Taxonomic updates on the Mecocephala group (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae): redescription of Mecocephala Dallas and Paramecocephala Benvegnú

ABSTRACT

We present here the taxonomic revision of Mecocephala Dallas, 1851 and Paramecocephala Benvegnú, 1968 (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae: Pentatominae), updating the genitalic terminology. A differential diagnosis of each genus and all of its members is provided, and a new species of Paramecocephala is described from a female: P. helenae sp. nov. from Brazil. Photographs of type specimens and genitalia, species occurrence maps with new records, and an updated key for species of both genera are also provided.

https://urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:6D63D5B2-55A2-4465-852F-EEDA37FEF12B

KEYWORDS:

• Pentatominae
• Carpocorini
• head morphology
• diversity
• taxonomy

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the curators of the collections for the loan of specimens studied. We are grateful to José Antônio Marin Fernandes, whose comments helped improve this manuscript. This study was financed in part by the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – Brasil (CAPES) – Finance Code 001 – as a Doctoral Scholarship granted to LDB. JG is supported by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico – Brasil (CNPq) with a fellowship grant (PQ #310747/2020-1).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq); and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES).