Metrocoris communis (Distant, 1910)

Cianferoni, Fabio, Saleem, Rukhshanda, Afsheen, Sumera & Zia, Ahmed, 2021, The water striders of Pakistan (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae): new records from Punjab and first checklist for the country, Zootaxa 4996 (3), pp. 469-491 : 474-475

Metrocoris communis (Distant, 1910)

Euodus communis Distant 1910a: 51 .

Metrocoris stali: Oshanin, 1912: 86 [nec Dohrn, 1860]. Misidentification.— Pakistan: Pruthi (1933: 98, 99, 101. Punjab Province, Jhelum District, Khewra Gorge) as Metrocoris ståli (Dohrn) . Misidentifications.

Metrocoris omanensis Brown 1950: 477 . Syn. den Boer (1965: 13).

Rheumatobates maculata Khatoon & Ali 1978: 489 . Syn. nov.— Pakistan: Khatoon & Ali (1978: 489, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province?, “Kabul river”; Punjab Province, Rawalpindi District, “Wah streams”; province?, “stream near Coca-Cola Factory”); Saleem & Begum (1985: 326, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Malakand District, Shahkot, Alif Kali).

Metrocoris communis: den Boer 1965: 13 .

Material examined. Gujranwala District: Upper Chenab canal, Nandipur, Gujranwala, 32.254099° N 74.269467° E, 24.X.2016, 1 ♂, ♀ apt., 6 nymphs; idem, 30.X.2016, 1 ♂, 2 ♀ apt., 6 nymphs ; idem, 10. VIII .2017, 4 ♂, 4 ♀ apt.; idem, 6 ♂, 3 ♀ apt., det. FC ( CFC) ; idem, 9.X.2017, 3 ♂, 2 ♀ apt., 1 nymph ; idem, 29. VI .2018, 2 ♂, 1 ♀ apt.; Upper Chenab canal, Master City Housing Scheme, Gujranwala, 32.130067° N 74.214012° E, 30.X.2016, 3 ♂ apt .; idem, 24. XII .2016, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt.; idem, 29. VI .2017, 1 ♂, 1 ♂ apt.; Upper Chenab canal near Chan Da Qilla, Gujranwala, 32.104081° N 74.190967° E, 30.X.2016, 5 ♂, 4 ♀ apt., 2 nymphs ; idem, 24. XII .2016, 7 ♂, 2 ♀ apt., 7 nymphs; idem, 9.X.2017, 2 ♂, 2 ♀ apt .; idem, 10. VIII .2017, 5 ♂, 4 ♀ apt., 5 nymphs; Upper Chenab canal, Kamoki-Tatle Aali Road, 31.984152° N 74.170964° E, 30.X.2016, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., 2 nymphs ; idem, 24. XII .2016, 2 ♂, 4 ♀ apt.; idem, 7. VIII .2017, 1 ♀ apt.; Lower Chenab canal near Fish Farm Chanawan, 32.330808° N 73.888941° E, 24. V .2017, 5 nymphs; idem, 30. VII .2017, 1 ♀ apt., 8 nymphs; idem, 24.IX.2017, 2 ♀ apt., 3 nymphs ; idem, 15.X.2017, 1 ♀ apt., 4 nymphs; near Noshra Virkan Road , 32.023413° N 74.139566° E, 7. VIII .2017, 2 nymphs; idem, 10. VIII .2017, 3 nymphs. Gujrat District : Upper Jhelum canal near Pathan Colony, Kharian, 32.719544° N 73.795622° E, 11. XII .2016, 3 ♂, 7 ♀ apt., 6 nymphs; idem, 18. XII .2016, 16 ♂, 9 ♀ apt., 6 nymphs; idem, 22.IV.2017, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., 5 nymphs ; idem, 16. VII .2017, 5 ♂, 8 ♀ apt., 1 nymph; idem, 13. VIII .2017, 3 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., 5 nymphs; idem, 17.IX.2017, 3 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., 5 nymphs ; idem, 22.X.2017, 15 ♂, 11 ♀ apt., 2 nymphs ; idem, 24. VI .2018, 3 ♂, 2 ♀ apt., 2 nymphs; Upper Jhelum canal near Village Jaura, Kharian, 32.654499° N 73.816865° E, 11. XII .2016, 10 ♂, 12 ♀ apt., 15 nymphs; idem, 