Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Responsive image
Issue: Vol. 5735 No. 1: 19 Dec. 2025
Type: Monograph
Published: 2025-12-19
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5735.1.1
Page range: 1-66
Abstract views: 105
PDF downloaded: 5

Revision of the Ambrysus signoreti Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Ambrysinae). Section 3.

Red de Biodiversidad y Sistemática; Instituto de Ecología; A.C. (INECOL); Carretera Antigua a Coatepec Núm. 351; El Haya; Xalapa; Veracruz; 91073; MEXICO.
Enns Entomology Museum; Division of Plant Sciences; University of Missouri; Columbia; Missouri; 65211; U.S.A.
Hemiptera species distribution Nepomorpha saucer bugs taxonomy

Abstract

The Ambrysus signoreti Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Ambrysinae) has been recently diagnosed and artificially subdivided into three sections based on the morphology of the female subgenital plate. In the present study, the species in the third and final section, characterized by the posterior margin of the subgenital plate with the central lobe and posterolateral corners almost at the same level, are revised. The group includes 13 species: nine from Mexico (Ambrysus altiplanus Reynoso, A. colimanus Polhemus & Polhemus, A. hydor La Rivers, A. inecol Reynoso, A. magniceps La Rivers, A. quadracies La Rivers, A. scalenus La Rivers, A. signoreti Stål, A. sonorensis Usinger), one from Belize (A. cayo Sites & Shepard), one from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Mexico (A. dyticus La Rivers), one from Guatemala and Mexico (A. sitesi Reynoso), and one from Mexico and the United States (A. occidentalis La Rivers). Supplemental descriptions are provided for eight species for which important features of the last abdominal segments of the male and female were unknown or poorly known. Also, A. portheo La Rivers and A. rotundus La Rivers are proposed as junior synonyms of A. signoreti. These changes bring the total number of species in the complex to 23, in the nominotypical subgenus to 59 species, and in Ambrysus Stål to 67. Furthermore, new state records from Mexico are presented for A. hydor, A. magniceps, and A. occidentalis, in addition to a compilatory checklist of the species in the genus Ambrysus. Also, we provide an illustrated key to the species complexes in the subgenus Ambrysus Stål, the sections in the A. signoreti complex, and the species in its Section 3. This work represents our final major contribution to clarify the taxonomy of species in the North American genus Ambrysus.

 

