Revision of the African genus Neomacrocoris (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae)
Author
Sites, Robert W.
Author
Mbogho, Aaron Y.
text
Zootaxa
2012
3555
1
39
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.211898
9e14363b-3240-484a-a573-32116edb1ed7
1175-5326
211898
Neomacrocoris angusticeps
(Haglund)
Macrocoris angusticeps
Haglund 1895
: Öfv. Kongl. Vet.-Akad. Förh. 7: 477–478.
Neomacrocoris angusticeps
:
Montandon 1913
, Bul. Soc. Rom. Stiinte, 22: 332.
Discussion
. The
type
specimen is a male from
Cameroon
(
Poisson 1948
) and was reported to be
10 mm
long by
6.4 mm
across the abdomen (
Haglund 1895
), but it has disappeared from the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseum in Stockholm (
Poisson 1948
). We received recent confirmation that the specimen still is missing and that the unit box houses an empty pin and a label with the number 11, suggesting that the specimen was loaned in the 1930s (J. Bergsten, pers. com.).
Haglund (1895)
compared this species with
Macrocoris flavicollis
Signoret
and said that it is related but less convex. Similarly, in the original description of
Macrocoris convexus
,
Montandon (1897)
compared
N. angusticeps
with it and indicated that
N. angusticeps
is of the same size but much less convex and more widened. Although he was unable to examine the
type
specimen,
Poisson (1948)
provided illustrations of the 7th and 8th abdominal terga and aedeagus of a Montandon-determined specimen from Boma,
Democratic Republic of Congo
, and considered the male to be similar to that of
N. handlirschi armatus
Poisson
because of the presence of denticles; but the taxa differ in the condition of the pseudostrigil and lobes of the 8th tergum. Housed at the USNM is a
Poisson
slide with 7th and 8th terga from
Belgian Congo
, and one adult male specimen from the
Poisson
acquisition with a provisional identity of
N. angusticeps
. This male has identical label data with a female housed in RMCA also identified provisionally as
N. angusticeps
by
Poisson
, as well as with the
type
specimen of
N. vaneyeni
Poisson. Characteristics
of the slide-mounted terga including the pseudostrigil are nearly identical with those of
N. vaneyeni
with the exception of a series of denticles on the underside of the left mesal lobe of the 7th tergum. The aedeagus was not present. We dissected the male and found the lobes of the 7th and 8th terga and phallosoma to be consistent with those of
N. vaneyeni
. Because we have observed substantial intraspecific variation in condition of the left lobe of the 7th tergum in congeners and
Poisson (1948)
even commented on intraspecific variation in the number of denticles, and established subspecies of
N. handlirschi
based on presence or absence of these denticles, we consider Poisson’s concept of
N. angusticeps
actually to represent
N. vaneyeni
. Poisson’s concept of the lost Haglund
type
is based secondarily on Montandon’s concept of the species. Thus, to base a current concept of
N. angusticeps
on
Poisson
in the absence of the
type
or other authoritative specimens would be three times removed from the original concept. We feel that this would require making unacceptably risky assumptions about the species.
As
such, the identity of
N. angusticeps
remains enigmatic and specimens should be searched for in the broadly defined
type
locality of
Cameroon
. If it is determined in the future that
N. angusticeps
and
N. vaneyeni
are conspecific,
N. vaneyeni
would become a junior synonym of
N. angusticeps
.
Diagnosis
. Based on information in the original description, this is among the larger species at
10 mm
in length; however, at only
6.4 mm
width, it apparently does not fall within the group of ovate species (
N. karimii
,
N. vaneyeni
, and
N. vuga
).
Published Records
.
BELGIAN CONGO
(
Montandon 1897
),
CAMEROON
(
Haglund 1895
).