Taxonomic catalogue of the family Ochteridae with description of Ochterus papaceki sp. nov. from Socotra Island and Tanzania (Hemiptera: Heteroptera)

• Published in: Acta entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae Vol. 60; no. 1; pp. 23 - 64
• Main Authors: Kment, Petr, Carapezza, Attilio, Jindra, Zdeněk
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Prague Narodni Muzeum 01.01.2020
• Subjects: Amber; Biodiversity; Fossils; Genera; Geographical distribution; Hemiptera; Heteroptera; Lectotypes; New combinations; New records; New species; Ochteridae; Ochterus; Ochterus barberi; Ochterus perbosci; Taxonomic revision; Australia; Socotra; China; Sudan; Tanzania
• ISSN: 1804-6487; 0374-1036; 0374-1036; 1804-6487
• DOI: 10.37520/aemnp.2020.003

The world catalogue of the family Ochteridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Nepomorpha: Ochteroidea) is compiled. The fossil subfamily Propreocorinae Popov, Dolling & Whalley, 1994, recently excluded from Ochteridae by other authors, is formally raised to family rank as Propreocoridae stat. nov. The fossil genus Meropachys Popov, 1986 is found to be a junior homonym of Meropachys Burmeister, 1835 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Coreidae) and is replaced by a new substitute name, Yuripachys nom. nov., resulting in one new combination: Yuripachys dubius (Popov, 1986) comb. nov. Neochterus Mahner, 1993 (originally proposed as subgenus of Ochterus Latreille, 1807) is considered an unavailable name. Ochterus papaceki Kment & Carapezza sp. nov. is described and illustrated as a new species from the island of Socotra (Yemen) and Tanzania. Gender agreement in Ochterus paucistriata Baehr, 1990 is corrected to O. paucistriatus Baehr, 1990. The name Ochterus perbosci (Guérin-Méneville, 1843), an incorrect subsequent spelling of O. perboscii in prevailing usage, is fixed according to Article 33.3.1 of the ICZN (1999). The spelling of Angulochterus quadrimaculatus Yao, Zhang & Ren, 2011 is corrected according to Article 32.5.1 of ICZN (1999). The original publication of Ochterus barberi Schell, 1943, O. bidentatus Schell, 1943, O. hungerfordi Schell, 1943, and O. parvus Schell, 1943 is clarified. The name bearing types of Ochterus barberi, O. bidentatus, O. hungerfordi, O. parvus, O. perbosci, and Pelogonus splendidulus Montandon, 1898 (= Ocyochterus victor (Bolívar, 1879)) are considered as lectotypes. The family Ochteridae currently includes 3 recent genera and 88 described species group taxa (84 species and 4 subspecies): Megochterus Jaczewski, 1934 (2 species from Australia), Ochterus (80 species and 4 subspecies distributed worldwide), and Ocyochterus Drake & Gómez-Menor, 1954 (2 species from NW South America). The fossil record of Ochteridae currently includes 4 genera and 5 species: Angulochterus Yao, Zhang & Ren, 2011 (1 species from Early Cretaceous of China), Floricaudus Yao, Ren & Shih, 2011 (1 species from Early Cretaceous of China), Pristinochterus Yao, Cai & Ren, 2007 (2 species from Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous of China), and Riegerochterus Popov & Heiss, 2014 (1 species from Miocene Dominican amber). In addition the fossil genus Yuripachys (1 species from Early Creatceous of Mongolia) is classified as Ochteridae incertae sedis, Propreocoris Popov, Dolling & Whalley, 1994 (1 species from Early Jurassic of England) as common ancestor of Ochteridae and Gelastocoridae in its own family Propreocoridae, and Grimaldinia Popov & Heiss, 2014 (1 species from Burmese Amber) and Heterochterus Evans, 1971 (1 species based on an isolated wing, Late Triassic of Australia) as Ochteroidea incertae sedis. The following new records are provided: Ochterus aeneifrons surinamensis Nieser, 1975 (Colombia), O. caffer (Stål, 1855) (Mozambique, Sudan), O. feae (Laos, Thailand), O. marginatus marginatus (Latreille, 1804) (China: Anhui, Shaanxi; Central African Republic; India: Rajasthan; Oman; Sudan), and O. nicobarensis Chandra & Jehamalar, 2012 (Myanmar). The distribution of all species is reviewed and the zoogeographic patterns and biodiversity of Ochteridae are discussed.