Gerris (Gerris) kabaishanus Linnavuori, 1998

Fent, Meral, Kment, Petr, Çamur-Elipek, Belgin & Kirgiz, Timur, 2011, Annotated catalogue of Enicocephalomorpha, Dipsocoromorpha, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha, and Leptopodomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of Turkey, with new records 2856, Zootaxa 2856 (1), pp. 1-84 : 45-46

Gerris (Gerris) kabaishanus Linnavuori, 1998

( Figs. 35–37 )

Gerris (Gerris) lacustris (misidentification): Hoberlandt (1952a: 34, partim).

Gerris (Gerris) lacustris (misidentification): Jaczewski (1964: 263–265) (see also Linnavuori 1994).

Gerris (Geriselloides) kiritshenkoi (misidentification): Linnavuori (1994: 91–92).

Gerris (Gerris) kabaishanus Linnavuori, 1998: 17–22 .

Material examined. ASIAN TURKEY: Kilis province: Kilis, 20.viii.1947, 1 ♀ (mi) ( Figs. 35–37 ), Exp. N. Mus. ČR lgt., L. Hoberlandt 1949 det. as Gerris (Gerris) ? lacustris, P. Kment revid. ( NMPC).

Asian Turkey. Hoberlandt (1952a, as G. lacustris , 1 ♀ (mi) from Kilis); this paper. New species for Turkey .

General distribution. So far known only according to three micropterous females from locality Al Kabaish (ca. 31° N 47° E) in marshland along the Euphrates River between An NāŞiriyāh and Al Qurna in south-eastern Iraq ( Linnavuori 1998), and the present record from southern Anatolia ( Hoberlandt 1952a, this paper). The records of G. lacustris reported from northern Iraq by Jaczewski (1964) possibly belong to this species as well (see Comment below).

Comment. Hoberlandt (1952a) wrote about the above mentioned specimen: ‘The micropterous female, collected near Kilis, distinguishies itself from all specimens of this species by its small size 6.69 mm, unusually strong lustre, especially of the tergum, the unusually pale coloured venter and sternum, and the two basal yellow coloured joints of rostrum. This specimen was collected on slightly running water, which formed in several steps above each other swampy pools with very warm and unclean water without vegetation. The air temperature in the limestone ravin, at whose bottom the specimen was caught, was 58°C.’ Jaczewski (1964) reported G. lacustris from two nearby localities in northern Iraq (‘Kurdistan, Askikalak on the Great Zab and the highway from Erbil to Mosul’; together 1 ♀ (ma), 1 ♂ 3 ♀♀ (ap), describing the localities as (shallow) branches of the river overgrown with reed and other aquatic plants. He further added the following comment: ‘All specimens of the type described by Hoberlandt [1952a] for the micropterous female taken near Kilis, Turkey, at the north-western frontier of Syria. They are smaller than Central European specimens, show a strongly shining abdominal tergum and have the two basal joints of the rostrum of a pale yellow colour. Further studies of the geographical variation within this species will show whether they deserve separation as a subspecies.’ Linnavuori (1994) recorded the species under the name G. (Geriselloides) kiritshenkoi Kanyukova, 1979 ; however, he mentioned several differences between his Iraqi specimens and the paratypes of G. kiritshenkoi . Linnavuori (1994) also stated that the records of G. lacustris from environs of Askikalak by Jaczewski (1964) belong ‘undoubtedly’ to the same taxon. Subsequently Andersen (1995) and Kanyukova (2006) erroneously attributed the Linnavuori’s (1994) ‘ G. kiritshenkoi ’ to G. caucasicus . Finally, Linnavuori (1998) compared the Iraqi specimens to material of G. kiritshenkoi collected in Gilan (north-western Iran) and described them as a separate species— G. kabaishanus . The specimens of G. kabaishanus from ‘Al Kabaish’ were collected on open water in the immense Typha marshes ( Linnavuori 1994, 1998). Recently we had the possibility for re-examining the Hoberlandt’s (1952a) female of G. lacustris from Kilis, confirming its identity as G. kabaishanus .

Identification. Linnavuori (1998). So far only the micropterous female has been described; the examination of the male and macropterous female mentioned by Jaczewski (1964) is desirable.

Figures

FIGURES 35–37. Gerris (Gerris) kabaishanus Linnavuori, 1998, female (Kilis province: Kilis, body length 6.5 mm).