Heza viridipes, Swanson, 2021

Swanson, Daniel R., 2021, Four new species of Heza Amyot & Audinet-Serville (Heteroptera: Reduviidae Harpactorinae) from the Neotropics, Zootaxa 4958 (1), pp. 366-379 : 374-377

Heza viridipes sp. nov.

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( Figs. 4 , 8 , 15, 16 , 20 )

Type material: HOLOTYPE, ♂, BOLIVIA: Cochabamba, Cristalmayu, Peña, L. E. Peña Coll’n, FMNH 1986 , Acc # 17,422 ( FMNH).

Etymology: The specific epithet is a Latin compound noun viridipes , derived from the Latin adjective viridis, - e ‘green’ and the Latin masculine noun pes ‘foot’. The name highlights the greenish coloration of the parts of the middle and hind legs beyond the trochanters, particularly in contrast to the ochraceous forelegs.

Diagnosis: Separated from other species of Heza by the following combination of characters: only first connexival segment (=second tergite) armed posterolaterally with spine or tubercle; discal armature of anterior pronotal lobe short, conical, acute; margin of abdomen entire, evenly convex; and median process of pygophore somewhat tall, thick, and flared apically.

Description: Macropterous male (holotype). Coloration: Reddish-brown, except scape, pedicel, rostrum, sterna, forelegs, apex of meso- and metafemur and base of meso- and metatibia, corium laterally red. Femora and tibiae of middle and hind legs greenish-yellow. Coxae and trochanters of middle and hind legs yellowish. Veins of hemelytral membrane (except base) blackish.

Structure: Head. Postantennal spines medium, slender, straight, sharp, otherwise head as per description under Heza . Antennae with scape with sparse semi-erect setae, other antennomeres missing in holotype). Eyes, ocelli, and rostrum as per description under Heza .

Thorax. Pronotum with anterior pronotal lobe covered with short appressed pale setae but with a few, very conspicuous, glabrous channels, with collar armed with obliquely-directed, small conical tubercle, disc armed with two short, conical tubercles. Posterior pronotal lobe with faint, short, paired carinae emanating from transverse constriction behind tubercles of anterior pronotal lobe, covered with short, decumbent and sparsely erect setae and three sets of paired dense golden setal spots near transverse constriction, disc armed with two medium, thin, essentially erect, sharp spines, humeral angle with medium, sharp spine over humerus directed laterally and somewhat dorsad, posterior margin slightly sinuate in front of scutellum and barely sinuate or not between humeri and posterior angles, posterior angles roundly obtuse. Scutellum central disc depressed medially so appearing as Y-shaped raised, rounded carinae, with short appressed and sparse erect longer setae, apex slightly prolonged. Propleuron with setal patch on anterior half and posterior half. Mesopleuron with glabrous U-shaped spot near dorsal margin, plica blunt. Sterna as per description under Heza . Hemelytra covering connexiva, corium covered with short, dense, decumbent setae, with two obsolete tomentose spots near apex of corium along M vein.

Legs. Forelegs with profemur slightly recurved, covered with short appressed pale setae and sparse longer erect setae on dorsal and lateral surfaces. Protibia slightly curved throughout whole length. Middle and hind legs as per description under Heza .

Abdomen. As per description under Heza .

External genitalia. Pygophore with integument smooth, covered with somewhat dense short decumbent setae and sparse longer erect setae, with posterior margin slightly swollen and setose. Median apical process erect, approximately twice as tall as apical width, lateral margins converging from base to middle and remaining more or less parallel to apex, apex convex, margin clearly “hooked” or folded caudad, fold little wider than apex. Parameres moderately-sized, reaching median process at rest, more or less cylindrical but slightly sinuate at middle in dorsal plane, moderately setose except setae denser on dorsal margin and near apex.

