Matching dimorphic sexes and immature stages with adults: resolving the systematics of the <i>Bekilya</i> group of Malagasy assassin bugs (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Peiratinae)

Abstract

The Madagascar endemic assassin bugs Bekilya Villiers and Hovacoris Villiers were described from macropterous male specimens with striking colour patterns, and are currently monotypic. Mutillocoris Villiers, with two species from Madagascar, was based on brachypterous female specimens that resemble female mutillid wasps. To investigate the validity of the three genera, recently collected specimens from Madagascar were studied with both morphological and molecular techniques. Morphology alone appeared to be of limited value for associating males with females, and immature stages with adults, because of drastic differences between the sexes and the life stages. However, the use of morphology in conjunction with molecular data resolved these associations and showed that species of Mutillocoris represent females of Bekilya and Hovacoris , which we transfer accordingly to these two genera and refer to them as the Bekilya group. The type species of Mutillocoris belongs in Bekilya , resulting in the synonymy of these two genera ( Mutillocoris syn.n. ). The Bekilya group is diagnosed and several new species are described: Bekilya mahafalya sp.n. , Bekilya tenebra sp.n. , Bekilya tuleara sp.n. , Hovacoris bicolornotum sp.n. , Hovacoris melanoceps sp.n. and Hovacoris rufiventris sp.n. A total of ten species are recognized within the Bekilya group. The monophyly of Bekilya , Hovacoris and the Bekilya group is confirmed by morphological and molecular phylogenetic analyses.