Nerthra macrothorax (Montrouzier, 1855)

Xie, Tong-Yin & Liu, Guo-Qing, 2018, Notes on some toad bugs from China (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Gelastocoridae), ZooKeys 759, pp. 137-147 : 137

Nerthra macrothorax (Montrouzier, 1855)

Galgulus macrothorax Montrouzier, 1855: 110.

Scylaecus macrothorax : Stål 1861: 201.

Peltopterus macrothorax : Stål 1863: 408; Montandon 1899: 779; Kirkaldy 1906: 150; Esaki 1928: 75; Sonan 1934: 21; Hoffmann 1941: 44; Miyamoto 1953: 35, Miyamoto 1954: 28.

Nerthra macrothorax : Todd 1955: 414; Todd 1957: 157; Todd 1959: 63; Todd 1960: 172; Todd 1961, 93; Polhemus 1995: 24; Chen et al. 2005: 47; Nieser and Chen 2005: 308; Kment and Jindra 2008: 203; Polhemus and Polhemus 2012: 357, Xie and Liu 2013: 6; Sano 2016: 31.

Description

(from Todd 1955). Body light brown, front of head provided with five large, rounded tubercles, four of which are flatted on top and densely covered with short clavate bristles; ocelli absent. Pronotum greatly expanded laterally; lateral margins converging anteriorly, subparallel for posterior half; posterior angle projecting obliquely posterolateral, rather pointed; posterior margin with five concavities.

Scutellum rather small, apex narrowed, basal portion depressed, inclining to apex which is the most elevated part. Hemelytra entirely coriaceous, fused together, extending slightly beyond end of abdomen, large longitudinal carinae present; base of embolium greatly expanded laterally. Connexivum broadly expanded laterally in both sexes. Entire body covered with short, broadly clavate bristles, bristles pale and especially dense on pronotum and on the elevations of the head.

Abdominal sternites of female nearly symmetrical except for posterior margin of last sternite, which is slightly emarginated, but with apex slightly convex just below the lobes of the ovipositor, the latter somewhat rounded and the left one overlapping the right. Abdominal sternites of male rather small, last visible abdominal sternite wider than long, nearly twice as long as seventh sternite, which has the right side elongate, spatulate.

Clasper of male rather sickle-shaped, but nearly straight, very slightly enlarged at apex then tapering to a blunt point.

Notes.

During the daytime this species hides in wet mud or sand, or under stones or plant debris ( Chen et al. 2005). Nieser and Chen (2005) observed these toad bugs burrowing in the sand on a beach in the south of Taiwan. In view of its inability to fly, its wide distribution is attributed to dispersion by drift on plant debris ( Todd 1960). The authors have not seen this species, and distribution data for this species was collected from the published literature.

Distribution.

China (Taiwan), Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia ( Kment and Jindra 2008).