Enithares intha Paiva, 1918

Zettel, Herbert, Lane, David J. W., Pangantihon, Clister V., Freitag, Hendrik & Be, Jalan Tungku Link, 2012, Notes on Notonectidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from southeastern Asia, mostly from Brunei and the Philippines, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52 (1), pp. 29-48 : 37-38

Enithares intha Paiva, 1918

( Figs. 10 , 16, 18 )

Enithares intha Paiva, 1918: 27 ; LANSBURY (1968: 438); LANSBURY (1973: 228); NIESER et al. (2008: 274, 279); THIRUMALAI (2007: 43).

Material examined. MYANMAR: SHAN STATE: 2.5 km north of Mintaingbin Forest Camp, 1250 m a.s.l., 20°55.722′N 96°32.913′E, 12.+ 16.vi.2004, leg. H. Shaverdo & Myint Hlaing (149), 3 ♀♀ ( NHMW).

Distribution and notes. Until recently, Enithares intha was only known from the type series, two males, from Inle Lake, also in Shan State, Myanmar. While the identity of this species was unknown to Ivor Lansbury when preparing his revision of Enithares ( LANSBURY 1968) , he redescribed the types later ( LANSBURY 1973). THIRUMALAI (2007) recorded E. intha from Meghalaya, northeastern India, based on a personal note by J.T. Polhemus. NIESER et al. (2008) included E. intha in a key to species from Thailand and adjacent areas, referring to LANSBURY’ s (1973) redescription, without having seen further specimens. Material in NHMW consists only of females. The shape of the metaxiphus agrees well with the illustration provided by LANSBURY (1973) for males and allows identification. The females strongly resemble E. sinica (comp. Fig. 12 ) except for slightly smaller body size, for a distinct spur on the mesotrochanter ( Fig. 16 ), which is absent in E. sinica females ( Fig. 17 ) and for the shape of the metaxiphus ( Fig. 18 ), which is not expanded and has less highly elevated margins than in E. sinica ( Fig. 19 ). The small spur on the mesotrochanter distinguishes females from all species in the region.

Description of female. Body length 8.38–8.95 mm, head width 2.38–2.58 mm, median head length (in exact dorsal aspect of specimen) 1.24–1.30 mm, anterior width of vertex 1.05–1.09 mm, synthlipsis 0.48–0.51 mm, pronotum width 2.95–3.19 mm, median pronotum length 1.03–1.19 mm. Colour see Fig. 10 , extension of dark colour on mesoscutellum and hemelytra slightly varying. Head large. Vertex anteriorly convex, clearly surpassing anterior eye margin. Medial margin of pronotal foveae directed slightly laterally. Metaxiphus ( Fig. 18 ), relatively narrow, with distinctly, but not very strongly elevated sides and short apex. Mesotrochanter ( Fig. 16 ) with distinct spur similar to that of male. Metafemur without tooth.

Figures

Figs. 8–13. Notonectinae. Habitus, dorsal aspect: 8 – Aphelonecta philippina Zettel, 1995, male. 9 – Enithares freyi Brooks, 1948, male. 10 – E. intha Paiva, 1918, female. 11 – E. quadrispinosa Lansbury, 1967, male. 12 – E. sinica (Stål, 1854), male. 13 – E. subparallela Lansbury, 1968, male. © NHMW Hemiptera Image Collection.

Fig. 14–19. Enithares Spinola, 1837, morphological details. 14–15 – lateral arms of basal plate of aedeagus, left aspect: 14 – E. freyi Brooks, 1948; 15 – E. quadrispinosa Lansbury, 1967. 16–17 – left mesotrochanter of female, ventral aspect: 16 – E. intha Paiva, 1918 (sp = spur); 17 – E. sinica (Stål, 1854). 18–19 – metaxiphus of female, ventral aspect: 18 – E. intha; 19 – E. sinica.