18. XII .2016, 9 ♂, 8 ♀ apt., 11 nymphs; idem, 21. V .2017, 3 nymphs; idem, 13. VIII .2017, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt.; idem, 17.IX.2017, 2 ♂, 4 ♀ apt., 8 nymphs ; idem, 17.IX.2017, 2 ♂, 4 ♀ apt., 8 nymphs ; idem, 24. VI .2018, 3 ♂, 2 ♀ apt.; Upper Jhelum canal Grand Trunk Road Sarai Alamgir, 32.890852° N 73.768194° E, 11. XII .2016, 6 ♂, 9 ♀ apt., 10 nymphs; idem, 18. XII .2016, 5 ♂, 11 ♀ apt., 1 nymph; idem, 16. VII .2017, 1 ♂, 4 ♀ apt., 2 nymphs; idem, 13. VIII .2017, 4 ♂, 7 ♀ apt.; idem, 17.IX.2017, 2 ♂, 9 ♀ apt., 3 nymphs ; idem, 22.X.2017, 16 nymphs ; idem, 22.IV.2018, 2 ♂, 2 ♀ apt., 1 ♂ macr .; idem, 24. VI .2018, 4 ♂, 1 ♀ apt.; idem, 4. VIII .2018, 3 ♂, 4 ♀ apt.; Upper Jhelum canal near Simbli Sharif Road Sarai Alamgir, 32.865010° N 73.713452° E, 11. XII .2016, 9 ♂, 9 ♀ apt., 4 nymphs; idem, 22.IV.2017, 6 ♂, 3 ♀ apt .; idem, 21. V .2017, 3 nymphs; idem, 16. VII .2017, 1 ♂ apt., 1 nymph; idem, 13. VIII .2017, 1 ♂ apt.; idem, 22.X.2017, 1 ♂, 2 ♀ apt .; idem, 24. VI .2018, 2 ♂, 3 ♀ apt.; River Jhelum , Grand Trunk Road, 32.917846° N 73.723696° E, 16. VII .2017, 1 nymph; idem, 13. VIII .2017, 1 ♂ macr., det. FC ( CFC) ; idem, 17.IX.2017, 2 ♂ 2 ♀ apt., det. FC ; idem, 22.X.2017, 4 ♂ 3 ♀ apt.; Upper Jhelum canal near Tarikha Village, Gujrat, 32.497335° N 74.016565° E, 11. V .2016, 14 ♂, 4 ♀, 12 nymphs; idem, 18. XII .2016, 6 ♂, 3 ♀ apt., 8 nymphs; idem, 21. V .2017, 1 nymph; idem, 16. VII .2017, 1 nymph; idem, 17.IX.2017, 1 ♀ apt., 4 nymphs ; idem, 26. VI .2018, 2 ♂, 3 ♀ apt. Sialkot District : Marala Ravi link canal near Basi wala pul, 32.222449° N 74.590056° E, 12. III .2016, 4 ♂, 3 ♀ apt.; idem, 1. VII .2017, 2 ♂ apt., 2 nymphs; idem, 16.IX.2017, 2 ♂, 3 ♀ apt., 10 nymphs; Marala Ravi link canal near Canal City Housing Society, 32.475159° N 74.422701° E, 11. V .2016, 2 ♂, 3 ♀ apt., 8 nymphs; idem, 2 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., det. FC ( CFC) ; idem, 13. VIII .2016, 4 ♂, 2 ♀; idem, 24. XII .2016, 3 ♂, 8 ♀ apt., 4 nymphs; idem, 22.IV.2017, 3 ♂, 8 ♀ apt .; idem, 24. V .2017, 5 ♂, 7 ♀ apt.; idem, 30. VII .2017, 1 ♂, 1 ♀ apt., 1 nymph; idem, 28.IX.2017, 4 ♂, 3 ♀ apt., 8 nymphs ; idem, 15.X.2017, 1 ♂, 2 ♀ apt., 20 nymphs; Upper Chanab canal near Malkhnawala Road, 32.432131° N 74.360571° E, 11. XII .2016, 15 ♂, 10 ♀ apt.; idem, 18. XII .2016, 2 ♂, 4 ♀ apt.; idem, 23.IV.2017, 14 nymphs ; idem, 22.X.2017, 1 ♂, 6 ♀ apt .; idem, 30.X.2017, 7 nymphs; Upper Chanab canal near Zafarwali, 32.478587° N 74.376158° E, 24. XII .2016, 8 ♂, 4 ♀ apt., 4 nymphs; idem, 28.IX.2017, 3 ♂, 3 ♀ apt., 1 nymph ; idem, 15.X.2017, 6 ♂, 4 ♀ apt., 3 nymphs; Marala Ravi link canal near Motra, 32.367782° N 74.419769° E, 13.XI.2016, 6 nymphs ; idem, 24. XII .2016, 6 nymphs; idem, 10. VIII .2017, 2 ♂ macr., 8 nymphs; idem, 4.IX.2017, 2 ♀ apt., 1 nymph ; idem, 4. VIII .2018, 15 ♂, 10 ♀ apt.; idem, 10.X.2019, 10 ♂, 5 ♀ apt.; Bambawali Ravi Bedian canal near Circular Road, Daska, 32.328191° N 74.345216° E, 13.XI.2016, 12 ♂, 11 ♀ apt., 2 nymphs ; idem, 24. XII .2016, 8 ♂, 12 ♀ apt.; idem, 10. VIII .2017, 13 ♂, 3 ♀ apt.; idem, 9.X.2019, 5 ♂, 3 ♀ apt .

