Panstrongylus geniculatus (Latreille)

(Fig. 6)

Reduvius geniculatus Latreille, 1811, p. 225, pl. 15, fig. 12. Type locality: French Guiana.

Diagnosis. Adult body length 20–30mm. Body ground color light brown or light orange brown, with dark brown or black pattern elements on various body parts. Head uniformly light colored. Rostrum dark brown. First rostral segment approaching or extending to or slightly beyond level of anterior margin of eyes; second rostral segment attaining level of middle of neck. Pronotum light orange brown. Anterior lobe of pronotum with central black marking in shape of four-leaf clover, posterior lobe with black band along posterior margin except at humeral area. Discal and lateral tubercles small. Anterolateral projections of pronotum shortly subconical, rounded apically. Hemelytra color light brown or light yellowish brown, reaching apex of abdomen. Corium as light as or slightly lighter than membrane, dark at extreme apex. Coxae and trochanters light yellow or orange-yellow. Femora and tibiae dark brown or black. Connexivum light yellowish brown with black subrectangular marks on anterior third of dorsal connexival plates (Lent & Wygodzinsky 1979).

Distribution. Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Guiana, French Guyana, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, Trinidad, Venezuela, Mexico (Chiapas, Veracruz, and Yucatán) (Lent & Wygodzinsky 1979, Galvão et al. 2003, Patterson et al. 2009).

Comments. This species has a wide distribution in the Neotropics, with records in 18 countries including some Caribbean islands, being the best distributed of all other species of the genus (Lent & Wygodzinsky 1979, Rocha- Leite et al. 2007). Almost as a rule, P. geniculatus had been collected in wild habitats, being adapted to dry and humid conditions and feeding upon a great variety of hosts, like marsupials, rodents, armadillos, bats, and birds; but there are reports of peri- and intradomiciliary colonies in Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia (Patterson et al. 2009). In Mexico, this species can be considered rare, as there are only few records from the states of Chiapas, Yucatán, and Veracruz (Carcavallo et al. 1999, Rocha-Leite et al. 2007). There are no specific data of collection localities in Veracruz, and we did not see specimens from this Mexican state.

Material examined. 1 Ƥ: Venezuela, Carabobo, San Esteban, 1975-Feb/Mar, F. Echeverría. IBUNAM: CNIN:HETRED-0000962.