Notocyrtus costai, Gil-Santana, Hélcio R. & Forero, Dimitri, 2009

Gil-Santana, Hélcio R. & Forero, Dimitri, 2009, A new species of Notocyrtus, a new synonym of Coilopus, and new records and notes on other Harpactorini (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) from South America, Zootaxa 2148, pp. 55-67 : 62-63

Notocyrtus costai , sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Notocyrtus costai can be distinguished from all other species of Notocyrtus by the following combination of characters: narrow pronotum; nearly hemispherical anterior lobe of pronotum; third lobe of pronotum flat, not excavated medially, with posterior margin subquadrangular; gently convex vertex on head, not produced as conical tubercles; and by the color pattern, particulary the black pronotum with a median pale yellow transverse fascia, the pale yellow posterior margin of the third lobe, and the black and yellow parttern of the legs.

Description. Female (Figs. 7–13). MEASUREMENTS: Total length, to tip of abdomen: 11.0, to tip of hemelytra: 13.0. Head length: 1.8; antennal segment: I: 3.9; II: 1.0; III: 3.7; IV: 1.7; rostrum length: 2.0. Thorax: pronotum length: 4.1. Fore leg: femur: 3.5; tibia: 4.2; tarsi: 0.6; mid leg: femur: 3.2; tibia: 4.3; tarsi: absent; hind leg: femur: 3.9; tibia: 5.2; tarsi: 0.6. Abdomen length: 5.2. COLORATION: General coloration black with yellow to orange areas (Figs. 7–8). Head (Figs. 9–10) yellow; clypeus, two subparallel fasciae on interocular area, two large spots in dorsal portion of postocular area, and a straight fascia on ventral area of postocular area, black. Antenna black, segment I with two broad yellow rings, basal yellow ring on segment II, and segment III with yellow base. Rostrum yellow; segment II with paired, lateral, black fascia on apical half; segment III with ventral, black fascia, and paired, lateral, black fascia (Fig. 9). Pronotum black, collar including anterior angles yellow, transverse fascia between anterior and posterior lobes pale yellow, hind margin of third lobe pale yellow (Figs. 7–8). Pleura black, anterior margin and area above coxae yellow. Legs (Figs. 11–13): coxae yellow with lateral black spot; trochanters yellow, blackish in dorsal and ventral views; fore and mid femora yellow with apical third black (Figs. 11–12), fore femur also with black fascia on ventral face of basal half (Figs. 11); hind femur black with basal and median ring yellow (Fig. 13); fore tibia black with two broad yellow rings, subapical one darkened (Fig. 11); mid and hind tibiae black with broad subapical yellow ring (Figs. 12–13); fore and hind tarsi (mid one absent) yellowish. Hemelytron brown, membrane transparent (Fig. 7). Abdomen reddish brown, paler at first two segments with poor defined blackish markings on the connexival segments. STRUCTURE: Spines on head short (Fig. 9); vertex gently convex, not produced as conical tubercles; antennal segments I–II straight, III curved, IV slightly curved. Pronotum inflated, narrow, slightly wider than abdomen width; anterior lobe strongly convex, semi-hemispherical in dorsal view, lateral margins declivent and slightly expanded laterally; posterior lobe convex, with posterior margin strongly arcuate (Figs. 7–8); transverse sulcus between anterior and posterior lobe shallow, wide; third lobe flat, not excavated, subquadrangular on its posterior margin (Figs. 7). Mid and hind femora slightly expanded towards the apex (Figs. 12–13); fore tibia curved (Fig. 11); mid tibia slightly enlarged medially; hind tibiae enlarged medially, flattened laterally (Figs. 12–13).

Etymology. The new species is named after Luiz Antônio Alves Costa, an entomologist at the MNRJ, for his contribution to the study of Neotropical Heteroptera .

Discussion. Notocyrtus costai , sp. nov. is superficially similar to N. foveatus Stål, 1872 (Figs.14–16), in particular because of the color pattern of the pronotum. Notocyrtus costai can be differentiated from N. foveatus by the greater total length; the particular pattern of the black markings of the head (Figs. 9–10, 15–16); the gently convex vertex (Fig. 9), which is elevated as a pair of tubercles in N. foveatus (Fig. 15); the less profound transverse sulcus of the pronotum (Figs. 7–8, 14); the flat third lobe with subquadrangular posterior margin, without a central depression; the coloration of legs (Figs. 11–13, 14); and the less expanded hind tibiae (Figs. 13, 14).

Notocyrtus costai may also be confused with N. camelus Stål, 1859 because of the very similar structure of the pronotum, which is relatively narrow and with the anterior lobe nearly hemispherical. The third lobe in N. costai is subquadrangular, whereas in N. camelus it is broadly triangular with a median depression, similar also to the structure of the third lobe of N. foveatus . The structure of the head is also different between N. costai and N. camelus : the interocular region is gently convex in N. costai , whereas in N. camelus it has a pair of raised tubercles ( Carvalho & Costa 1993: 376). Color differences also help to distinguish these two species, in N. costai large areas of the thorax, abdomen and legs are yellow or pale brown, whereas in N. camelus most of the thorax, legs, and abdomen are black.

HOLOTYPE Ƥ: SURINAM, Marowijne district, Langaman Kondre, VIII-1965, R. Malkin leg. / Holotype Notocyrtus costai sp. nov. Gil-Santana & Forero (red label) [ MZSP].

Other material examined. Notocyrtus foveatus : BRAZIL, 13, Amazonas, Tefé, VIII-1991, Roppa & P. Magno leg.; 1Ƥ, Pará, Tucuruí, Vila Brava, 15-VII-1980; 1Ƥ, Goiás, Jataí, 1955.