Rhagovelia papuensis, Lundblad, 1936

Zettel, Herbert, Laciny, Alice & Freitag, Hendrik, 2020, Review of the genus Rhagovelia Mayr, 1865 (Insecta: Heteroptera: Veliidae) in the Palawan biogeographic region, the Philippines, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 68, pp. 810-837 : 823

Rhagovelia papuensis species group

Diagnosis. Body usually slender, very variable in size (length ca. 2.4–5.4 mm; but at least 3.0 mm in Philippine species). Body black, brown, orange or yellowish, dark species usually with rich yellow or orange markings, especially connexival margins yellowish in almost all species. Antennae and legs black, bases largely yellow. Metafemur of male usually very strongly enlarged, with rich dentition of varying lengths and patterns; of female relatively slender and with much less dentition. Paramere of male very variable in shape and pilosity. Apterous morph: Pronotum very long, length much longer than eye length. Mesonotum not or hardly exposed. Macropterous morph common: Wings blackish, often with whitish or yellow streak. Forewing with 3 or 4 closed cells reaching distal third, cells without pilosity. Dealate morph unknown. Abdominal carina reaching at least tergite 3.

Distribution. Numerous species from Sri Lanka and India to Australia (Polhemus & Polhemus, 1988), but sparsely distributed and rarely collected on the South and Southeast Asian mainland (e.g., Zettel & Tran, 2004); still unknown from Sumatra and Java. Highest diversity in the Philippines (more than 20 species including undescribed taxa), Borneo, Sulawesi, and New Guinea.