References

  1. Champion, G.C. (1901) Fam. Naucoridae. In: Godman, F.D. & Salvino, O. (Eds.), Biologia Centrali-Americana. Vol. II. Rynchota. Hemiptera-Heteroptera. R.H. Porter, London, pp. 354–361.
  2. Davis, J.R. (1986) New distribution records of Naucoridae (Hemiptera) from the United States and Mexico, with morphological and taxonomic notes. The Southwestern Naturalist, 31, 535–539. https://doi.org/10.2307/3671711
  3. Herrera, F. (2013) Estado del conocimiento y catálogo de la familia Naucoridae (Insecta: Heteroptera) en Centroamérica. Dugesiana, 20 (2), 221–232. https://doi.org/10.32870/dugesiana.v20i2.4120
  4. Hungerford, H.B. (1920) The biology and ecology of aquatic and semiaquatic Hemiptera. University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 11, 1–328. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.14881
  5. Kirkaldy, G.W. (1906) List of the genera of the pagiopodous Hemiptera-Heteroptera, with their type species, from 1758 to 1904 (and also of the aquatic and semi-aquatic Trochalopoda). Transactions of the American Entomological Society, 32, 117–156, pls. 156a + 156b.
  6. La Rivers, I. (1951) A revision of the genus Ambrysus in the United States (Hemiptera: Naucoridae). University of California Publications in Entomology, 8 (7), 277–338.
  7. La Rivers, I. (1953a) The Ambrysus of Mexico (Hemiptera, Naucoridae). The University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 35, 1279–1349. https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.part.26731
  8. La Rivers, I. (1953b) A new species and subspecies of Ambrysus from Guatemala. The Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 29, 138–142.
  9. La Rivers, I. (1957a) A new Ambrysus from Mexico (Hemiptera, Naucoridae). Entomological News, 68, 232–237.
  10. La Rivers, I. (1957b) Re-description of the Stockholm types of Ambrysus signoreti and Ambrysus mexicanus (Hemiptera: Naucoridae). The Wasmann Journal of Biology, 15, 99–106.
  11. La Rivers, I. (1958) New Ambrysus records from Mexico. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 60 (2), 71–74.
  12. La Rivers, I. (1962) Another Mexican Ambrysus (Hemiptera: Naucoridae). Entomological News, 73 (6), 152–155.
  13. La Rivers, I. (1976) Supplement No. 2 to the catalogue of taxa described in the family Naucoridae (Hemiptera), with descriptions of new species. Biological Society of Nevada Occasional Papers, 41, 1–17.
  14. Montandon, A.L. (1897) Hemiptera Cryptocerata. Fam. Naucoridae. Sous-fam. Cryptocricinae. Verhandlungen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 47, 6–23.
  15. Morrone, J.J. (2014) Biogeographical regionalisation of the Neotropical region. Zootaxa, 3782 (1), 1–110. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.3782.1.1
  16. Polhemus, J.T. & Polhemus, D.A. (1981) Three new species of Ambrysus from Mexico (Hemiptera: Naucoridae). Pan-Pacific Entomologist, 57, 397–401.
  17. Reynoso-Velasco, D. (2021a) A new species of Ambrysus Stål from the Central Mexican Plateau and new state records for species of the genus in the country (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae). Zootaxa, 5005 (3), 304–316. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5005.3.5
  18. Reynoso-Velasco, D. (2021b) Distribution of the saucer bug Ambrysus signoreti Stål, 1862 (Heteroptera, Nepomorpha, Naucoridae, Ambrysinae). Check List, the journal of biodiversity data, 17 (6), 1585–1591. https://doi.org/10.15560/17.6.1585
  19. Reynoso-Velasco, D. (2022) The identity of Ambrysus sonorensis Usinger, 1946 (Naucoridae: Ambrysinae): A mystery no longer. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 124 (1), 108–117. https://doi.org/10.4289/0013-8797.124.1.108
  20. Reynoso-Velasco, D. (2023) A new species of Ambrysus Stål from west-central Mexico and new records for Ambrysus dyticus La Rivers in Central America (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae). Zootaxa, 5271 (3), 560–568. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5271.3.8
  21. Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2016a) Revision of the Ambrysus guttatipennis Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Cryphocricinae) with the description of six new species from Mexico. Zootaxa, 4154 (3), 201–250. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4154.3.1
  22. Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2016b) Revision of the Ambrysus hybridus Montandon species complex (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Cryphocricinae) with the description of a new species from Mexico. Zootaxa, 4169 (1), 87–114. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4169.1.4
  23. Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2018a) Revision of the Ambrysus pulchellus Montandon species complex (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae). Zootaxa, 4442 (3), 351–377. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4442.3.1
  24. Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2018b) Revision of the Ambrysus pudicus Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae) with the description of a new species from southern Mexico. Zootaxa, 4491 (1), 1–64. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4491.1.1
  25. Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2019a) Descriptions of four new species of the Ambrysus signoreti Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae). Zootaxa, 4615 (2), 285–302. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4615.2.3
  26. Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2019b) Taxonomic overview of the family Naucoridae (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha) in Mexico. Dugesiana, 26, 3–12. https://doi.org/10.32870/dugesiana.v26i1.7055
  27. Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2021) Molecular phylogeny and revised classification of the New World subfamily Cryphocricinae, including the reinstatement of Ambrysinae (Insecta: Heteroptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae). Systematic Entomology, 46, 900–914. https://doi.org/10.1111/syen.12501
  28. Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2022) Revision of the Ambrysus signoreti Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Ambrysinae). Section 1. Zootaxa, 5214 (3), 421–439. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5214.3.5
  29. Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2023) Revision of the Ambrysus signoreti Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Ambrysinae). Section 2. Zootaxa, 5285 (3), 401–425. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5285.3.1
  30. Reynoso-Velasco, D., Sites, R.W. & Novelo-Gutiérrez, R. (2016) The Ambrysus Stål (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Cryphocricinae) of Mexico: Revision of the subgenus Syncollus La Rivers. Zootaxa, 4126 (1), 44–76. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4126.1.2
  31. Scudder, G.G.E. (1977) The world Rhyparochrominae types (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) XIII. The Stål type. Entomologia Scandinavica, 8, 29–35. https://doi.org/10.1163/187631277X00044
  32. Shorthouse, D.P. (2010) SimpleMappr, an online tool to produce publication-quality point maps. Available from: http://www.simplemappr.net (accessed 10 November 2025)
  33. Sites, R.W. (2022) Phylogeny and revised classification of the saucer bugs (Hemiptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, zlab105. https://doi.org/10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab105
  34. Sites, W.R. & Nichols, B.J. (1999) Egg architecture of Naucoridae (Heteroptera): Internal and external structure of the chorion and micropyle. Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, 101 (1), 1–25.
  35. Sites, R.W. & Shepard, W.D. (2015) Neotropical genera of Naucoridae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Nepomorpha): new species of Ambrysus and Procryphocricos from Belize and Peru. Annals of the Entomological Society of America, 108 (4), 613–620. https://doi.org/10.1093/aesa/sav027
  36. Sites, R.W., Rodrigues, H.D.D. & Reynoso-Velasco, D. (2017) New combinations, status, and species of Neotropical Ambrysini (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Cryphocricinae). Zootaxa, 4323 (4), 503–518. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4323.4.4
  37. Stål, C. (1862) Hemiptera Mexicana enumeravit speciesque novas descripsit (continuatio). Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung, 23, 437–462.
  38. Stål, C. (1876) Enumeratio Hemipterorum. Bidrag till en företeckning öfver alla hittills kända Hemiptera, jemte systematiska meddelanden Part 5. Kongliga Svenska Vetenskaps-Akademiens Handlingar, 14 (4), 1–162.
  39. Uhler, P.R. (1876) List of Hemiptera of the region west of the Mississippi River, including those collected during the Hayden explorations of 1873. Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories, 1, 267–361.
  40. Usinger, R.L. (1946) Notes and descriptions of Ambrysus Stål with an account of the life history of Ambrysus mormon Montd. (Hemiptera, Naucoridae). The University of Kansas Science Bulletin, 31, 185–210.

How to Cite

Reynoso-Velasco, D. & Sites, R.W. (2025) Revision of the Ambrysus signoreti Stål species complex (Heteroptera: Naucoridae: Ambrysinae). Section 3. Zootaxa, 5735 (1), 1–66. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5735.1.1