Zelus fuliginatus Zhang & Hart

Zhang, Guanyang, Hart, Elwood R & Weirauch, Christiane, 2016, A taxonomic monograph of the assassin bug genus Zelus Fabricius (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): 71 species based on 10,000 specimens, Biodiversity Data Journal 4, pp. 8150-8150 : 8150

Zelus fuliginatus Zhang & Hart sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00007997 ; recordedBy: Richter; sex: Adult Male; Taxon: scientificName: Zelusfuliginatus; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Zhang & Hart, 2016; Location: country: COLOMBIA; stateProvince: Quindio; locality: Salento ; verbatimElevation: 1895 m; decimalLatitude: 4.6375; decimalLongitude: -75.57028; georeferenceSources: Gazetteer; Identification: identifiedBy: G. Zhang; dateIdentified: 2013; Event: eventDate: 1939-07-14; Record Level: institutionCode: USNM Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00009462 ; occurrenceRemarks: Previously designated as 'allotype' of his manuscript name Zelusfuliginatus by Hart, a type status not used in the formal publication of this name (Zhang et al.); recordedBy: Richter; sex: Adult Female; Taxon: scientificName: Zelusfuliginatus; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Zhang & Hart, 2016; Location: country: COLOMBIA; stateProvince: Santander; locality: Rio Suarez ; decimalLatitude: 6.76667; decimalLongitude: -73.26667; georeferenceSources: GeoLocate Software; Identification: identifiedBy: G. Zhang; dateIdentified: 2013; Event: eventDate: 1946-01-16; Record Level: institutionCode: USNM Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: AMNH_PBI 00218883 ; recordedBy: J.S. Miller & E. Tapia; sex: Adult Male; Taxon: scientificName: Zelusfuliginatus; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Zhang & Hart, 2016; Location: country: Ecuador; stateProvince: Napo; locality: W bank of Rio Quijos ; verbatimElevation: 1750 m; decimalLatitude: 0.43333; decimalLongitude: -77.88333; georeferenceSources: Label; Identification: identifiedBy: G. Zhang; dateIdentified: 2013; Event: eventDate: 2006-03-03; Record Level: institutionCode: UCR

Description

Figs 79, 80, 81

Male: (Fig. 79a, b) Medium-sized, total length 12.08-13.76 mm (mean 12.92 mm, Suppl. material 2); slender. COLORATION: Entire surface, including antenna, labium and legs, black, except for yellowish abdominal segments 2-7 and very slender, medial longitudinal stripe on postocular lobe. VESTITURE: Densely setose. Anteocular with dense, short, spine-like setae, intermixed with short, recumbent, fine setae; dorsum of postocular with moderately dense, short to long, spine-like setae; ventral surface of head with sparse, long setae, varying from fine to spine-like, also with recumbent setae. Pronotum with dense, short, spine-like setae over entire surface; lateral surface of anterior pronotal lobe and pleura with both short and long, spine-like setae; scutellum with dense, short to long, spine-like setae. Legs with sparse setation. Corium and clavus with dense, recumbent, stout setae. Abdomen with moderately dense, short to long, semi-erect setae. STRUCTURE: Head: Cylindrical, L/W = 1.96. Postocular lobe short; in dorsal view anteriorly gradually narrowing, posterior portion constant, slightly narrower. Eye moderately sized; lateral margin only slightly wider than postocular lobe; dorsal and ventral margins removed from surfaces of head. Labium: I: II: III = 1: 1.5: 0.4. Basiflagellomere diameter larger than that of pedicel. Thorax: Anterolateral angle rounded, without projection; medial longitudinal sulcus evident throughout, deepening posteriorly. Disc distinctly elevated above humeral angle; humeral angle rounded, without projection. Scutellum long; apex angulate, not projected. Legs: Moderately robust. Hemelytron: Greatly surpassing apex of abdomen by about 3x length of abdominal segment seven; quadrate cell large and broad; Cu and M of cubital cell subparallel. GENITALIA: (Fig. 80) Pygophore: Elongate ovoid; mid-lateral fold adjacent to paramere insertion; slightly expanded laterally near base of paramere in dorsal view. Medial process somewhat cone-shaped; tapering to apex; long; posteriorly directed; basally slightly curved; apex in posterior view blunt. Paramere: Cylindrical, apically compressed; moderately long, nearly reaching apex of medial process; directed posteriad; basally constricted; not distinctly curved; apical part enlarged. Phallus: Dorsal phallothecal sclerite elongated; apical 1/3 of phallothecal sclerite tapering to apex, strong convex, laterally rounded, not forming angle; apex with small medial emargination; posterior margin of foramen broadly concave. Struts attached to dorsal phallothecal sclerite; apically separate, connected by bridge. Basal plate arm moderately robust; separate; subparallel; in lateral view very slightly curved; bridge short; extension of basal plate expanded onto arm.

Female: (Fig. 79c, d) Similar to male, except for the following. Larger than male, total length 17.68-18.13 mm (mean 17.91 mm, Suppl. material 2).

Diagnosis

Recognized by the strongly contrasting black dorsum and yellow abdomen, the rather short postocular lobe, and the Sc not reaching apex of cubital cell. Other diagnostic characters shared with members of the Zelus vagans species group and the Zelus longipes species group include the unarmed rounded humeral angle and the spine-like setae on pronotum. Males can also be separated from other species of the Zelus vagans species group by the medial process apically tapered, somewhat pointed (Fig. 11).

Etymology

The species epithet means 'soot' or painted black, referring to the black dorsal coloration of this species.

Distribution

Northern South America (Fig. 81). Countries with records: Colombia and Ecuador.