First record of the genus Terenocoris (Heteroptera: Rhyparochromidae: Antillocorini) from Argentina and Bolivia

Primera cita del género Terenocoris (Heteroptera: Rhyparochromidae: Antillocorini) para la Argentina y Bolivia

Dellapé, Pablo Matías¹ and Germán Cheli²

¹División Entomología, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata , Paseo del Bosque s/n. 1900 La Plata , Argentina; e-mail: pdellape@fcnym.unlp.edu.ar
²Centro Nacional Patagónico (CENPAT) CONICET, Bvd. Brown 3600, Puerto Madryn. 9120, Chubut, Argentina; e-mail: cheli@cenpat.edu.ar

ABSTRACT . Terenocoris nitidus Slater is recorded for the first time from Argentina and Bolivia. The first record of Patagonia is the southernmost of the tribe Antillocorini.

KEY WORDS . South America. First record. Heteroptera. Rhyparochromidae. Antillocorini.

RESUMEN . Se cita Terenocoris nitidus Slater por primera vez para la Argentina y Bolivia. El registro de Patagonia es el más austral para un miembro de la tribu Antillocorini.

PALABRAS CLAVE . América del Sur. Primera cita. Heteroptera. Rhyparochromidae. Antillocorini.

The Antillocorini are primarily tropical and subtropical small rhyparochromids bugs (Schuh & Slater, 1995) . Currently, only two species have been recorded in Argentina: Paradema longisetosa Slater and Paurocoris wygodzinsky Slater, both from Tucuman province.
One of the Antillocorini genus, Terenocoris Slater is monotypic and very distinct and isolated from the other known Neotropical genera of the tribe (Slater, 1980). The strongly polished surface, impunctate head and pronotum, heavy multispined fore femora, large confluent convex calli, and reduced evaporative area are diagnostic characters used for its recognition. The only former records of T. nitidus Slater correspond to the Peruvian localities referred in the original description: the type locality Cerro de Pasco and Tingo Maria to one of its paratypes.
Two specimens of T . nitidus , one from Bolivia and the other from the province of Chubut in Argentina, were recently incorporated to the collection of the Museo de La Plata , Argentina (MLP). The purpose of this note is to formally record this species for both localities, being worth remarking the one from Argentinean Patagonia given it represents the southernmost record for a member of the tribe.

Terenocoris Slater

Terenocoris Slater, 1980: 225. Type species: Terenocoris nitidus Slater, 1980 by monotypy.

Terenocoris nitidus Slater

Terenocoris nitidus Slater 1980: 224.

Material examined : 1 male, ARGENTINA, Chubut prov., Gaiman, light trap, January 23, 2005, G . Cheli col. (MLP); 1 female, BOLIVIA , L. Titicaca, 3550 m , XII-1966, Rosales col., Terenocoris nitidus det. J. A. Slater 1981 (MLP).
Remarks: All known localities for Terenocoris nitidus fit within the andeanpatagonic distributional pattern. Following Morrone´s biogeographic scheme for Latin America and the Caribbean (2001), the localities from Peru and Bolivia are included in the Puna Province (Paramo-Punan Subregion), while the Patagonian locality falls in the Central Patagonic Province (Patagonic Subregion), both in the Andean Region. Morrone (2006) based in track and cladistic biogeographic analyses of insect taxa regards the first subregion as a South American Transition Zone.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas).

LITERATURE CITED

1. MORRONE, J. J. 2001. Biogeografía de América Latina y el Caribe . Manuales y Tesis SEA, nro. 3, Zaragoza.         [ Links ]
2. MORRONE, J. J. 2006. Biogeographic Areas and Transition Zones of Latin América and the Caribbean Islands based on panbiogeographic and cladistic analyses of the Entomofauna. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 51: 467-494.         [ Links ]
3. SCHUH, R. T. & J. A. SLATER. 1995. True Bugs of the World (Hemiptera: Heteroptera): Classification and Natural History . Cornell University Press, Ithaca and London. Storrs.         [ Links ]
4. SLATER, J. A. 1980. Systematic relationships of the Antillocorini of the Western Hemisphere (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae). Syst. Entomol . 5: 199-226.         [ Links ]

Recibido: 25-VIII-2006
Aceptado : 10-X-2006