Two new species of Rhiginia Stål, 1859, with taxonomical notes on species in the “ cruciata-group ” of this genus and an updated key to the New World genera of Ectrichodiinae (Heteroptera, Reduviidae)
Author
Forthman, Michael
California State Collection of Arthropods, Plant Pest Diagnostics Branch, California Department of Food and Agriculture, 3294 Meadowview Road, Sacramento, CA 95832, USA.
Author
Gil-Santana, Hélcio R.
Laboratório de Diptera, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Av. Brasil, 4365, 21040 - 360, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
text
Zootaxa
2021
2021-04-09
4952
2
201
234
journal article
7333
10.11646/zootaxa.4952.2.1
30721ca2-2400-428e-8068-3d1492e508aa
1175-5326
4673935
FD1B0F80-4662-48C0-BBF5-B00003BE7437
Rhiginia crudelis
Stål, 1862
(
Figs. 44–51
)
Morphological remarks
. Males of
Rhiginia crudelis
(
Figs. 44–47
) are relatively small (
11–14 mm
) compared to most other members of the
cruciata
-group. The dorsal surface of the head, most of the pronotum, scutellar processes, base of the hemelytra and a stripe continuing along the M vein of the corium that ends in an irregular spot adjacent to the outer membranal discal cell (M+Cu cell), and dorsal surface of the connexivum are sanguineous. The ocellar tubercle and margins of the antennifers may be dark brown-black. The pronotum may have a dark brown-black medial longitudinal sulcus on the anterior lobe, as well as two paramedial spots on the transverse sulcus varying from small to moderately large. In some specimens, the scutellar processes are dark red, almost appearing dark brown. The legs are invariably dark brown-black. Ventrally, the head and thoracic sterna are dark brown-black or dark red and infuscated. Abdominal sternite II can be partially or completely dark brown-black medially. An area on sternite VII bordering the pygophore, as well as the latter, is also dark brown-black. The remainder of the abdominal sternites are sanguineous or have a wide longitudinal dark brown-black lateral band that narrowly extends medially along the intersternite furrows. The head is more ovate and globular in lateral view than in most other species of the
cruciata
-group, and the species has a strongly convex frons and small eyes (
Fig. 46
). The ocelli are separated by a distance subequal to the diameter of an ocellus and occupy approximately half of the relatively shallow ocellar tubercle (
Figs. 44, 46
). The anterior pronotal lobe is about two-thirds the length of the posterior lobe, the anterior margin is relatively straight and not distinctly notched medially, and the anterolateral pronotal protuberances are indiscernible or slightly prominent and blunt (
Fig. 44
). The hemelytra surpass the apex of the abdomen, the Cu+1A cell in the membrane is subrectangular, and the proximal margin of the Cu+1A membranal cell is about twice that of the M+Cu membranal cell (
Fig. 44
). Sternite II has shallow longitudinal ridges medially. The slightly smaller female (
Figs. 48–50
) is brachypterous, with the hemelytra not reaching or surpassing the posterior margin of tergite III. The dorsal coloration is similar as in the male, except the pronotum has reduced to absent dark brown-black markings. The visible tergites are dark brown-black. The ventral surface of the female is entirely dark brown-black, except for a relatively large posterolateral sanguineous spot on sternites II and III. The head is more globular, the frons is much more convex, and the eyes are smaller than in the male. The anterior pronotal lobe is subequal in length to the posterior lobe. The scutellum is less depressed medially, and the apical processes are much shorter.
FIGURES 40–43.
Ectrichodia crucifera
Stål, 1872
, male syntype deposited in NHRS, catalog number NHRS-GULI000000175; 40, dorsal view, scale bar 5 mm; 41, ventral view; 42, lateral view; 43, labels. Made available by the Swedish Museum of Natural History under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License, CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Discussion.
Stål (1862)
described
R. crudelis
based on males and brachypterous female specimens from
Mexico
, with a total length of
11–19 mm
.
Stål (1862)
recognized three variants (“var. a”., “var. b.” and “var. c.”) based strictly on color differences. However, during the present study, it became clear that
Stål’s (1862)
“var c” is another specific entity, which is here described as a new species,
Rhiginia nicholsae
sp. nov.
(
Figs. 71–74
). The morphological remarks given above for the males correspond well with
Stål’s (1862)
“var. a” description and one of his
type
specimens (
Figs. 44–47
), while the remarks given for the female correspond to his “var. b” description and a
type
specimen (
Figs. 48–51
).
Stål (1872)
used a new name for
R. crudelis
:
Ectrichodia ruficollis
. Although the name
crudelis
had been preoccupied in
Ectrichodia
(
lato sensu
), the latter became restricted to a few American forms, and by consequence the alteration became unnecessary (
Champion 1899
;
Maldonado 1990
). Although
Lethierry & Severin (1896)
maintained
E. ruficollis
as the valid name for
R. crudelis
,
Walker (1873)
,
Champion (1899)
, and
Fracker (1912)
cited the species as
Ectrichodia crudelis
.
Champion (1899)
argued that
E. crudelis
had a wide range of variation in coloration and size (from almost
13 mm
to
21 mm
in length), and by consequence included
E. crucifera
as its junior synonym, which seemed to him to represent a variety of the species.
The synonym of
Ectrichodia fervida
Walker, 1873
with
E. crudelis
was first established by
Champion (1899)
and also proposed as original by
Distant (1902)
in a revised list of
Ectrichodiinae
species described by
Walker (1873)
, and accepted by subsequent authors (e.g.,
Fracker 1912
;
Baena & Susín 2007
).
Maldonado (1990)
wrongly attributed the priority in establishing this synonymy to
Distant (1902)
.
Uhler (1878)
and
Banks (1910)
stated
R. crudelis
as a junior synonym of
Ectrichodia cruciata
, which
Maldonado (1990)
considered Banks’ (1910) synonymy an error.
Rhiginia crudelis
was only recorded from Mexico by
Stål (1872)
,
Lethierry & Severin (1896)
,
Fracker (1912)
, and
Wygodzinsky (1949)
and also from
Ecuador
by
Maldonado (1990)
.
Champion (1899)
and
Baena & Susín (2007)
additionally included
Costa Rica
,
Guatemala
,
Nicaragua
, and
Panama
, while
Dougherty (1995)
did not mention
Nicaragua
and
Ecuador
but included
Honduras
.
Carpintero (1980)
recorded the occurrence of this species in forests of
Ecuador
and
Argentina
, while
Carpintero & Maldonado (1996)
stated that
R. crudelis
“is known from the
United States
to
Argentina
”. However, considering that the concept of
R. crudelis
became stricter in the present study (e.g., Stål’s “var. c” is treated as a separate species [
Rhiginia nicholsae
sp. nov.
]), it is possible that some of these country records may or may not include one or both of these species.
Material examined.
Type
material:
Mexico
//
Sallé
//
crudelis Stål
//
Typus
// 48 / 78 // NHRS-GULI
/
000000174 (
1 ♂
) (
NHRS
).
Mexico
//
Sallé
//
Paratypus
// 49 / 78 //
Ectrichodia
/
crudelis
/ Stål
// NHRS-GULI / 000008179 (
1 ♀
) (
NHRS
).
Other
specimen material:
MEXICO
:
Sinaloa
/
38 mi.
NE Concordia
/ nr.
Loberas
VII-3-82
/
Fred G. Andrews
/ coll. at blacklight //
Rhiginia crudelis
/
Stål, 1862
/ det.
M. Forthman
2020 (
3 ♂
) (
CSCA
)
.