Microvelia

Aristizábal-García, Hernán, Floriano, Carla Fernanda Burguez, Moreira, Felipe Ferraz Figueiredo & Bispo, Pitágoras Da Conceição, 2015, New species and notes on Microveliinae from northern South America (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Veliidae), Zootaxa 3980 (4), pp. 591-596 : 595-596

Two misplaced Microvelia from Colombia

Representatives of the subfamily Veliinae ( Heteroptera : Veliidae ) are characterized by the absence of ocelli, tarsal formula 3-3-3, and absence of a swimming fan on middle tarsus ( Andersen 1982). Six genera of the subfamily have been recorded from South America so far: Veloidea Gould, 1934, Stridulivelia Hungerford, 1929 , Platyvelia Polhemus & Polhemus, 1993 , Steinovelia Polhemus & Polhemus, 1993 , Oiovelia Drake & Maldonado-Capriles, 1952, and Paravelia Breddin, 1898 ( Moreira et al. 2011; Rodrigues et al. 2014). Fifty-nine species have been described in Paravelia , two of which are P. acantha Padilla-Gil, 2013 and P. fanera Padilla-Gil, 2013 . Members of the subfamily Microveliinae , in turn, also lack ocelli and a swimming fan, but can be separated from Veliinae by the tarsal formula 1-2-2, which is a result of the fusion of tarsomeres I–III of the fore legs and I–II of middle and hind legs.

The type-series of the two species of Paravelia mentioned in the above paragraph were examined at the Museo de Entomología de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia, and it was possible to determine that the tarsal formula is 1-2-2, not 3-3-3. Therefore, the specimens cannot be members of the genus Paravelia , and belong in fact to the subfamily Microveliinae . Both species lack pretarsal leaf-like structures on the middle leg, and thus must be regarded as members of the genus Microvelia . Accordingly, the present authors propose transferring the two species described by Padilla-Gil (2013) from Paravelia to Microvelia . In short:

Microvelia acantha ( Padilla-Gil, 2013) comb. nov.

= Paravelia acantha Padilla-Gil, 2013 . Zootaxa 3693(4): 495. Material examined: HOLOTYPE: ‘ Colombia, Departamento Nariño, Funes, 2 November 2009, leg. D. N. Padilla’ (ICN).

Microvelia fanera ( Padilla-Gil, 2013) comb. nov.

= Paravelia fanera Padilla-Gil, 2013 . Zootaxa 3693(4): 491.

Material examined: HOLOTYPE: ‘ COLOMBIA, Departamento Nariño, Quebrada El Bohio, 1729 m, 17 Abril 2013, leg. V. Paz & C. Martínez’ ( ICN).

A new synonym of Microvelia mimula White, 1879

Microvelia mimula is a common species in still waters, ranging from Cuba to Uruguay ( Moreira 2015). Females can easily be confused with their congeners, but males can be distinguished by the shape of genital segment I and the long horn-like lateral projections on the proctiger. Additional diagnostic features for males include a tubercle on the penultimate abdominal sternite and a row of spinules on hind femur, but these can often be underdeveloped or broken off.

Makhan (2014) recently described three allegedly new species of Microvelia from Suriname. Even with the extremely poor descriptions and images provided, it is possible to determine that M. amrishi Makhan, 2014 is clearly a synonym of Microvelia mimula , based on the figures of the habitus and genitalia of the male holotype. The identity of the other two species, M. rishwani Makhan, 2014 and M. aschnakiranae Makhan, 2014 cannot be defined based on the information and images provided by the author, so it is unclear if they indeed represent new species or not.

Knowing the bad practices and misbehavior of Mr. Makhan in relation to other researchers and taxonomy itself ( Jäch 2006; Anonymous 2007), we inquired Dr. Nico Nieser (in litt.), a major specialist on the water bugs from Suriname, about the identities of M. rishwani and M. aschnakiranae . Dr. Nieser informed us that unfortunately his material of Microvelia from Suriname got lost and that he never studied it, so it is not possible to make further decisions about Makhan’s species at the moment. Makhan’s types are supposedly deposited at the Department of Entomology, University of Suriname, and it will only be possible to give further insight into this issue with an accurate analysis of these specimens.

The following new synonymy is therefore proposed: Microvelia mimula White 1879

= Microvelia amrishi Makhan, 2014 . Calodema 345: 1–7. syn. nov.