General distribution. The species is known from Iraq, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Afghanistan, and India ( Román-Palacios et al. 2020).

Remarks. Reported here are the first formal records for Pakistan (see Chen & Nieser 1993, Basu et al. 2016a, Román-Palacios et al. 2020). Although Pruthi (1933) recorded Metrocoris ståli (Dohrn) for Punjab, this was a misidentification of M. communis (see list above for further detail).

This is a dimorphic species, with the apterous morph more common than the infrequently collected macropterous morph (see Jehamalar & Chandra 2013, Khazaei & Sadeghi 2018). The frequency of winged/wingless specimens is less than 1% (0.95%) in our recorded samples (n = 628); the proportion is slightly higher in the material from India by Jehamalar & Chandra (2013) and from Iran by Khazaei & Sadeghi (2018): 1.92% (n = 104) and 4.65% (n = 172), respectively. The macropterous morph was described and figured only recently by Jehamalar & Chandra (2013) on specimens from India. Later, Khazaei & Sadeghi (2018) illustrated and re-described these morphs with greater detail, based on specimens from Iran, but overlooked the previous work.

Taxonomic note. Khatoon & Ali (1978) described a new species of Gerridae from Pakistan, naming it Rheumatobates maculata , based on insects collected near Kabul River and a few other streams, although it lacked details about the number of specimens and exact localities. The proposed species was assigned to the New World genus Rheumatobates Bergroth, 1892 and the specific epithet was not in agreement with the male gender of the genus. This new taxon was overlooked by subsequent authors, probably due to lack of access to the publication. The brief description provided was inadequate (see Discussion section for details). The specimen that was figured ( Khatoon & Ali 1978, plate 1, fig. 3) reasonably corresponds to Metrocoris communis on the basis of the fore legs and antennae and colour pattern (evidenced by a shape in the drawing in black and white) of the pronotum and head. Moreover, M. communis is the easternmost species of Metrocoris Mayr, 1865 . As such, we propose Rheumatobates maculata Khatoon & Ali, 1978 as a junior synonym of Metrocoris communis (Distant, 1910) .