Axiagastus klossi (Kment & Lemaître & Webb & Roca-Cusachs, 2025)

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 : 42-43

Axiagastus klossi ( China, 1928), comb. nov.

( Figs 114–116)

Indrapura klossi China, 1928: 191–192, fig. 2 (original description, habitus illustration, distribution). Holotype: ♀, Indonesia: Sumatra, W. Coast, Pasir Ganting, 2°S ( BMNH).

Indrapura klossi : Arnold (2003): 24 –25 (distribution).

Type locality. Indonesia: Sumatra, Pasir Ganting, W. Coast, Lat. 2°S .

Type material. Holotype: ♀ ( Figs 114‒116), “Sumatra. / Pasir Ganting. / W. Coast, Lat. 2° S. / June, 1914. [p] // Type [p, red-margined disc] // ♀ [p] // Indrapura / klossi China / TYPE [hw] // [QR code] / NHMUK010582894 [p]” ( BMNH). The specimen is pinned through the scutellum; antennae completely and legs mostly lost, only right profemur and left mesofemur and mesotibia present.

Original description. See China (1928). Only the female is known ( China 1928, Arnold 2003).

Remarks. China (1928) described the genus Indrapura to accommodate his new species, I. klossi . He described the species based on a single female (holotype) collected from Sumatra, which is one of Western Indonesia’s Sunda islands. The original description clearly indicates that it aligns with Axiagastus in all aspects. China (1928) distinguished Indrapura from Axiagastus primarily based on the following characters: the longer head, a short tooth on the bucculae, the structure of the pronotum, the apically narrower scutellum and a more regular punctation. The longer head in Indrapura was described by China (1928) as “head is twice as long as wide between eyes” but in various described species of Axiagastus , this character is found to be a variable character. Members of the genus Axiagastus are characterized by a modified anterior apex of each buccula, which is elongate, curved and “tusk-like”. This character is less pronounced in the female, which is the sex of the holotype of A. klossi . There are no significant differences in the structure of the pronotum in A. klossi compared to other described species. Although China (1928) noted that A. klossi had an apically narrower scutellum with regular punctures, we find these characters to be quite variable among species of Axiagastus . Based on these findings, we conclude that there is insufficient evidence to separate A. klossi from other Axiagastus species. Therefore the genus Indrapura is here synonymized with Axiagastus syn. nov. and the new combination, A. klossi comb. nov., is proposed.

Etymology. The species was named in honor of Cecil Boden Kloss (1877–1949), a zoologist, botanist and explorer known for his work in present-day Malaysia and Indonesia ( China 1928, Banks 1950, Anonymus 2024e).

Distribution. Indonesia: Sumatra ( China 1928, Arnold 2003).