ZOOTAXA ISSN 1175-5326 (print edition) ISSN 1175-5334 (online edition) Accepted by M. Malipatil: 17 Jul. 2020; published: 5 Aug. 2020 285 Zootaxa 4822 (2): 285–292 https://www.mapress.com/j/zt/ Copyright © 2020 Magnolia Press Article https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4822.2.10 http://zoobank.org/urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:9DB00F6D-9D00-458D-92F3-71B31C75A7EC Apennocoris pilosulus: rediscovery of a forgotten big-eyed bug taxon from New Caledonia (Heteroptera: Lygaeoidea: Geocoridae) PÉTER KÓBOR Department of Nature Conservation and Ecology, Herman Ottó Institute Non-profit Ltd. 2 Park st., Budapest, Hungary � kobor.peter@hoi.hu; p.kobor@gmail.com; https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0266-7303 Abstract Apennocoris pilosulus Montandon, 1907 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Lygaeoidea: Geocoridae), a peculiar representative of Geocorinae endemic to New Caledonia unreported since its original description is redescribed and illustrated based on its lectotype (designated in the present paper) and an additional non-type specimen. The placement of this monotypic genus within the subfamily Geocorinae is discussed. Key words: Geocorinae, New Caledonia, redescription, wing polymorphism, endemism Introduction One of the most prolific contributors to the knowledge of the taxonomy of big-eyed bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Lygaeoidea: Geocoridae) was Arnold Lucien Montandon (1852–1922), a French entomologist living in Romania and working in the National Museum of Natural History (now Grigore Antipa National Museum of Natural Histo- ry), Bucharest (Andrei & Pandele 2006).Besides many other heteropteran taxa, Montandon (1907, 1913) described 2 genera and 3 species of big-eyed bugs from the New Caledonian archipelago, one of the important biodiversity hotspots of the world (Myers et al. 2000). Except for the works of Bergroth (1916), synonymizing Neogermalus Montandon, 1913 with Germalus Stål, 1862 and establishing a new genus, Nesogermalus Bergroth, 1916 for Oph- thalmocoris dissidens Montandon, 1907, and descriptions of 4 new species by Distant (1914, 1920), the taxonomy of New Caledonian big-eyed bugs has heretofore remained badly neglected, and the status of several taxa is doubt- ful. Montandon possessed a personal collection consisting of 670 specimens representing 130 species of 13 genera of Geocoridae, among them 40 type specimens. The collection was acquired by the U.S. entomologist Howard Madison Parshley (Parshley 1921) and was later deposited in the entomological collection of Kimball Natural His- tory Museum, San Francisco (KNHM). Some of the types of the species described by Montandon are deposited in the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest (Hungary) and few “co-types” (syntypes or paratypes) are to be found in the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna (Austria) (author’s unpublished data). According to Parshley (1921) some of Montandon’s types are the only known specimens of their representa- tive taxa. It was thought that this condition applied to the type material of Apennocoris pilosulus Montandon, 1907, the single species of the monotypic genus Apennocoris Montandon, 1907 endemic to New Caledonia, known by a single syntype, until an additional specimen was discovered. The two specimens provide valuable information on this obscure and peculiar taxon which has so far remained unplaced within the family. The aim of this study is to contribute to the taxonomy of Geocoridae by providing a thorough redescription of the genus Apennocoris and its type species A. pilosulus along with the discussion of its possible subfamily placement within the family. It is con- cluded that the data acquired by the study of the species helps to resolve controversies and uncertainties regarding the phylogeny of Geocorinae and it is well interpretable in the context of the biogeography of New Caledonia.