Pelocoris Stål, 1876 of northeastern Brazil (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Naucoridae): first records and a key to the species

Abstract

Naucoridae is a family of aquatic bugs, distributed in tropical and subtropical regions of the world, and comprises 437 species, 47 genera, and eight subfamilies. Five subfamilies, 10 genera and 68 species have been recorded from Brazil. Pelocoris Stål is a genus exclusive to the New World, with 14 species described; eight species and two subspecies have been recorded from Brazil. For the northeastern region, there are no records of occurrence for any species in this genus. The objective of this work was to survey the fauna of Pelocoris in the northeastern region and map the distribution of the species. We examined 180 specimens belonging to six species: Pelocoris binotulatus nigriculus Berg, 1879, P. bipunctulus (Herrich-Schäffer, 1853), P. magister Montandon, 1898, P. poeyi (Guérin-Méneville, 1835), P. politus Montandon, 1897, and P. subflavus Montandon, 1898. This work contributes directly to reducing the Wallacean and Linnean gaps in Naucoridae diversity for northeastern Brazil and highlights the diversity in the region, which is still poorly studied and poorly known.