Description of eight new species of the genus Acanthocephala Laporte, 1833 from South America (Hemiptera, Coreidae, Acanthocephalinae)

Abstract

Eight new species of the leaf-footed bugs? genus Acanthocephala Laporte (Coreidae, Acanthocephalini) from Colombia and Brazil are described, and A. pleuritica (Costa) is redescribed giving the first known locality record of the species. The descriptions include novel characters from male and female genitalia, and from external morphology such as armature of legs. For each species, we provide a habitus photograph of the adult, as well as photographs of the male and female genitalia and a distributional map. Affinities with the other species of the genus are also included.