Measurements (in mm). Total length (apex of head to apex of abdomen): 17.2; total length (apex of head to apex of hemelytra): 17.7; head length: 2.1; head width (across eyes): 1.4; anteocular length: 0.8; postocular length: 0.7; neck length: 0.6; scape length: 7.7; pedicel length:?; basiflagellum length:?; distiflagellum length:?; eye length: 0.6; eye width: 0.3; rostral segment 1 length: 1.8; rostral segment 2 length: 1.2; rostral segment 3 length: 0.5; rostral segment ratio: approx. 1.00: 0.67: 0.28; pronotum length: 3.3; pronotum width (across humeri, without spines): 3.3; pronotum width (across humeri, with spines): 4.7; anterior pronotal lobe length: 1.2; posterior pronotal lobe length: 2.1; scutellum length: 1.2; scutellum width (at base): 1.2; hemelytra length: 12.3; procoxa length: 1.1; protrochanter length: 1.0; profemur length: 7.2; protibia length: 6.5; protarsus length: 0.6; protarsal segment ratio: approx. 1.00: 2.25 2.50; mesocoxa length: 0.8; mesotrochanter length: 0.8; mesofemur length: 5.6; mesotibia length: 6.3.; mesotarsus length: 0.6; mesotarsal segment ratio: approx. 1.0: 2.0: 3.0; metacoxa length: 0.9; metatrochanter length: 0.8; metafemur length: 8.4; metatibia length: 9.2; metatarsus length: 0.7; metatarsal segment ratio: approx. 1.0: 2.0: 3.0; abdomen length: 10.3; abdomen (widest) width: 2.6.

Female: Unknown.

Distribution: Known only from the type locality ( Fig. 21 ).

Remarks: Like H. graziae sp. nov., the short, sharp armature of the anterior pronotal lobe results in H. viridipes sp. nov. keying to couplet # 23 in Maldonado’s (1976) key. Unlike H. graziae sp. nov., the median process of the pygophore has a shorter, thicker stem and the apex and recurved fold are distinctly broader. Heza viridipes sp. nov. also differs from H. rubromarga in that the stem of the median process of the pygophore is slenderer and the lateral margins diverge apically. As mentioned under H. graziae sp. nov., Maldonado’s (1976) characterization of H. perarmata appears to be erroneous, and the specimen pictured clearly differs H. viridipes sp. nov. in possessing an aciculate median process of the pygophore.

The median process of the pygophore of H. viridipes sp. nov. also is superficially similar to H. rubra , but in addition to differing in the same way as H. rubromarga , the apical margin is less convex, and the recurved apical fold is narrower. Heza rubra also possesses medium-sized, apically blunted armature of the anterior pronotal lobe. Lastly, the general habitus of H. ephippium looks similar, but the armature of the anterior pronotal lobe is mediumsized and apically blunted.

Figures

FIGURE 21. Type localities of Heza nebrias sp. nov., Heza phthinica sp. nov., and Heza viridipes sp. nov. Filled symbols represent the type locality, open symbols represent localities of paratypic material.

FIGURES 1–4. New species of Heza, dorsal habitus: (1) Heza graziae sp. nov., male holotype; (2) Heza nebrias sp. nov., male holotype; (3) Heza phthinica sp. nov., male holotype; (C) Heza viridipes sp. nov., male holotype. Scale bar = 2 mm.

FIGURES 5–8. New species of Heza, lateral habitus: (5) Heza graziae sp. nov., male holotype; (6) Heza nebrias sp. nov., male holotype; (7) Heza phthinica sp. nov., male holotype; (8) Heza viridipes sp. nov., male holotype. All show left side, except H. phthinica reflected.

FIGURES 9–16. New species of Heza, pygophore: (9) Heza graziae sp. nov., caudal view; (10) Heza graziae sp. nov., lateral view; (11) Heza nebrias sp. nov., caudal view; (12) Heza nebrias sp. nov., lateral view; (13) Heza phthinica sp. nov., caudal view; (14) Heza phthinica sp. nov., lateral view; (15) Heza viridipes sp. nov., caudal view; (16) Heza viridipes sp. nov., lateral view.

FIGURES 17–20. New species of Heza, median process of pygophore (with line drawing): (17) Heza graziae sp. nov.; (18) Heza nebrias sp. nov.; (19) Heza phthinica sp. nov.; (20) Heza viridipes sp. nov.