Halobates germanus White, 1883

Kment, Petr & Carapezza, Attilio, 2022, Heteroptera (Hemiptera) of the Socotra Archipelago I: Introduction, Nepomorpha, Gerromorpha and Leptopodomorpha, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae) 62 (2), pp. 475-519 : 497-498

Halobates germanus White, 1883

( Fig. 43 )

Halobates germanus White, 1883: 50–52 , Pl. I: fig. 6 (original description). Lectotype (designated by ANDERSEN & WEIR 1994: 900, as holotype): ♀, Pacific Ocean (BMNH).

? Halobates germanus var. bankae Griffini, 1895:3 (original description). Syntypes: 1 ♂ 1 ♀, Indonesia: “Stretto di Banka” [= Bangka Strait] (MIZT). Synonymized by HERRING (1961: 240).

Halobates sewelli Imms, 1936: 71–77 (original description). Lectotype (designated by ANDERSEN & WEIR 1994:900, as holotype):♂, Arabian Sea:entrance to the Gulf of Oman, about half-way between the coasts of India and Arabia (BMNH). Synonymized by HERRING (1961:253).

Published records. Maps in HERRING (1961), CHENG (1973), SCHMIDT & MȖLLER (1973) and CHENG et al. (2012) show distribution points in the Arabian Sea in proximity of Socotra, however, we failed to trace any exact record from that area.

Identification. HERRING (1961) (key, redescription, figures), SCHMIDT & MȖLLER (1973) (redescription, figures), ANDERSEN & FOSTER (1992) (key), ANDERSEN & WEIR (1994) (key, redescription, figures), CHENG et al. (2001) (key, figures), ANDERSEN & WEIR (2004a) (key, figures), ZETTEL (2005) (key).

Habitat. Halobates germanus is a pelagic, open ocean species, though it prefers to stay closer to land than H. micans Eschscholtz, 1822 and H. sericeus Eschscholtz, 1822 resulting in many records from near-shore stations ( HERRING 1961; CHENG 1973, 1989; SCHMIDT & MȖLLER 1973; ANDERSEN & WEIR 1994).

Distribution. Widely distributed in the Red Sea, Indian and West Pacific Ocean from the Gulf of Aqaba (between the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia) towards Mozambique, Madagascar and Mascarenes in the south, to Japan in the north, and to the Society Islands and northern Australia in the east ( HERRING 1961; MIYAMOTO 1964; CHENG 1973, 1982; SCHMIDT & MȖLLER 1973; ANDERSEN & WEIR 1994; ANDERSEN 1995; HAYASHI et al. 2016; ROMÁN- PALACIOS et al. 2020).

Nomenclatural note. WHITE (1883) described H. germanus based on three specimens of both sexes, originating from the following localities: ‘Celebes Sea’, ‘between the Admiralty Islands and Japan’, and ‘Mare della China’ [= China Sea]. ANDERSEN & WEIR (1994), despite being aware of this fact, cited the type material of H. germanus as ‘ holotype. ♀, ‘Pacific 90‧4’ (BMNH). IMMS (1936) described H. sewelli based on 4♂♂ 13♀♀ and 13 larvae collected at the ‘Entrance to the Gulf of Oman, about half-way between the coasts of India and Arabia’ and 1 ♂ 12♀♀ and 6 larvae collected in ‘Red Sea, Genaba, near Farsan Is.’, without any mention of holotype. ANDERSEN & WEIR (1994) cited the type material of H. sewelli as follows: ‘ holotype. ♂, ‘Arabian Sea, Gulf of Oman’ (BMNH)’. We consider the mention of holotype of both species by ANDERSEN & WEIR (1994) a valid lectotype designation under the Article 74.5 ( ICZN 1999) because the term ‘holotype’ was used explicitly for one of the syntypes.

Figures

Figs 43–44. 43 – Halobates germanus White, 1883, ♂, Indian Ocean near Madagascar; 44 – Halobates hayanus White, 1883, Saudia Arabia: Thuwal, mangroves of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. Scale bars: 1 mm. (Orig. Marc Jia Jin Chang).