Doomed to a vile lot: new taxa, notes, and an updated generic key for the Old World corsairs (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Peiratinae)

Herein are erected several new taxa and taxonomic changes based on a study of the Old World genera of Peiratinae: Sphodrembas gen. nov. is erected for a single new species, Sphodrembas fumipennis sp. nov. from Kenya and Tanzania. Ectomocoris caccabatus sp. nov. is newly described and represents the first record of the genus from the Korean Peninsula. Chaulioleistes gen. nov. is erected for Peirates singularis Stål, 1874, resulting in Chaulioleistes singularis (Stål, 1874) comb. nov. Isdegardes Distant, 1909, described in Acanthaspidinae (=Reduviinae), is considered a junior synonym of the peiratine genus Phalantus Stål, 1863 syn. nov., resulting in Phalantus melanocephalus (Distant, 1909) comb. nov. for the type species of Isdegardes. Lestomerus wroughtoni Bergroth, 1915 is transferred to Brachysandalus Stål, 1866, resulting in Brachysandalus wroughtoni (Bergroth, 1915) comb. nov. The previously proposed synonymy of Polychitonocoris formosus Miller, 1940 with Calistocoris caesareus Reuter, 1881 is corroborated. All of the above taxonomic acts are supplemented with a key to the species of Calistocoris, a key to the species of Pachysandalus, and a key to the peiratine genera of the Old World. Also reported are thirteen new country records for eleven other species: Brachysandalus bicolor (Villiers, 1948) (Kenya, Tanzania); Ectomocoris bimaculatus Schouteden, 1909 (Ghana); Ectomocoris fenestratus (Klug, 1830) (Ghana); Ectomocoris maculicrus (Fairmaire, 1858) (Uganda, Zimbabwe); Lestomerus affinis (Audinet-Serville, 1831) (Malaysia); Lestomerus basilewskyi Villiers, 1962 (Kenya); Lestomerus bicolor (Villiers, 1948) (Kenya); Lestomerus dubius Villiers, 1948 (Cameroon); Pachysandalus schoutedeni Villiers, 1962 (Sudan); Peirates collarti Schouteden, 1931 (Cameroon); Peirates quadrinotatus (Fabricius, 1798) (Malaysia); and Phalantus africanus Stål, 1874 (Ghana).