Acesines breviceps Stål, 1876

Kment, Petr, Lemaître, Valérie A., Webb, Michael D. & Roca-Cusachs, Marcos, 2025, Revision of the Austro-Oriental shield-bug genus Axiagastus (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), with the description of five new species, and taxonomic notes on related genera, Zootaxa 5603 (1), pp. 1-82 : 74

Acesines breviceps Stål, 1876

Acesines breviceps Stål, 1876: 94–95 (original description). Holotype: ♀, “ India Orientalis”, Boucard , Type, Typus [red label, outlined black], NHRS-GULI000067472 (NHRS).

Acesines bambusana Distant, 1918: 144 (original description). Syntypes: India: Karnataka: Chikkaballapura (T.V. Campbell coll., BMNH), on bamboo. New junior subjective synonym .

Material examined. INDIA: Goa: Goa, 30 km S of Margao (= Madgaon), Palolem env. (15°00.47′N 74°01.58′E), 0–20 m a.s.l., 14.–22.viii.2002, 1♀, P. Šípek & M. Fikáček M. lgt., P. Kment det. ( NMPC) .

Distribution. India: Goa (new record), Karnataka ( Distant 1918, Salini et al. 2023a, both as A. bambusana ), Tamil Nadu ( Salini et al. 2023a, as A. bambusana ).

Remarks. Acesines breviceps was originally described by Stål (1876) based on a female specimen from “ India Orientalis”, which is currently housed in the Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden (NHRS). Acesines bambusana was originally described by Distant (1918) based on a series of specimens from “South India: Chikkaballapura” collected by T. V. Campbell, which is currently housed in the BMNH.

According to Salini et al. (2023a), it was likely that A. breviceps was conspecific with A. bambusana due to the similarities in the colouration and the structural morphology of their types, as noticed from the images received of the former species. Differences between the two species, such as the punctures on the scutellum, the colouration on the outer margins of the abdominal venter, and a small spinous projection at the caudal margins of laterotergites VIII, were considered insignificant. However, the synonymy was deferred at that time until it could be confirmed through the examination of the male genitalia structures of both species. Unfortunately, there is no way to match the male to the type of A. breviceps by locality, as no precise locality is known for its type, and comparing DNA sequences may not be feasible for such an old specimen. Therefore, based on the evidence presented above, it is prudent to consider the name Acesines bambusana as a junior synonym of A. breviceps .