Voconia bracata, Castillo & Rédei & Weirauch, 2022

Castillo, Stephanie, Rédei, Dávid & Weirauch, Christiane, 2022, Pseudocetherinae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) revisited: phylogeny and taxonomy of the lobe-headed bugs, European Journal of Taxonomy 788 (1), pp. 1-95 : 35-37

Voconia bracata sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:32D3A427-888D-4D48-B0C3-5EB69CB43B1A

Figs 1 , 2 , 3J , 4C, K , 7 , 9 , 18

Diagnosis

Distinguished from other species of the genus Voconia by its long, slender body (about 10.8 mm), long head (about 1.7 times as long as wide), hind leg with four large spines in the posterior row, a large pale spot between R and M veins, and dorsal laterotergites I and II yellow, the remainder dark brown. This species is most similar to V. typica , but is differentiated by the yellow proximal third of the mid and hind femora as well as the anterior pronotal lobe, which is convex, strongly curved inward on the posterolateral margins.

Etymology

The specific epithet is the Latin adjective ‘ bracatus, - a, - um ’, meaning ‘wearing trousers’. It refers to the yellow coloration of the proximal half of the femora.

Type material

Holotype PAPUA NEW GUINEA • ♂; Milne Bay Province, Waikaiuna, Normanby Island ; [10.06° S, 150.97° E]; elev. 0–50 m; 14 Apr. 1956; L.J. Brass leg.; Fifth Archibold Exped. to New Guinea; USI: AMNH_PBI 00170707 ; AMNH.

Description

Male ( Figs 7 , 9 )

BODY LENGTH. About 10.8 mm; macropterous.

COLORATION. Head: dark brown; postocular region with dark patches adjacent to medial ocellar margin and paired pale patches adjacent to lateral ocellar margin; labial segments II and III lighter than head. Thorax: coloration as head; scutellum dark with contrasting yellow apical spine. Hemelytron (abducted): clavus dark reddish-brown with distal half yellow; corium dark reddish-brown with anteromedial, posteromedial, and distal yellow spots; membrane dark, large pale spot between R and M veins; membranal veins R and M proximally pale, remainder as membrane. Legs ( Fig. 4K ): dark brown with yellow mid and hind coxae, trochanter, and proximal third of femora. Abdomen ( Fig. 4C ): dark reddishbrown; dorsal laterotergites I and II yellow.

INTEGUMENT AND VESTITURE. Head and pronotum: finely granulose with sparse, short macrosetae interspersed among dense pubescence; antennifer with short lateral setigerous tubercle; morphologically ventral surface of labium with dense, short macrosetae; anterolateral angles of pronotal collar without macrosetae or setigerous tubercles. Legs ( Fig. 4K ): posterior row of protuberances on mid and hind femora with four large spines on distal half. Abdomen: ventral surface pubescent with long macrosetae.

STRUCTURE. Head: elongate, about 1.7 times as long as wide; anteocular region about one third of head length, subequal in length to postocular region (measured to anterior margin of neck); postocular region in dorsal view longer than eye, lateral margins gently rounded; pedicel about 1.8 times length of head width; maxillary plates ellipsoidal, adjacent to and reaching apex of clypeus; apex of maxillary plates in dorsal view directed straight; clypeus in dorsal view slightly narrower than maxillary plates; clypeal apex round, not narrowed; interocular glabrous markings V-shaped, joined medially at interocular sulcus; interocular sulcus in dorsal view slightly bent anteromedially, subtriangular; eye width in dorsal view wider than synthlipsis; eye reaching ventral head margin in lateral view; ventrolateral swelling of buccula without lateral protrusion that surpasses buccular margin, flat margin; labial segment I in lateral view straight, surpassing posteroventral eye margin; morphologically dorsal surface of labial segment II slightly curving apically, about 0.4 times length of segment I. Thorax: pronotal collar narrow medially with anterolateral angles short, projected forward; anterior pronotal lobe subequal in length to posterior pronotal lobe, lateral margins rounded; glabrous markings on pronotum thin and not deeply depressed; median apodeme depression of pronotum deep and elongated transversely; scutellar spine long and subhorizontal; anteriad-directed process of prosternum smoothly rounded, without paramedial lobes ( Fig. 3J ); anterior margin of stridulitrum not elongated into protuberance ( Fig. 3J ); proepimeron with smoothly rounded posteroventral margin. Legs: fossula spongiosa present on fore and mid legs.

Female

Unknown.

Distribution ( Fig. 18 )

This species is only known from the type locality of Normanby Island off of Papua New Guinea, where no other Pseudocetherinae species are known.

Remarks

This species forms a well-supported clade with another species from Papua New Guinea, V. typica ( Figs 1–2 ).

Figures

Fig. 1. Strict consensus tree resulting from equal weighting analysis. Jackknife values over 51 are reported for tree one of eight.

Fig. 2. Tree resulting from implied weighting analysis using K = 12 with characters unambiguously optimized. Symmetric resampling values over 51 are represented for trees obtained with K = 3, K = 6, K = 9, and K = 12 analyses. Characters and character states are described in pp. 11–22. Specimens not to scale.

Fig. 3. Morphological characters. A–D. Head in dorsal view. A. Gerbelius nr. confluens. B. Voconia decorata sp. nov. C. Voconia pallidipes Stål, 1866. D. Voconia schoutedeni (Villiers, 1964) comb. nov. E–G. Head in lateral view. E. Voconia wegneri (Miller, 1954) comb. nov. F. Voconia dolichocephala sp. nov. G. Gerbelius typicus Distant, 1903. H. Voconia loki sp. nov., head and pronotum in dorsal view. I–J. Prosternum in ventrolateral view. I. Voconia mexicana sp. nov. J. Voconia bracata sp. nov. K–L. Pronotum in dorsal view. K. Voconia conradti (Jeannel, 1917) comb. nov. L. Voconia tuberculata sp. nov.

Fig. 4. Morphological characters. A–D. Scutellum and hemelytron, dorsal view. A. Gerbelius typicus Distant, 1903.B. Voconia lirophleps sp. nov. C. Voconia bracata sp. nov.D. Voconia schoutedeni (Villiers, 1964) comb. nov. E. Voconia grandioculata sp. nov., thorax, lateral view. F–H. Voconia nyx sp. nov. F. Thorax, lateral view. G. Fore tibia, ventral view. H. Mid tibia and tarsus, ventral view. I–K. Hind femur, posterior view. I. Voconia mexicana sp. nov. J. Voconia decorata sp. nov. K. Voconia bracata sp. nov.

Fig. 7. Dorsal habitus of holotypes of Voconia Stål, 1866 species with distribution: purple = Afrotropical region, green = Australasian region, pink = Oriental region. Scale bars = 3 mm.

Fig. 9. Lateral habitus of species of Voconia Stål, 1866. Scale bars = 3 mm.

Fig. 18. The distribution of species of Voconia Stål, 1866 in the Australasian region.