In a loan from the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique (IRSNB) in Brussels, Belgium, I have located two specimens of Oxycarenus breddini Bergroth that have printed type labels in red and that have identification labels in Bergroth’s handwriting.

Oxycarenus breddini was described by Bergroth (Reference Bergroth, Schouteden and Bergroth1905) from Kinchassa (present-day spelling Kinshasa), now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Specimens were collected by M. Waelbroeck. Bergroth (Reference Bergroth, Schouteden and Bergroth1905) in his original description noted a female with a total length of 5.5 millimetres, but he did not describe a particular female in print.

Oxycarenus was keyed, redescribed, and illustrated by Samy (Reference Samy1969) in his revision of the African species. Samy (Reference Samy1969) reported the species Oxycarenus breddini Bergroth from the Congo, Madagascar, Sudan, and Uganda. Oxycarenus breddini characteristically has the fore femora with four spines, antennae are dark brown, and the general colour is brownish. The pronotum is unicolourous brown with two reddish-brown spots laterally on the posterior half. The corium is white, with a distinct fuscous spot at the apex of the exocorium, while the clavus is pale yellowish, with the terminal margin, commissure, and apical angle being dark brown. The rostrum reaches well onto the abdominal venter.

Because the late Antti Jansson, then at the Finnish Museum of Natural History (University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland), could not locate the type of Oxycarenus breddini in Helsinki, where most Bergroth types are located, Samy (Reference Samy1969) considered the type of O. breddini lost, and he designated a female specimen from Kinchassa (ix.1920 (P. Vanderijst)) in the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium as a neotype. However, with both the discovery of the type material in the IRSNB in Brussels and now the designation of a lectotype, this neotype designation is redundant.

In a loan from the IRSNB in Brussels, I located a female specimen, glued to card, with a pinhole through the posterior part of the hind lobe of the pronotum, the end three segments of the left antenna, and the last segment of the right antenna, missing. It has a printed label with the data “Kinschassa, Waelbroeck” [sic], and a label in ink, in Bergroth’s handwriting, with “Oxycarenus Breddini Bergr. Typ.” In 2018, I added a pink holotype label to this specimen in order to recognise and emphasise that Bergroth had recognised and labelled the specimen as the type. However, I realised that the holotype could only be officially designated by the original author at the time of the description.

Subsequently, two external peer reviewers, appointed by the journal editors, have both indicated that they believe the two specimens I discovered in the IRSNB should be regarded as syntypes and that the specimen identified by Bergroth as the type should be designated as the lectotype. On reflection, I think this is correct and an appropriate strategy.

Accordingly, I thus consider the specimens I discovered in the IRSNB loan as syntypes and hereby designate the specimen labelled as “Typ” by Bergroth as the “lectotype.” I have asked Dr. J. Constant (IRSNB) to add my pink lectotype label to this specimen.

The second specimen with a red type label in the IRSNB in Brussels becomes a paralectotype. This specimen is also glued to card and is quite damaged, with the abdomen, right hemelytron, terminal two segments of both antennae, and the left, middle, and hind legs missing. This specimen also has a printed label with the data “Kinchassa, Waelbroeck, Nov. 1896,” followed by a label in ink, in Bergroth’s handwriting, with “Oxycarenus Breddini Bergr.”

Because a lectotype has been designated above, the neotype selected by Samy (Reference Samy1969) is redundant and should be set aside Figure 1.

Fig. 1.

Oxycarenus breddini Bergroth type with attached labels.