Rhagovelia ( Rhagovelia ) infernalis africana Lundblad, 1936

Cianferoni, Fabio & Dia, Aref, 2025, Annotated catalogue and checklist of Gerromorpha, Nepomorpha, and Leptopodomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of Lebanon, with new records, Zootaxa 5725 (1), pp. 1-54 : 14-15

Rhagovelia ( Rhagovelia) infernalis africana Lundblad, 1936

Rhagovelia nigricans (Burmeister) : Nieser & Moubayed (1986: 248), “ Liban […] Elaïn”. Misidentification (suspected); Dia (1998), “Litani basin […] Cours principal, Zrairiyé”. Misidentification (suspected).

Rhagovelia ( Rhagovelia) nigricans nigricans (Burmeister) : Fent et al. (2011: 39), quotation of Nieser & Moubayed (1986, as “1985”); Aukema et al. (2013: 37), “ Lebanon ”, quotation of Nieser & Moubayed (1986); Csabai et al. (2017: 63, 64), “ Lebanon ” and “ Lebanon ( Nieser & Moubayed 1986)”, quotations of Nieser & Moubayed (1986); Ghahari et al. ( 2023i: 8), “ Lebanon ”, quotation of Nieser & Moubayed (1986).

Material examined. Survey material: Basin of Litani: Yelouch, 28.XI.2019, 32 ♂♂, 47 ♀♀ apt., 6 V instar nymphs ( 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀) apt., MLUB ; idem, 10 ♂♂, 10 ♀♀ apt., 6 V instar nymphs ( 3 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀) apt., CFC .

General distribution. This taxon is known for subtropical Africa (range to be confirmed and defined) and it has been so far confirmed for Israel, Cyprus, and Rhodes Island in Greece (see Fent et al. 2011, Csabai et al. 2017).

Remarks. Many former records of R. nigricans nigricans (Burmeister, 1835) are doubtful and their revision is necessary. Several misidentifications with the R. infernalis africana Lundblad, 1936 occurred (see e.g., Fent et al. 2011, Csabai et al. 2017). The two species are very similar externally and the shape of the lateral sclerite of the endosoma is the only reliable characteristic for separating males ( Csabai et al. 2017).

Is it possible that also the record for Lebanon by Nieser & Moubayed (1986) refers to R. infernalis africana (confirmed also by N. Nieser, pers. comm., 28 June 2019). Further four specimens collected by the second author in the 29.I.1989 at Yelouch (Basin of Litani), identified by Alain Thiéry (University of Avignon, France) as R. nigricans nigricans , also would require to be checked. Unfortunately, it was not possible to locate and re-examine these specimens. However, a misidentification with R. infernalis africana is very likely since this long series of Lebanese Rhagovelia recently collected in the same site (see material examined) allowed to confirm the occurrence of R. infernalis africana in the country.

Also the remaining records R. n. nigricans for eastern countries quoted by Csabai et al. (2017) need to be checked. Therefeore, the presence of R. n. nigricans is preemptively exluded from Lebanon pending further research.

The nominotypical subspecies is known for Comoros and Rodrigues Island ( Mauritius), whilst the subspecies R. i. socotrensis Brown, 1956 for the island of Socotra ( Yemen) and R. i. andranombyi Poisson, 1952 for Madagascar (for details see Kment & Carapezza 2022).