Locoptiris Villiers, 1943

Rédei, Dávid & Tsai, Jing-Fu, 2011, The assassin bug subfamilies Centrocnemidinae and Holoptilinae in Taiwan (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 51 (2), pp. 411-442 : 425-427

Genus Locoptiris Villiers, 1943

Locoptiris Villiers, 1943: 227 . Type species by original designation: Locoptiris burgeoni Villiers, 1943 .

References. WYGODZINSKY & USINGER (1963): 51 (diagnostic characters, notes); VILLIERS (1986): 216 (diagnostic characters of included species); MALDONADO CAPRILES (1990): 336 (catalogue).

Diagnosis. Distinguished from all other genera of the subfamily Holoptilinae by the combination of the following characters: body very small (2.5–3.5 mm); antenna and hind tibia densely clothed with stiff setae much longer than diameter of respective segments; antennal segments III and IV fused, therefore antenna 3-segmented, segment II not produced beyond base of segment III+IV; abdominal trichome absent.

Notes. Locoptiris currently contains two species, L. burgeoni Villiers, 1943 and L. couturieri Villers, 1986 , both occurring in tropical Africa. WYGODZINSKY & USINGER (1963: 51) noted that Ptilocerus pendleburyi Miller, 1940 , described from the Malay Peninsula, shows very close resemblance to Locoptiris and may belong to this genus; however, they pointed out that the African species differs from P. pendleburyi in a few characters probably of generic importance. Consequently, apparently largely based on zoogeographical considerations too, they did not made any formal change in the placement of the latter species.

Re-examination of the type material of P. pendleburyi and L. couturieri , examination of several specimens of L. burgeoni , and direct comparison of the holotype of L. taiwanensis to both African species lead the first author to the following conclusion. The two African species, Ptilocerus pendleburyi , and L. taiwanensis sp. nov. described below are strikingly similar morphologically, and apparently closely related phylogenetically. Although a few characters could be observed to separate the African and the Asian forms ( Table 1), none of them are considered as of genus level importance. Since it seems unjustified to separate the taxa at genus level, we regard all the four species as congeneric, and therefore we place the new species to Locoptiris , furthermore we propose the following new combination: Locoptiris pendleburyi ( Miller, 1940) , comb. nov. We define the following, apparently monophyletic species groups within Locoptiris : L. burgeoni species group ( L. burgeoni , L. couturieri ), and L. pendleburyi species group ( L. pendleburyi , L. taiwanensis sp. nov.).

1. Lateral margin of posterior lobe of pronotum with one Lateral margin of posterior lobe of pronotum with 2–3 spine-like seta before humeral angle; disc of posterior spine-like setae before humeral angle; disc of posterior lobe of pronotum with at most 2 pairs of spine-like lobe of pronotum with 4–6 pairs of spine-like setae at setae at median furrow median furrow, arranged in U-shaped line ( Fig. 42 )

3. Membrane of fore wing rather uniformly whitish or Membrane with a distinct, large, more or less rounded, light gray dark spot centrally ( Fig. 65 )

Figures

Figs. 42-45. Locoptiris taiwanensis sp. nov, male. 42 – head, pronotum, and scutellum, dorsal view; 43 – head and pronotum, lateral view; 44 – abdomen, dorsal view; 45 – same, ventral view. Scales in mm.

Figs. 65–67. Left fore wings of Holoptilinae spp. 65 – Locoptiris taiwanensis sp. nov.; 66 – Ptilocerus kanoi Esaki, 1931; 67 – P. immitis Uhler, 1896. Scales in mm.