Pentatomidae - Holcostethus abbreviatus

Moved

… Mike Quinn, 4 March, 2024 - 5:53pm

Agree

I thought I had made some newer comments about these orange-y Holcostethus somewhere that I had talked myself into thinking might be ruckesi but I'm having a tough time tracking those down. Suspect that the wing membranes are just covering the tip of the scutellum in a lot of these photos. Would be amazing to get a photo of the true ruckesi at some point- will have to keep an eye out.

… Andrew Meeds, 5 March, 2024 - 1:44pm

Copying over my thoughts from iNat

McDonald, F. J. D. (1974). Revision of the genus Holcostethus in North America (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae). Journal of the New York Entomological Society, 245-258.

Available here

We’ve got seven species of Holcostethus to get through. We know it’s not limbolarius or abbreviatus (scutellum seems much too broad for abbreviatus), so we can cut it down to five.

Holcostethus piceus. The closest record of this species to the location of our mystery insect is in Colorado. Additionally, this species is supposed to be margined in yellow and without markings on the connexivia. It also has a distinct yellow tip to the scutellum. I think it’s safe to eliminate this.

Holcostethus fulvipes. Records are limited to New York and New Hampshire. A reddish-brown species. Well out of range and totally wrong color for this one.

Holcostethus tristis. This species has concave anterolateral pronotal margins. Lots of photos of this species available. Our bug looks like it has fairly straight A-L margins. It’s not noted, but photos of the species show a white line along that same margin. Additionally, this insect is out of range for H. tristis which only has records from the west coast, plus Idaho. Another thing that isn’t noted about tristis (at least here) are the juga. In our bug, they are broadly rounded. In the photos I’ve seen of tristis, they seem to be sharply angled. I think it’s safe to eliminate this species.

Holcostethus hirtus. Has long gray setae on the dorsal and ventral surfaces. And the connexivia are continuous rather than margined. The only records are from California.

This leaves only a single option (assuming all species are accounted for). Holcostethus ruckesi is described as a “dark brown species” with a “heavily punctate” dorsal surface. “Jugae longer than tylus, broadly rounded”. “Ventrolateral margins of pronotum brown or yellow, bowed out and submarginally impressed. Pronotal disc rugose. Scutellum bluntly rounded apically”. Additionally, it says that the connexivia are “with alternating markings on sternal margins of abdomen”.

The species has records from AZ and NM, so I don’t think TX would be too off. Always possible that there are some other species out there, but this seems like a decent fit to me. What do you all think?

… Andrew Meeds, 11 December, 2018 - 1:55am

DBT says he can't tell species from this pic

… v belov, 23 July, 2019 - 5:21pm

Gotcha

Guess that means you guys need to go blacklight out there again and collect this guy!

… Andrew Meeds, 23 July, 2019 - 7:01pm

Moved

Moved from Stink Bugs.

… v belov, 24 November, 2018 - 3:55am

Moved

Moved from ID Request.

… Andrew Meeds, 1 August, 2018 - 10:37am