Pamera noctuabunda, Bergroth, 1907

Scudder, G. G. E., 2019, The systematic position of Pamera noctuabunda Bergroth, 1907 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Rhyparochromidae), with a revised key to the species of Stalaria Harrington, 1980, Zootaxa 4691 (3), pp. 293-296 : 293-294

Results

Bergroth (1907) described Pamera noctuabunda from Kinchassa. The type specimen, a male, is located in the IRSNB, is glued to a card ( Fig. 4 ) and is not in good condition. The right side is quite damaged, with most structures on the right missing. The legs on the left side are firmly glued to the card, and the end segments of both antennae are missing. However, noctuabunda clearly has long dorsal upstanding setae on the pronotum, a clear area on the corium near the inner angle, and a medio-lateral fuscous longitudinal streak on the abdominal venter. It is evidently a species of Stalaria Harrington.

Harrington (1980) diagnosed Stalaria as having a very narrow ring-like collar to the pronotum, demarcated posteriorly by an extremely deep line-like groove, lateral lobes of both pronotal lobes rounded, and slender fore femora with single ranked spines and no spur on the male fore tibia. The posterior edge of the male pygophore has a shallow median groove in the lip, the buccular junction is V-shaped, the mesepimeron is enclosed and the clavus has punctures in four or more rows. The numerous long body setae cited by Harrington (1980) are typical of the two Linnavouri species ( S. kisseis and S. nysias ), included in Stalaria by Harrington (1980), but are not typical of the two species ( S. lestoni and S. nana ) described by Slater and Zheng (1985).

Harrington (1980) placed P. noctuabunda in the genus Remaudiereana Hoberlandt, 1954 , but indicated (by three asterisks) that she had not seen the species, and thus was uncertain of its generic placement.

Slater and Zheng (1985) in their review of the genus Stalaria , named Stalaria kisseis ( Linnavuori, 1978) as the type species. Slater and Zheng (1985) included four species in Stalaria , namely S. kisseis ( Linnavuori, 1978) , and S. nysias ( Linnavuori, 1978) , and described S. lestoni and S. nana as new. They also noted that the anterior lobe of the pronotum was impunctate in all species.

All four species of Stalaria are widely distributed in Africa. S. kisseis was described from Sudan ( Linnavuori, 1978), and reported from Congo ( Zaire) ( Slater, 1972), Tanzania and Uganda ( Slater and Zheng, 1985). S. lestoni was described from Ghana, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Gambia and Senegal ( Slater and Zheng, 1985). S. nana was described from Tanzania and South Africa ( Slater and Zheng, 1985), and is here reported from Democratic Republic of the Congo (see below). S. nysias was described from Sudan (Linnavuori, 1975), and reported from Senegal ( Scudder 1982) and Nigeria (Slater and Zheng, 1988). It is evident that S. noctuabunda is synonymous with S. nysias syn. nov.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4. Stalaria spp: 1, S. kisseis (Linnavuori) Uganda, Kawanda [GGES]; 2, S. lestoni Slater & Zheng, Ghana, Tafo [AMNH]; 3, S. nana Slater & Zheng, Tanzania, Ilonga [AMNH]; 4, S. noctuabunda (Bergroth, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinchassa [IRSNB].