Slaterocoris punctatus Schwartz 2011

DIAGNOSIS: Distinguished by the black apices of the femora (figs. 12, 13), the usually mixed vestiture of simple and some sericeous silvery setae (fig. 63B, C, pl. 4R) or with vestiture of only simple dense silvery (fig. 59B, pl. 4G), or moderately dense brown setae (pl. 4L), the usually medial, long, pointed, and undivided tergal process (figs. 57H, 60F, 64M, N, 65G), and the produced, rounded, medial surface of the interramal lobe usually with a relatively long, ventral projection (figs. 58D, 62B, 66B, 70D). The structure of the endosomal spicule is unique to this species group, particularly the basal origin of the dorsal lobe on the far left margin of the ventral lobe and the widely separated bifurcate rami of the dorsal and ventral lobes (figs. 60A, 64A–C, 65C–F). In comparison to other Slaterocoris species the costal margins of both sexes of most of the species are usually more elongate and parallel sided (pls. 1–3) (except S. punctatus and S. simplex); the hemelytron of the female is more arcuate than in the male. All the species contained in this group have exclusively Mexican distributions (map 12).

DISCUSSION: Two ambiguous characters— the tergal process long and usually undivided (23-3) and the basal lobe of the right paramere with a short serrate process (44- 4)—support the punctatus group on figure 2. Three characters provide unambiguous, homoplasious support to the species of the punctatus group when two of the three most parsimonious cladograms (fig. 1A, B) are considered. The apical portion of the femur in all species is black (5-1). Such femoral coloration is also found in species of the argenteus group and in S. robustus. The slightly convex anteromedial surface of the second gonapophyses (62-0) seen in this group, also occurs elsewhere in the genus and several outgroup taxa. The interramal lobe with a concave medial surface and a long, ventral projection (69-2), found in the punctatus group also occurs in several other Slaterocoris species. Mixed vestiture with simple and some sericeous setae (12-1), seen on most of the punctatus -group species, is common in the Orthotylini and occurs on Josephinus reinhardi. A medially located tergal process (70-2) supports the punctatus group but is homoplastic, as the same state occurs in the species of Josephinus and is reversed in S. tanydexios (70-1). In three S. punctatus -group species, S. maculatus, S. punctatus, and S. clavatus, the height of the ventroanterior margin of the vestibulum is somewhat deeper (57-5) than in other Slaterocoris species. This character state contributes support to a sister-group relationship between the former two species and is autapomorphic in the latter species. The sister-group relationship of S. maculatus and S. punctatus receives additionally support from moderately dense dorsal vestiture (10-1).