Voconia decorata, Castillo & Rédei & Weirauch, 2022

Castillo, Stephanie, Rédei, Dávid & Weirauch, Christiane, 2022, Pseudocetherinae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) revisited: phylogeny and taxonomy of the lobe-headed bugs, European Journal of Taxonomy 788 (1), pp. 1-95 : 46-47

Voconia decorata sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:93BE46E2-210B-45C7-8FD6-2C38EC62B2D9

Figs 1–2 , 3B , 4J , 7 , 9 , 20

Diagnosis

Distinguished from most other species of Voconia by the yellow ring around the postocular region, membranal veins forming Cu-An 1 and M-Cu cells paler than remainder of membrane, and proepimeron with protuberance on posteroventral margin. This species is most similar to two other Oriental species, V. coronata sp. nov. and V. lirophleps sp. nov. It is distinguishable from these species by its distribution in the Malaysian state of Sabah in Borneo, the light brown coloration of the body, the labium being lighter than the head, and the dark scutellum with a contrasting yellow apical spine.

Etymology

The specific epithet is the Latin adjective ‘ decoratus, - a, - um ’, meaning ‘decorated, elegant’, referring to its light brown coloration and yellow markings on the hemelytron and dorsal laterotergites that gives it a flashier and more elegant look.

Type material

Holotype MALAYSIA [“NORTH BORNEO”] • ♀; Sabah, Tawau, Quoin Hill , Cocoa Res. Stn , [4.42° N, 118.02° E]; elev. 225 m; 16 Sep. 1962; K.J. Kuncheria leg.; USI: UCR_ENT 00073809 ; BPBM.

Description

Male ( Figs 7 , 9 )

BODY LENGTH. About 10.0 mm; macropterous.

COLORATION. Head ( Fig. 3B ): light brown, yellowish; postocular region with dark patches adjacent to medial ocellar margin, semicircular pale stripe encircling both ocelli; labium lighter than head. Thorax: coloration as head; posterior margin of posterior pronotal lobe lighter; scutellum dark with contrasting yellow apical spine. Hemelytron (abducted): clavus reddish-brown with distal yellow stripe; corium reddish-brown with anteroproximal yellow stripe, posteromedial and distal yellow spots; membrane light brown with pale V-shaped marking along R and M veins; membranal veins forming Cu-An 1 and M-Cu cells paler than remainder of membrane. Legs: yellowish-brown, distal half of femora darker. Abdomen: yellowish-brown, dorsal laterotergites with yellow spots anteriorly.

INTEGUMENT AND VESTITURE. Head ( Fig. 3B ) and pronotum: finely granulose with sparse, short macrosetae interspersed among sparse pubescence; antennifer with short lateral setigerous tubercle; morphologically ventral surface of labium with dense, short macrosetae. Thorax: anterolateral angles of pronotal collar with macrosetae. Hemelytron: corium with sparse, long setation. Legs ( Fig. 4J ): posterior row of protuberances on mid and hind femora with three large spines on distal half and one small spine. Abdomen: ventral surface pubescent.

STRUCTURE. Head ( Fig. 3B ): elongate, 1.3 times as long as wide; anteocular region about one third of head length, shorter than postocular region (measured to anterior margin of neck); postocular region in dorsal view shorter than eye, lateral margins gently rounded; pedicel about 1.3 times length of head width; maxillary plates ellipsoidal, adjacent to and as long as clypeus; apices of maxillary plates in dorsal view directed straight; clypeus in dorsal view about as wide as maxillary plates; clypeal apex round, not narrowed; interocular glabrous markings anterolaterally curved, joined at interocular sulcus paramedially; interocular sulcus in dorsal view bent anteromedially, subtriangular; eye width in dorsal view narrower than synthlipsis; eye reaching ventral head margin in lateral view; ventrolateral swelling of buccula with lateral protrusion that surpasses buccular margin; labial segment I in lateral view straight, surpassing posteroventral eye margin; morphologically dorsal surface of labial segment II nearly straight, about 0.5 times length of segment I. Thorax: pronotal collar in dorsal view wide medially with anterolateral angles short, projected forward; anterior pronotal lobe about 0.7 times length of posterior pronotal lobe, lateral margins almost straight; glabrous markings on pronotum deeply depressed; median apodeme depression of pronotum shallow, elongated longitudinally; scutellar spine long, subhorizontal; anteriad-directed process of prosternum smoothly rounded, without paramedial lobes; anterior margin of stridulitrum not elongated into protuberance; proepimeron with acute protuberance on posteroventral margin. Legs: fossula spongiosa present on fore and mid legs.

Female

Unknown.

Distribution ( Fig. 20 )

This species is only known from the type locality of Quoin Hill in the Malaysian state of Sabah on the island of Borneo.

Remarks

The phylogenetic placement of V. decorata sp. nov. is uncertain ( Figs 1–2 ).

Figures

Fig. 1. Strict consensus tree resulting from equal weighting analysis. Jackknife values over 51 are reported for tree one of eight.

Fig. 2. Tree resulting from implied weighting analysis using K = 12 with characters unambiguously optimized. Symmetric resampling values over 51 are represented for trees obtained with K = 3, K = 6, K = 9, and K = 12 analyses. Characters and character states are described in pp. 11–22. Specimens not to scale.

Fig. 3. Morphological characters. A–D. Head in dorsal view. A. Gerbelius nr. confluens. B. Voconia decorata sp. nov. C. Voconia pallidipes Stål, 1866. D. Voconia schoutedeni (Villiers, 1964) comb. nov. E–G. Head in lateral view. E. Voconia wegneri (Miller, 1954) comb. nov. F. Voconia dolichocephala sp. nov. G. Gerbelius typicus Distant, 1903. H. Voconia loki sp. nov., head and pronotum in dorsal view. I–J. Prosternum in ventrolateral view. I. Voconia mexicana sp. nov. J. Voconia bracata sp. nov. K–L. Pronotum in dorsal view. K. Voconia conradti (Jeannel, 1917) comb. nov. L. Voconia tuberculata sp. nov.

Fig. 4. Morphological characters. A–D. Scutellum and hemelytron, dorsal view. A. Gerbelius typicus Distant, 1903.B. Voconia lirophleps sp. nov. C. Voconia bracata sp. nov.D. Voconia schoutedeni (Villiers, 1964) comb. nov. E. Voconia grandioculata sp. nov., thorax, lateral view. F–H. Voconia nyx sp. nov. F. Thorax, lateral view. G. Fore tibia, ventral view. H. Mid tibia and tarsus, ventral view. I–K. Hind femur, posterior view. I. Voconia mexicana sp. nov. J. Voconia decorata sp. nov. K. Voconia bracata sp. nov.

Fig. 7. Dorsal habitus of holotypes of Voconia Stål, 1866 species with distribution: purple = Afrotropical region, green = Australasian region, pink = Oriental region. Scale bars = 3 mm.

Fig. 9. Lateral habitus of species of Voconia Stål, 1866. Scale bars = 3 mm.

Fig. 20. The distribution of species of Gerbelius Distant, 1903 and Voconia Stål, 1866 in Southeast Asia.