Ptilomera (P.) laticaudata (Hardwicke, 1823)

Jehamalar, E. Eyarin, Chandra, Kailash, Basu, Srimoyee & Selvakumar, C., 2018, Review of Ptilomera (Ptilomera) (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae) from India, with description of a new species, Zootaxa 4370 (5), pp. 501-518 : 507-508

Ptilomera (P.) laticaudata (Hardwicke, 1823)

(Figs. 3A–K)

Gerris laticaudata Hardwicke, 1823 . Trans. Linn. Soc. London, 14: 134 (type locality: Nepal). Ptilomera laticaudata (Hardwicke) : Horváth, 1900. Semon Zoologische Forshungsreisen, 639.

Material examined. INDIA, ARUNACHAL PRADESH, West Kameng District , 2 apt. ♂, 1 mac-da ♂, 2 apt. ♀, 2 mac-da ♀, Tipi, 20.iii.1973., 1 apt. ♂, 1 mac-da ♂, 3 apt. ♀, 2 mac-da ♀, 25.iii.1973, Coll. S.K. Tandon & Party ; HIMACHAL PRADESH, Shimla District, 2 apt. ♂, 2 apt. ♀, Chandimandir, Ghaggar River , 5.i.1970, Coll. A. Singh ; Solan District, 1 apt. ♀, Kasauli, Patta Village , 30.ii.1969, Coll. J.R. Sharma ; UTTARAKHAND, Dehradun District , 2 apt. ♂, Kalapani bridge No. 14-1, Rishikesh, 7.ii.1964, Coll. T.D. Soota ; 1 apt. ♂, 7 apt. ♀, Kansras, Suswa River , 5.ii.1965, Coll. R.K. Bhatnagar ; 2 apt. ♂, 7 apt. ♀, 1 nymph, Satyanarain Forest Rest House, 26.ii.1965, Coll. T.D. Soota; 1 apt. ♀, Satyanarain, Suswa River , 21.v.1965, Coll. T.D. Soota ; 3 apt. ♂, 3 apt. ♀, 7 nymphs, Manjhera Village , Sahastra Dhara Hills, 28.v.1965, Coll. R.K. Bhatnagar ; 5 apt. ♂, 12 apt. ♀, Sahastra Dhara Hills, 15.x.1965, Coll. R.K. Bhatnagar; 1 apt. ♂, Mahantmajri Village , 23.vii.1966, Coll. R.K. Bhatnagar ; 2 mac-da ♀, Bhaniawala, Doi Wala, 26.vii.1966, Coll. R.K. Bhatnagar; 1 apt. ♂, Doi Nala, 10.ii.1967, Coll. J.C. Tripathi; 4 apt. ♂, 8 apt. ♀, Jaspur, 27.ii.1967, Coll. J.C. Tripathi; 1 apt. ♂, 3 apt. ♀, Satyanarain, Suswa River , 29.iv.1967, Coll. J.C. Tripathi ; 2 apt. ♂, 2 mac-da ♂, 1 apt. ♀, 1 nymph, Gola Topper Forest , 6.v.1967, Coll. J.C. Tripathi ; 1 apt. ♀, 10 nymphs, Naro Nadi, Langa Village , 9.v.1967, Coll. M.P. Gupta ; 3 apt. ♂, 1 mac. ♀, 8 apt. ♀, 2 nymph, Barkat, 4.viii.1967, Coll. Asket Singh; 4 mac-da ♂, 1 apt. ♀, 8 mac-da ♀, Sahastra Dhara, 24.i.1968, Coll. J.C. Tripathi; 1 mac-da ♂, Randholi, 29.vi.1968, Coll. Asket Singh; 1 apt. ♂, Herbertpur, Assan River , 23.xi.1968, Coll. A. Husain ; 6 apt. ♂, 2 apt. ♀, Herbertpur, Assan River , 25.i.1969, Coll. M.K. Biswas ; 16 apt. ♂, 26 apt. ♀, Gularghati, Mianwala, 17.xi.1969, Coll. M. Prasad; 1 apt. ♀, 1 nymph, Rajpur, Nalota Nala, 7.iii.1970, Coll. M.K. Biswas; 7 apt. ♂, 7 apt. ♀, 3 nymphs, Satyanarain, Suswa River , 23.iv.1971, Coll. J.C. Tripathi ; 22 apt. ♂, 2 mac. ♂, 63 apt. ♀, 30 nymphs, Robbers Cave, 6.v.1971, Coll. K.P. Singh; Tehri Garhwal District , 1 mac. ♂, 2 nymphs, Bhontpur, 22.vi.1969, Coll. J.C. Tripathi ; 17 apt. ♂, 22 mac. ♂, 17 apt. ♀, 15 mac. ♀, 7 nymphs, Uppu, 23.vi.1969, Coll. J.C. Tripathi; 15 apt. ♂, 1 mac-da ♂, 5 mac. ♂, 12 apt. ♀, 2 mac. ♀, 1 mac-da ♀, Mutayagaon, Devprayag, 11.vii.1969, Coll. J.C. Tripathi; 9 apt. ♂, 6 mac-da ♂, 5 mac. ♂, 9 apt. ♀, 3 mac-da ♀, 10 mac. ♀, Bageshwar, Devprayag, 12.vii.1969, Coll. J.C. Tripathi. Reg. No. 5746/H15 to Reg. No. 5778/H15.

