Guide To The Aquatic Heteroptera Of Singapore And Peninsular Malaysia. X. Infraorder Nepomorpha-Famlies Belostomatidae And Nepidae
Author
Polhemus, Dan A.
Author
Polhemus, John T.
text
Raffles Bulletin of Zoology
2013
2013-02-28
61
1
25
45
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.5351508
2345-7600
5351508
Ranatra longipes longipes
Stål, 1861
(
Figs. 8
,
19, 20
,
25
,
27
)
Ranatra longipes
Stål, 1861: 203
Ranatra longipes longipes
:
Lansbury, 1972: 332
Material examined
.
—
The
following additional records are in addition to those listed in
Tran & Polhemus (2012)
:
MALAYSIA
,
Johor
:
1 male
,
Sungai Kayu
,
12 Mar.1998
,
H. H. Tan
&
O. S. K. Chia
, THH9823 (
ZRC
);
1 male
,
1 female
, Mawai,
27 Mar.1992
, ZRC 6.22212, coll. unk. (
ZRC
)
.
Extralimital material examined
.
—
The
following extralimital records are in addition to those listed in
Tran & Polhemus (2012)
: MALAYSIA,
Sabah
:
2 males
, Borneo, Sungai Kinabatangan, puddle nr. Danau Biandum Besar,
11 Apr.1994
, coll.
H. K. Lua
&
C. Y. Chang
(
ZRC
)
.
Sarawak
:
3 females
, Borneo, Sibu, Sungai Teku,
15 May 1994
, MK94-23, coll. unk. (
ZRC
)
.
INDONESIA,
Sumatera Barat Prov
.
:
10 males
,
10 females
, Sumatra, Bukittingi, Lawang,
5 Jul.1992
,
W. G. Ullrich
(
USNM
)
.
Diagnosis
.
— Male body length
21–26 mm
, length of respiratory siphon
16–22 mm
; female body length
24–27 mm
, length of respiratory siphon
16–22 mm
. Colouration medium brown, legs in some specimens weakly annulate with lighter brown. Head with vertex slightly raised above the eyes, sometimes with small incipient tubercle. Ventral prothorax with a prominent medial longitudinal carina present along entire length. Fore femur long and slender with two teeth distal to midpoint on the margin adjacent to the infolded tibia, consisting of a moderate sized tooth on outer face and a smaller tooth on inner face (
Fig. 27
); middle tibia longer than both middle and hind femora; hind tibia distinctly longer than middle tibia; hind femora in both sexes slightly exceeding operculum. Male paramere with a moderately narrow and deep incision subapically, isolating an apically expanded and weakly toothed distal hook; subapical lobe absent or at best barely suggested (
Figs. 19, 20
).
Distribution
.
— The nominate subspecies of
R
.
longipes
was described from Java (
Stål, 1861
), with subsequent records from Sumatra (
Lundblad, 1933
), Borneo (
Lansbury, 1972
), Peninsular
Malaysia
(Fernando & Cheng, 1974), and Sulawesi (Nieser & Chen, 1991); the latter authors also made passing reference to specimens from Bali, but provided no specific data.
Lansbury (1972)
also described the subspecies
R
.
longipes thai
from
Thailand
(later elevated to full species status by Tran & D. Polhemus, 2012) and
R
.
longipes celebensis
from the southwestern peninsula of Celebes. As discussed by Tran & D. Polhemus (2012) most if not all of the Malaysian records of
R
.
longipes longipes
north of
Johor
represent
R
.
thai
Lansbury. Based
on currently understood distributional patterns, it now appears that
R
.
longipes
is a predominantly insular species occurring on the Greater Sunda Islands and immediately adjacent smaller islands eastward to Sulawesi, with the westward limits of its range being reached in the extreme southern Peninsular
Malaysia
and
Singapore
. Detailed distribution data for the nominate subspecies were provided by Tran & D. Polhemus (2012), who listed further records from
Singapore
,
Malaysia
(
Johor
and
Sabah
), and
Indonesia
(
Java
,
Sumatra
, and Borneo).
Discussion
.
—
Ranatra longipes
is a relatively slender, delicate species, with males noticeably smaller in size than females. It may be separated from the very similar
R
.
thai
by the structure of the distal hook on the male paramere (compare
Figs. 19, 20
to 21, 22), and by the longer hind tibia in relation to the middle tibia. The male genitalic figures attributed to this species in
Chen et al. (2005
, pg. 53, figs. 34, 35) in fact represent
R. thai
(see below).