Micronecta Kirkaldy, 1897

Ha, Tuyet Ngan & Tran, Anh Duc, 2021, Taxonomy of Micronectidae (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha) from Vietnam, with descriptions of 11 new species, European Journal of Taxonomy 756, pp. 1-82 : 7-8

Subgenus Micronecta Kirkaldy, 1897

Micronecta Kirkaldy, 1897b: 260

(type species: Notonecta minutissima Linnaeus, 1758 , by original designation).

Diagnosis

Males: palar claw relatively large and usually distally widened; prestrigilar flap on segment V with mesial corner pointed; strigil present; median lobe of sternite VII with three to six (usually four) long setae; free lobe of tergite VIII variable, usually sub-rectangular; shaft of left paramere usually plate-like, with subparallel margins; right paramere: shaft distally curved or bent (adapted from Chen et al. 2015).

Remarks

The nominate subgenus contains the majority of species of Micronecta , most of them only share the distally widened palar claw of the male, and the plate-like shaft of the left paramere. Several taxonomic studies on Micronecta , if applying subgeneric classification, tend to ‘dump’ new species into the nominate subgenus, if they do not fit other subgenera. However, if a subgeneric classification is suitable, the definition of the nominate subgenus needs to be revised ( Tinerella 2008, 2013), as do the definitions of the other subgenera.