SYSTEMATICS, CLADISTICS, AND BIOGEOGRAPHY OF THE PEIRATES COLLARTI AND P-LEPTUROIDES SPECIES GROUPS (HETEROPTERA, REDUVIIDAE, PEIRATINAE)

Cleptocoris Stal is synonymized with Peirates Serville. Its species ar e assigned to the P. collarti and P. lepluroides species groups. The f ormer group includes P. collarti Schouteden and P. monodi Villiers; th e latter group is formed by P. amieti Villiers, P. areatus Miller, P. atromaculatus (Stal), P. aurigans Distant, P. balteatus Germar, P. cin ctiventris Horvath, P. diola (Villiers) comb. n., P. lepturoides (Wolf f), P. macilentus Miller, P. maurus Stal (= Cleptocoris leyei Villiers , syn. n.), P. niger Signoret, P. nitidicollis Reuter (= P. conspurcat us Distant, syn. n.), P. ochripennis Jeannel, P. perinetensis Villiers , P. strepitans Rambur (= P. rufescens Villiers, syn. n.), P. tellini Schouteden and P. turpis Walker (= P. brachypterus Horvath, syn. rev.) . These species are redescribed, illustrated, their geographical distr ibution mapped, and keys for separating them are given. A phylogenetic analysis of the species is presented. In the cladogram, the P. collar ti and P. lepturoides species groups are monophyletic and sister taxa. Within the latter, P. amieti is the sister species to the trichotomy formed by P. perinetensis, P. strepitans and the clade including the r emaining species which comprises, in phylogenetic order, the pair P. n iger- P. turpis; the group including P. cinctiventris, P. lepturoides, P. areatus, and P. ochripennis; and the group including P. atromacula tus - P. aurigans, P. balteatus, P. tellini, P. macilentus - P. nitidi collis, P. diola - P. maurus. The geographical distribution of the spe cies shows an African - Indopacific generalized track, with an Indian Ocean baseline. The group is hypothesized to be of tropical Gondwanan origin, with subsequent spread into the Palearctic.