Nychia sappho Kirkaldy, 1901

Nieser, Nico, 2004, Guide To Aquatic Heteroptera Of Singapore And Peninsular Malaysia Iii. Pleidae And Notonectidae, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 52 (1), pp. 79-96 : 94

publication ID

https://doi.org/ 10.5281/zenodo.13244673

persistent identifier

https://treatment.plazi.org/id/B22C87F3-1440-E039-FC1D-FDB8E4B7FEB0

treatment provided by

Felipe (2024-08-06 18:48:48, last updated 2024-08-06 20:17:24)

scientific name

Nychia sappho Kirkaldy, 1901
status

 

Nychia sappho Kirkaldy, 1901 View in CoL

Nychia marshalli var. sappho - Kirkaldy, 1901.

Nychia malayana - Lundblad, 1933; Fernando & Cheng, 1974; Fernando & Leong, 1976.

Nychia sappho View in CoL - Lansbury 1985 (redescription, synonymy); Kovac & Yang, 1990; Yang et al., 1999.

Diagnosis. – This species is distinguished by the holoptic eyes and the foveate pronotum ( Fig. 11 View Fig ).

Brachypterous form. Length, male 3.6-3.9, female 4.2-4.8; width, male 1.0-1.3, female 1.2-1.4.

Eyes reddish, pronotum and scutellum whitish, middle of scutellum somewhat translucent. Hemielytra largely translucent, whitish back of abdomen shining through. Hemielytra along costal margin with a broad pruinose band variably infuscated, base of hemielytra also pruinose, in females extending caudally to a white to brownish pruinose band running about one third the length of hemielytron about midway between costal and inner margins; some females with two variable brown spots across hemielytral commissure.

Vertex somewhat protruding in front of eyes; eyes holoptic posteriorly. Width of pronotum, male 0.9-1.0, female 1.0- 1.1; pronotum laterally with a pair of foveae. Basal width of scutellum, male & female 0.4-0.7; median length 0.5-0.8. Hemielytra without claval suture, membrane reduced; hind wings absent. Male fore tarsi two-segmented, female fore tarsi one-segmented.

Macropterous form. Length, male 3.9-4.6, female 4.4-4.7; width, male 1.2-1.4, female 1.3-1.4. Colour as in brachypterous form except for hemielytra: clavus largely translucent; corium and membrane pruinose; corium with a narrow longitudinal median translucent stripe, pruinose areas light to medium brown; membrane whitish. Hind wings translucent with a vague whitish hue.

Structurally essentially as brachypterous form except for the scutellum which is much more strongly developed, basal width 0.9-1.2, median length 0.9-1.1. Hemielytra with claval suture present. Membrane and hind wings fully developed.

Distribution. – Widespread, recorded from N Australia and New Guinea through Indonesia, the Philippines and continental SE Asia to Burma ( Lansbury, 1985; Nieser, 1998). Recorded from Johor, Pahang, Perak and Singapore (Fernando & Cheng, 1974; Fernando & Leong, 1976; Kovac & Yang, 1990; Yang et al., 1999). In the ZRC there are also samples from Selangor and Terengganu. The commonest species in the samples of ZRC, which is partly due to the fact that larvae are identifiable to species. Found in virtually stagnant parts of streams and in ponds not connected with streams.

Kirkaldy, G. W., 1901. Miscellanea Rhynchotalia. The Entomologist, 34: 5 - 6.

Lansbury, I., 1985. Notes on the identity of Nychia Stal (Hemiptera-Heteroptera: Notonectidae) in Australia. The Beagle, Occasional Papers of the Northern Territory Museum of Arts and Sciences, 2: 1 - 9.

Lundblad, O., 1933. Zur Kenntnis der aquatilen und semiaquatilen Hemipteren von Sumatra, Java und Bali. Archiv fur Hydrobiologie, Supplement Band 12: 1 - 195, 263 - 488, pls. 1 - 21.

Nieser, N., 1998. Introduction to the Notonectidae (Nepomorpha) of Thailand. Amemboa, 2: 10 - 14.

Yang, C. M., T. C. M. Wong, H. K. Lua & L. M. Koh, 1999. A checklist of aquatic and semiaquatic bugs (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from Pulau Tioman, Peninsular Malaysia. The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology, Supplement 6: 277 - 288.

Gallery Image

Fig. 11. Nychia sappho, brachypterous male in dorsal view, body length 3.7 mm. c = ocular commissure; f = pronotal fovea.

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hemiptera

Family

Notonectidae

Genus

Nychia

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Arthropoda

Class

Insecta

Order

Hemiptera

Family

Notonectidae

Genus

Nychia