New records, and nomenclatural and biological notes on Reduviidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from Bolivia and Brazil
Author
Gil-Santana, Hélcio R.
text
Zootaxa
2008
1785
43
53
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.182460
a064f486-4831-4bd3-80c8-c0465baf2b3b
1175-5326
182460
Notocyrtus
Burmeister, 1835
The genus
Notocyrtus
was recently revised by
Carvalho & Costa (1992
,
1993
) and has 23 valid species (Costa & Gil-Santana 2001; Gil-Santana & Costa 2001).
Notocyrtus
spp. have been recognized as mimetic to meliponine bees. The mimicry is enhanced mainly by the angular inflated pronotum (
Haviland 1931
; Jackson 1973). Nevertheless, only a single mimetic pair was specifically indicated:
Trigona fulviventris
Guérin, 1835
as a model of
Notocyrtus dorsalis
(Gray, 1832) (Jackson 1973)
. The function of the mimicry, whether aggressive or defensive, is unknown, whereas the feeding habits already observed included sipping nectar or honey-dew from Homoptera colonies (
Haviland 1931
; Jackson 1973).
FIGURES 1–4.
Brontostoma basalis
, dorsal view, 1, female; 2, male; Fig. 3.
Daraxa carnifex
, male, lateral view; Fig. 4.
Pseudozirta schaeferi
, female, dorsal view.
Original observations made with two females of
Notocyrtus fungosus
Stål, 1859
at Nova Friburgo (
22º 16’ S
;
42º 34’ W
,
1090 m
. a. s. l.), Rio de Janeiro State,
Brazil
, demonstrated that they were not interested in
Meliponini
bees, but actively fed on Nematocera
Diptera
offered to them (
Figs. 10–11
).
FIGURES 5–9.
Heza gilsantanai
, female, 5, dorsal view; 6, head and pronotum; 7, abdomen, lateral view; 8–9, apex of abdomen, 8, ventral view; 9, posterior view.
There is no published description of the immature forms of
Notocyrtus
spp. A last instar of
N. fungosus
showed that the pronotum only become inflated in adult of this species a few hours after ecdysis (
Figs.12–13
).