Paravelia rotundanotata (Hungerford, 1930)

Rodrigues, Higor D. D., Moreira, Felipe Ferraz Figueiredo & Morales, Irina, 2022, New species and notes on Paravelia Breddin, 1898 (Heteroptera: Veliidae) from South America, Zootaxa 5162 (3), pp. 277-289 : 287-288

Paravelia rotundanotata (Hungerford, 1930)

( Figs. 27–30 )

Velia rotundanotata Hungerford, 1930a: 23–24 (original description).

Paravelia rotundanotata: Polhemus 1976: 512 (changed combination).

Supplemental description. Micropterous male (n = 1). Body length 3.25; maximum width 0.90. Anterior lobe of pronotum (subtriangular), thoracic pleura, lateral margins of all acetabula, abdominal mediotergites I–III (irregular-shaped), V–VIII (V–VII rounded and increasing posteriorly), anterolateral corners of abdominal laterotergites, and lateral (below abdominal lacunae) and central regions of abdominal sterna III–VI covered by minute, frosty, pubescence, visible mainly in anterior or lateral views ( Figs. 27, 29 ). Dorsal surface of head, pronotum, abdominal medio- and laterotergites, and lateral region of abdomen with long, dark-brown, generally dispersed, setae. Ocular setae present. Meso- and metasterna centrally with two pairs of small tubercles on intersegmental region. Posterior margin of metasternum convex. Fore tibia (0.98 mm long) with grasping comb (0.18 mm long) occupying only a small apical region of segment ( Fig. 28 ). Middle tibia without row of elongate trichobothria-like setae. Abdominal sterna II–VII laterally with narrow, transverse furrows at anterior regions, and roughly rounded longitudinal furrows at mid-length ( Fig. 29 ).

Discussion. A photograph of the dorsal habitus of the macropterous form of this species was provided by Rodrigues et al. (2014). Recently, Mazzucconi et al. (2022) recorded this species from the Province of Corrientes, Argentina, 92 years after its original record from “La Plata” ( Hungerford 1930a). The same authors also offered a photograph of the dorsal habitus of the micropterous male. In the present study, we examined a micropterous male ( Fig. 27 ) collected in the Amazon, State of Pará, northern Brazil, the northernmost record of the species known at moment.

Paravelia rotundanotata is morphologically very similar to P. confusa (Hungerford, 1930) and P. ornata Rodrigues, Moreira, Nieser, Chen & Melo, 2014 , and these three form a distinct subgroup within the genus. They all share, for example, the pubescence of the body and the maculae pattern on the forewing of the macropterous specimens, in addition to the body covered by small black denticles. It can be separated from these congeners by the absence of projections on male abdominal sternum VII (present in P. confusa ) and by the antennomere IV distinctly lighter than the others ( Fig. 27 ) (concolorous with the others in P. ornata ).

The term “pruinose areas” sensu Rodrigues et al. (2014) mentioned for this species is here changed to “frosty pubescence”. Pruinosity is caused by wax particles on the insect’s cuticle that cover up the underlying coloration, giving a dusty or frosted appearance, which does not seem to occur in P. rotundanotata . In this species, it appears that these whitish regions along the body are formed by a very dense layer of short setae.

Distribution and habitat. This species is distributed from northern Brazil, in the Amazon, to the province of Buenos Aires (La Plata), in Argentina ( Fig. 30 ). The records from Minas Gerais, Brazil, mentioned by Hungerford (1930a) were not included in the map due to the absence of precision. The specimen from Pará, northern Brazil, was collected in a stream in a pasture area, without marginal vegetation, whereas that examined by Mazzucconi et al. (2022) was collected on the open water surface at the Corriente River, in a shaded place close to emergent vegetation.

Published records. Argentina: Corrientes and “La Plata” ( Hungerford 1930a; Mazzucconi et al. 2022). Brazil: Mato Grosso, Minas Gerais, and Mato Grosso do Sul ( Hungerford 1930 a, Rodrigues et al. 2014).

Material examined. BRAZIL, Pará: Paragominas , igarapé em área de pastagem [= stream in pasture area], sem vegetação marginal [= without marginal vegetation], -3.0286, -47.82074, 15.VIII.2015, E.J. Cunha col. (1♂ micropterous, CEIOC) .

Figures

FIGURE 30. Distribution records of five species of Paravelia in South America.

FIGURES 21–29. Paravelia spp., (21–26) Paravelia nieseri Moreira & Barbosa, (21) dorsal habitus of female from Serra do Caraça, Brazil (MZUSP), (22) dorsal view of head, (23) fore tibia of male, (24) fore tibia of female, (25) middle tibia of male, black arrow indicates elongate dark-brown trichobothria-like setae, (26) lateral view of female abdomen. (27–29) Paravelia rotundanotata (Hungerford), (27) dorsal habitus of micropterous male from Paragominas, Brazil (CEIOC), (28) fore tibia and tarsus of male, (29) lateral view of male abdomen. gc = grasping comb, if = impressed furrow, iml = impressed median line, cil = convergent impressed line, pi = posterior indentation, II–VII = abdominal segments.