Castolus plagiaticollis Stal 1858

Castolus plagiaticollis Stål, 1858

(Fig. 9D, 10C)

Remarks. Castolus plagiaticollis is a conspicuous species with red head, red femora, dark tibiae, a large ovoid marking on the posterior lobe of the pronotum, mostly yellowish corium and clavus with the apex of the corium black, and a black membrane except its apex which is translucent (Maldonado 1976). Nonetheless, it is variable regarding its hemelytral color pattern. Champion (1899) had already mentioned that some specimens from Mexico and Guatemala had a more darkened clavus and corium.Among the specimens examined and the observations from iNaturalist (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&q=castolus%20plagiaticollis), several instead of a yellow corium have a whitish one; a few ones have a more extended dark area on the apex of the corium, reaching in some specimens almost half the corial length, or on the other hand have a completely yellow corium without dark areas. Very rarely, the specimens have a mostly black corium being yellow only the costal area and the base of clavus. Because color patterns are important to delimit species in Castolus (Maldonado 1976), the observed color variation in C. plagiaticollis highlights the importance of understanding the intraspecific color variation to adequately assess the specific limits for other species in Castolus.

Quiroz & Carmona (2011) listed two specimens identified as C. plagiaticollis from MEFLG. We examined two additional specimens from MEFLG and corroborated their initial identification. The examined Colombian specimens all have a yellow corium and small apical dark area on the corium.

Distribution. Originally described from Mexico (Stål 1858), with subsequent records from Honduras (Maldonado 1990), Guatemala, and Panama (Champion 1899). It represents the first formal record of the species from South America, and a new country record from Colombia, extending the known distribution into South America (Fig. 10C).

Material examined. COLOMBIA — Antioquia • 1 ♂; V. [alle] de Medellin; [06.2416°N, 75.5775°W]; Feb 1949; Gallego (MEFLG) • 1 ♂; same data; Aug 1945; Gallego; en maleza; No. Catal. 6845 (MEFLG) • 2 ♀♀; Medellín; [06.2416°N, 75.5775°W]; 1538m; Mar 1937; F. Gallego; en Zea mais (maiz); No. catal. 113 (MEFLG).