelocoris shoshone La Rivers was known from southern California, Nevada, and northwestern Mexico and recently has been synonymized with P. biimpressus Montandon with retention of both subspecies (Polhemus and Sites, 1995). As such, P. biimpressus occupies a range that extends from California and Nevada, south through western Mexico to Guatemala, and north through eastern Mexico to Texas and Louisiana (Polhemus and Sites, 1995). The Pelocoris fauna of Texas has long been assumed to be predominantly P. femoratus, although Millspaugh (1939) reported collecting two species without providing specific determinations. Further, Millspaugh (1939) reported that Pelocoris was not known from Texas prior to his account. A record of P. biimpressus from North America (north of Mexico) in the literature (Van Duzee, 1916, 1917) has been an enigma because no other specimens have been recorded from the U.S. since that report. The Van Duzee records apparently refer to the Montandon (1898) description of P. biimpressus in which Montandon reported examining specimens from all of North America (toute l'Amerique du Nord). Moreover, a specimen from Victoria, Texas, determined by Montandon in 1909, is housed in the USNM. Herein, we report the widespread presence in Texas of both P. biimpressus and P. femoratus, as well as the occurrence of P. carolinensis. In addition, a Texas distribution map and characteristics to distinguish the three described species of Pelocoris in the U.S. are presented. ANNOTATED LIST OF SPECIES-The following list includes diagnostic features for distinguishing these species only from one another, rather than from other Texas naucorids or from other species of Pelocoris. Distributions are given primarily for Texas localities, although additional localities beyond Texas boundaries representing significant range information also are given. The distribuTHE SOUTHWESTERN NATURALIST 40(3):249-254 SEPTEMBER 1995 This content downloaded from 207.46.13.18 on Fri, 13 May 2016 07:37:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms The Southwestern Naturalist FIG. 1-Ventral abdominal segments of female a) Pelocoris b. biimpressus, b) P. carolinensis, c) P. f. fe-