Repository. The specimens are deposited in the National Zoological Collection, Hemiptera Section , Zoological Survey of India, New Alipore, Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

Diagnosis. Body length of apterous male 10.57–12.33, apterous female 10.89–11.90. Males of this species can be distinguished by the presence of a medium sized dense black setal tuft on the anterolateral region of the lateral process of the pygophore (Fig. 3C); the proctiger is posteromedially produced, but the projection is not basally angulated (Figs. 3A, C, J); the setal fringe on the mid femur extends to near the base (Fig. 3G). Females can be identified by the connexival process slightly curved in lateral view and about as long as or slightly shorter or slightly exceeding the lateral process of seventh abdominal sternum (Figs. 3B, E, F, I) and the presence of a short setal fringe on the flexor sub-basal region of the hind femur (Fig. 3H).

Distribution. India: Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttarakhand and West Bengal ( Thirumalai 2002, Saha & Bal 2010) see Fig. 7A . Elsewhere: Nepal ( Hungerford & Matsuda 1965).

Remarks. Records of P. laticaudata from peninsular India (Hardwicke 1823) instead belong to P. agriodes Schmidt, 1926 ; for more information see remarks under P. agriodes . Ptilomera laticaudata recorded from Meghalaya by Bal & Basu (1998) and Lyngdoh (2011, 2013) must be considered as P. assamensis and the P. assamensis recorded from Darjeeling and Jalpaiguri districts of West Bengal by Basu et al. (2016) is considered here as P. laticaudata . These misidentifications are due to the erroneous illustrations of female P. assamensis given in Hungerford and Matsuda (1965). This error was first noticed by Zettel (2003) while studying the type specimens of P. assamensis and describing P. occidentalis Zettel from Bhimtal, Uttarakhand, India. The records of P. laticaudata from Bankura and Bardhaman districts of West Bengal by Bal & Basu (1994) are doubtful because these areas are the part of peninsular India; thus, there is a possibility of the occurrence of P. agriodes in these regions and not P. laticaudata since it is a member of the Himalayan fauna. In the distribution map of P. laticaudata ( Fig. 7A ), these two localities are not given.

FIGURES 3A–K. Ptilomera laticaudata (Hardwicke) (A, C, D, G, J, K: apterous male; B, E, F, H, I: apterous female): A, B, habitus, dorsal view; C & E, abdominal apex, dorsal view; D & F, same, ventral view; I, same, lateral view; G, mid femur, ventrolateral view; H, hind femur, ventrolateral view; J, proctiger, dorsal view; K, paramere, lateral view.

Figures

FIGURES 7A–B. Distribution in India of: A, P. laticaudata (Hardwicke); B, P. occidentalis Zettel (Yellow triangles denote locality details from literature; red squares denotelocality details of materials examined in the present study).