Micronecta (Dichaetonecta) ludibunda Breddin, 1905

Chen, Ping-ping, Nieser, Nico & Lapidin, Johnny, 2015, A review of Bornean Micronectidae (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Nepomorpha) with descriptions of two new species from Sabah, Malaysia 1, ZooKeys 501, pp. 27-62 : 35-38

Taxon classification Animalia Hemiptera Micronectidae

Micronecta (Dichaetonecta) ludibunda Breddin, 1905 Figs 15, 22, 25, 32, 33, 44, 52, 59, 67, 76, 77, 91

Micronecta ludibunda Breddin, 1905a: 57 (original description).

Micronecta ludibunda : Breddin 1905b: 157-158 (extensive description).

Micronecta graphiptera Horváth, 1918: 146 (original description).

Micronecta ludibunda : Lundblad 1933: 95-96 (redescription).

Micronecta inconspicua Lundblad, 1933: 96-98 (original description).

Micronecta striatella Lundblad, 1933: 98-100 (original description).

Micronecta ludibunda : Wróblewski 1968: 765-767 (redescription)

Micronecta ludibunda : Nieser and Chen 1999: 80 (record from Kalimantan Timur)

Micronecta ludibunda : Polhemus and Golia 2006: 531-534 (occurrence in Florida, USA).

Micronecta ludibunda : Tinerella 2008: 29-34 (redescription, extensive synonymy).

Type material examined.

Syntypes, INDONESIA: "Kotype; Buitenzorg (= Borgor) Java, K. Kraepelin; leg. 24. II– 12.III.1904, ded.8.VI.1904; Breddin determ.; Lundblad revid. 1934", 2 males 2 females (ZMUH).

Additional material examined.

THAILAND: Chon Buri Province: Khao Khaew Open Zoo, ponds, 7.iv.2001, leg. P. Chen, S. Leepitakrat & B. Kavinseksan, 50 males 50 females (sample stored in 70% ethanol in NCTN).

Redescription.

Brachypterous and macropterous specimens. Generally a medium-sized (length 1.9-2.4 mm), yellowish-brown, species with four distinct, uninterrupted, longitudinal stripes on corium (Figs 15, 22, 25), and a variable darker pattern on pronotum, typically consisting of a pair of oval rings. Brachypterous and macropterous specimens differ in the development of the pronotum, but the differences between the brachypterous and macropterous morph are less pronounced than in most other species of Micronecta .

Dimensions. Body length: brachypterous male 1.9-2.2, macropterous male 2.1-2.3, brachypterous female 1.9-2.3, macropterous female 2.2-2.4; width: male 1.01-1.18, female 1.04-1.22; diatone: male 0.68-0.85, female 0.70-0.87; width of pronotum: male 0.69-0.87, female 0.71-0.92; ocular index: male 1.02-1.18, female 0.87-1.14. Body length twice the maximal width (male 2.06/1.05, female 2.25/1.15). Pronotum slightly wider than head (H/P male 0.76/0.78, female 0.77/0.81), synthlipsis subequal to the posterior width of an eye (S/E male 0.24/0.24, female 0.26/0.28).

Colour. Frons and vertex sordid yellow, eyes castaneous. Pronotum yellowish brown, disk typically with a pair of darker oval rings, varying from nearly absent via fragmented rings to complete; posterior margin with a distinct yellowish stripe. Hemelytra yellowish brown; clavus with a darker, V-shaped, medium-brown stripe; corium typically with four longitudinal, medium-brown, uninterrupted stripes (Figs 15, 22, 25); embolium yellowish with four or five brown spots; right membrane poorly delimited from the corium, with the same colour and texture but without darker stripes; left membrane more distinctly separated from corium, hyaline, and more membranous than corium. Venter, abdomen, thorax, and legs pale yellow.

Pronotum short (Fig. 15), about four times as wide as long (W/L 0.79/0.20); in brachypterous specimens dorsally flat, in macropterous specimens dorsally somewhat convex. Hemelytra smooth, sparsely beset with small spinules, notably on corium. Spines laterally on abdominal segments: V with two short and one longer stout spine; VI with two short, and one long spine; VII with two or three short, and one long stout spine; VIII with five short and one long stout spine, and one long hair-like bristle.

Legs. Length of leg segments: fore leg: male: femur 0.26, tibia 0.14, pala 0.14; female: femur 0.26, tibiotarsus 0.26; middle leg: male: femur 0.70, tibia 0.23, tarsus 0.30, claw 0.25, female: femur 0.76, tibia 0.23, tarsus 0.33, claw 0.26; hind leg: male: femur 0.46, tibia 0.36, tarsus I 0.40, tarsus II 0.13, claw 0.08; female: femur 0.48, tibia 0.37, tarsus I 0.42, tarsus II 0.16, claw 0.08. Palmar bristles: 10 to 11 in upper row, 10 to 11 in lower row.

Male. Fore femur (Figs 32, 33) with a pair of pegs on proximal third and a pair of small pegs distally; pala with three long dorsal hairs. Claw slender and clavate, apex mucronate. Dorsum of abdomen: prestrigilar lobe (Fig. 44) sub-triangular, with a short, truncate apex; strigil (Fig. 52) small, suboval, comb with about 55 comparatively distinct teeth; free lobe of left part of tergite VIII (Fig. 67) with a slightly expanded apex and 10-15 apical bristles. Left paramere (Fig. 77) with a narrow, more or less parallel-sided shaft, apex laterally compressed, flag-like; right paramere in lateral view (Fig. 76) with an evenly curved shaft and tapering apex, basal lobe not distinctly differentiated from basal part of paramere, with over 50 stridulatory ridges. Mediocaudal lobe of sternite VII (Fig. 59) long, with apical part elongate and obtusely rounded to pointed apically, with or without one to two larger bristles.

Female. Fore femur with the same general arrangement of pegs and setae as in male. The seminal capsule of spermatheca mushroom-shaped (Fig. 91).

Comparative notes.

Within Bornean Micronecta , this species is easily recognized in both sexes by its distinct linear pattern on the hemelytra (Figs 15, 22, 25).

Distribution.

This species with a wide distributional pattern, so far has been reported from: India and Sri Lanka ( Hutchinson 1940, Wróblewski 1972), Thailand ( Wróblewski 1968), Vietnam ( Wróblewski 1967), West Malaysia ( Leong 1966), Indonesia ( Breddin 1905a, Lundblad 1933, Nieser and Chen 1999), New Guinea and Solomon Islands ( Tinerella 2008), and introduced into Florida, U.S.A. ( Polhemus and Golia 2006). Nieser and Chen (1999) mentioned one male from Borneo: Kalimantan Timur in NHMW.