Totta zaherii Ghauri & Ghauri, 1983

Yeshwanth, H. M., Chérot, F. & Henry, T. J., 2021, The Isometopinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae) of India and Sri Lanka: A Review of the Subfamily, with Descriptions of Six New Species, Zootaxa 4903 (2), pp. 151-193 : 169

Totta zaherii Ghauri & Ghauri, 1983

( Figs. 8 M–N, 10F)

Totta zaherii Ghauri & Ghauri, 1983: 21–22 (as new species, DV, Head and pronotum); Schuh 1995:16 (catalogue), 2 0 0 2– 2013 (online catalogue).

Diagnosis. Distinguished from the two other Totta species by the body and antennal color. The hemelytra of T. zaherii ( Fig. 8M) are “smoky yellowish green with brownish red markings” ( Ghauri & Ghauri 1983: 21) and translucent (whitish) areas; the first antennal segment and basal third of the second segment are smoky yellowish green, and the apical two thirds of the second antennal segment are reddish brown. In T. rufercorna Lin & Yang from Taiwan, the first antennal segment is pale yellow, second antennal segment is red, and the hemelytra are “translucent, silver white with pink area in the middle” ( Lin & Yang 2004: 40). In T. puspae Yasunaga & Duwal from Nepal, the first two antennal segments are brown and the last two are yellow, and the hemelytra are pale reddish brown, with translucent areas ( Yasunaga & Duwal 2006).

Type material examined. Holotype (♀): INDIA: Assam, Tocklai , xii.1980 ( BMNH).

Distribution. India (Assam)

Biology. Reported to be a predator of the tea scale, Fiorinia theae Green ( Hemiptera : Sternorrhyncha: Diaspididae ) ( Ghauri & Ghauri 1983).