Polytoxus rufinervis Hsiao, 1965

Rédei, Dávid & Tsai, Jing-Fu, 2010, A survey of the saicine assassin bugs of Taiwan (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 50 (1), pp. 15-32 : 25-26

Polytoxus rufinervis Hsiao, 1965

Diagnosis. Polytoxus rufinervis can be diagnosed by the following combination of characters: body relatively large (9–12 mm), bright red in colour, posterior lobe of pronotum with large dark brown spot reaching posterior margin; head and pronotum rather elongate; mesonotum carinate along meson; male genitalia as in Figs. 33–52 .

Taxonomy. Polytoxus rufinervis was described after a single female from Yunnan, China; the male has remained unknown so far. ISHIKAWA & OKAJIMA (2003) reported it from the Sa Pa District in northern Vietnam, based on two females. We could examine a series consisting of males and females from the Sa Pa District and agree with the identification of ISHIKAWA & OKAJIMA (2003).

We also examined several specimens of P. ardens Ishikawa & Yano, 2002 (described from Japan) from Taiwan, and our identification was confirmed by T. Ishikawa (pers. comm.). Although the specimens from Vietnam and Taiwan are different in colour, males from both localities have identical genitalia, and consequently there is no doubt about their conspecificity.

Nevertheless, specimens from Taiwan and Japan have a distinct longitudinal stripe in the middle of the fore wing. This stripe is obsolete or missing in specimens from Vietnam (examined by us) or China ( HSIAO 1965, HSIAO & REN 1981). This striking and consistent difference in coloration is most probably a result of their geographical isolation; therefore we treat P. ardens as a geographical subspecies of P. rufinervis .

Figures

Figs. 33–38. Polytoxus rufinervis ardens Ishikawa & Yano, 2002, male, Taiwan. 33 – pygophore, dorsal view; 34 – same, lateral view; 35 – superoposterior process of pygophore, lateral view; 36–38 – left paramere, three different aspects. Scales in mm.

Figs. 39–56. Polytoxus rufinervis ardens Ishikawa & Yano, 2002, male, Taiwan.39 – phallus, dorsal view; 40 – same, ventral view, articulatory apparatus omitted; 41 – same, lateral view, from right; 42 – same, from left, articulatory apparatus omitted; 43–56 – endosomal processes in different aspects (43–45 – process ‘A’; 46–47 – process ‘B’; 48–49 – process ‘C’; 50–51 – process ‘D’; 52 – process ‘E’; 53–54 – process ‘F’; 55–56 – process ‘G’). Scales in mm.