A Revision Of The Indochinese Genera Cheirochela And Gestroiella Heteroptera Naucoridae And A Review Of The Tribe Cheirochelini
Author
Dan
Author
Polhemus
Author
John
Author
Polhemus
Author
Sites, Robert
text
Raffles Bulletin of Zoology
2008
2008-08-31
56
2
255
279
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.5340370
2345-7600
5340370
Cheirochela assamensis
Hope, 1841: 442
.
Supplemental redescription
.
– Brachypterous male:
General colouration dark brown, with dark yellow markings on head, pronotum, hemelytra, and lateral abdomen; head dark yellow with dark, posteriorly opening V-shaped mark centrally on frons, posterior margin broadly dark, eyes black; pronotum narrowly margined with dark yellow laterally and posteriorly; hemelytra with claval suture and basal embolar area dark yellow; visible sections of abdominal tergites pale to medium brown, narrowly margined laterally with dark yellow. Overall form elongate-ovate (
Fig. 3
), size small for genus, body length 21.90, maximum width (across embolia) 11.90; head length 4.00, width 4.80, anterior/posterior interocular 3.30/3.00, eye length 2.00, width 1.00; pronotum length (midline) 2.50, width 8.60; scutellum length 3.10, width 5.00. Hemelytra brachypterous, venation obscure, corium finely and shallowly rugose, membrane rudiments strongly narrowed posteriorly, tips rounded, reaching to posterior margin of sixth visible abdominal tergite.
Discussion. –
The
holotype
of
C. assamensis
came from an unspecified locality in
Assam
, northeastern
India
. The specimen is in the Hope Museum in Oxford, and bears the label “Type 437.”
Fig. 2.
Cheirochela tonkina
Polhemus & Polhemus.
Male, dorsal habitus. Drawn by Young Sohn.
This is the smallest species in the genus, with the two examples seen having body lengths of 21.0 and
21.2 mm
respectively. This species is similar to
C. birmaniensis
in possessing well developed angulate tubercles posteromedially on abdominal sternites IV and V, but differs from that latter species in that these tubercles project primarily downward rather than being produced posteriorly over the bases of the following tergites (
Figs. 5, 6
). The male parameres of the two species are also differently formed (
Figs. 7, 8
), with that of
C. assamensis
having a rounded projection on the basal half. Although Distant (1906) considered
C. birmaniensis
to be a synonym of
C. assamensis
, based on a study of the
holotypes
of both species, we feel that the characters noted above serve to separate the two species and therefore reject Distant’s proposed synonymy.
This species has so far been collected only from the upper Brahmaputra drainage basin in far northeastern
India
(
Fig. 16
).
Material examined. –
INDIA
,
Assam
: 1 brachypterous male, no locality data (
holotype
,
HEMO
)
.
Meghalaya
: 1 brachypterous male,
West Garo Hills
,
Nokrek N. P.
,
9–17 May 1996
, 950–
1250 m
, 90°19.5'
25°29.6'E
(
WGS84
datum),
E. Jendek
and
O. Sausa
(
NHMW
)
.