Physoderes nigroalbus Breddin, 1903

Hwang, Wei Song & Weirauch, Christiane, 2017, Uncovering hidden diversity: phylogeny and taxonomy of Physoderinae (Reduviidae, Heteroptera), with emphasis on Physoderes Westwood in the Oriental and Australasian regions, European Journal of Taxonomy 341, pp. 1-118 : 96-97

Physoderes nigroalbus Breddin, 1903

Figs 15 , 20 ; Appendix

Physoderes nigroalbus Breddin, 1903: 126 .

Diagnosis

This species is recognized among species of Physoderes by the short and conical head, the scape not reaching the apex of the clypeus, the eye hemispherical and slightly flattened, the submedian pronotal carina strongly defined, the scutellum and scutellar process brown, the corium dark brown with the membranous portion basally dark brown including the external cell, and areas directly adjacent to the medial vein apical extension and first anal vein apex with remaining membrane off-white. This species is most similar to P. tricolor sp. nov., but can be differentiated from it by its size, coloration of the head, pronotum and scutellar process, and the shape of the eye.

Material examined

Lectotype (here designated)

INDONESIA: ♀, Sumatra, Tebing Tinggi, NE Sumatra, 3.31944° N, 99.15222° E, 21 m, 10 Mar. 1884, Dr. Schultheiss leg. ( UCR _ ENT 00040566 ) ( DEI).

Redescription

Female

BODY LENGTH. Medium, total length 9.74 mm.

COLORATION ( Fig. 15 ). Brown. Head brown. Scape and pedicel of antenna light brown to brown, basiflagellomere brown, distiflagellomere basally brown, apically straw-colored. First segment of labium light brown, second segment straw-colored, apically brown, third segment brown. Anterior lobe of pronotum dark brown, posterior lobe brown, scutellum brown with dark brown scutellar process, pleuron brown with straw-colored suffusion, sternum brown to dark brown. Corium of hemelytron dark brown, membrane basally dark brown, apically off-white. Femur and tibia of legs straw-colored with basal, medial and apical brown annulations, tarsus and claw light brown. Abdomen dorsally yellowishorange, basally straw-colored with brown and dark brown patterns, anterior half of connexivum dark brown, posterior half straw-colored.

VESTITURE. Sparsely setose. Head with widespread curved setae, ventral surface of postocular lobe with sparse, setigerous tubercles, without pair of long, straight setae on postocular lobe posterior to ocelli. Anterior lobe of thorax with irregular row of tuberculated, short, curved setae on lateral margins and short, setigerous tubercles dispersed on dorsal surface, posterior lobe with short, curved setae on humeral angle and sparsely distributed along dorsal surface. Corium of hemelytron with short, curved setae. Legs with two rows of spines and setigerous tubercles, tibia with regular rows of tuberculated, stout, sharp setae. Connexival margin of abdomen with no prominent setae.

HEAD. Short conical; maxillary plate rounded apically; scape not reaching apex of clypeus; eye hemispherical in dorsal view, less than 1/5 length of head.

THORAX. Antero-lateral paired projections acute, diverging; surface of anterior lobe with low ridges; median pronotal depression contiguous with transverse sulcus; paramedian carina strongly defined; anterior pronotal lobe shorter and narrower than posterior lobe, lower than posterior lobe in lateral view; parascutellar lobe rounded, skewed towards median; scutellum rounded triangular, scutellar process long, apex subacute.

HEMELYTRON. Attaining tip of abdomen.

LEGS. Same as genus description.

ABDOMEN. Connexival margin slightly undulating, posterior margin not elevated.

Male

Unknown.

Ecology

Nothing is known about the biology of this species.

Distribution

This species is only known from the type locality in northeast Sumatra, Indonesia.

Remarks

This specimen was found by Stephan Blank at the DEI without a type label and labeled as Epirodera palliderostris [sic]. It is here interpreted as the type specimen or part of a syntype series that Breddin used to describe P. nigroalbus . Because Breddin did not label his types nor mention where they were deposited, this is currently the best assumption. Further evidence is given by the exact match in the locality information provided in Breddin’s description and that on the specimen label, the lack of a range of measurements to suggest he examined more than one specimen, and matching description of the black and white hemelytron, measurement and sex. This specimen is thus designated as the lectotype for P. nigroalbus . No matching male specimens have been located and the redescription here is based on the single female lectotype specimen.

Figures

Fig. 15. Dorsal habitus images for species of Physoderes Westwood, 1845 (partial). For an explanation of the colored arrows, see key on page 66. Scale bars = 2 mm.

Fig. 20. Distribution map for species of Physoderes Westwood, 1845 (partial).