Voconia smithae, Castillo & Rédei & Weirauch, 2022

Castillo, Stephanie, Rédei, Dávid & Weirauch, Christiane, 2022, Pseudocetherinae (Hemiptera: Reduviidae) revisited: phylogeny and taxonomy of the lobe-headed bugs, European Journal of Taxonomy 788 (1), pp. 1-95 : 77-79

Voconia smithae sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:6E950EB8-E03F-4F9F-B422-BD1D7A1A1594

Figs 12 , 14

Diagnosis

Distinguished from other species in Voconia by its Afrotropical distribution and stout body. This species most closely resembles V. motoensis and V. conradti . Voconia smithae sp. nov. differs from V. motoensis by its distinct coloration: yellow scutellar spine; abducted corium with a yellow spot at proximal and distal apex, and brown dorsal laterotergites with contrasting yellow anterior spots. Despite the strong superficial resemblance to V. conradti due its to coloration and stoutness, closer examination reveals that V. smithae sp. nov. is distinguishable by the following: shorter body (9.7–9.8 mm long); light brown dorsal laterotergites with weakly contrasting yellow anterior spots; antennifer with long, laterally projecting setigerous tubercle; paired interocular setigerous tubercles; maxillary plates globular, directed straight anteriorly; longer anteocular region than postocular region (measured to where the posterior margin of the granulations meet the anterior margin of the smooth neck); and eyes do not bulge strongly laterally in dorsal view and do not reach ventral head margin in lateral view.

Etymology

Named after one of the collectors of the holotype and colleague from the Weirauch lab, Samantha Smith.

Type material

Holotype GABON • ♂; Ogooué-Ivindo, Ipassa Reserve; 0.51167 ° N, 12.80306 ° E; elev. 516 m; 3–6 Feb. 2019; S. Smith, Y. Pacheco, S. Bybee, G. Svenson and G. Powell leg.; collecting event: GA19_L8_H; light trap; lowland forest; DNA voucher R_CW 5801; USI: UCR_ENT 00127891 ; UCR.

Paratypes REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO • 1 ♂; Sibiti; [3.68 ° S, 13.35 ° E]; 25 Nov. 1963; Endrody-Younga leg.; Soil-Zoological Exped.; lamplight; USI: AMNH_PB 00213936 ; HNHM .

Description

Male ( Figs 8 , 10 )

BODY LENGTH. 9.7–9.8 mm; macropterous.

COLORATION. Head: dark brown; postocular region with dark patches adjacent to medial ocellar margin, pale patches adjacent to lateral ocellar margin; labium lighter than head. Thorax: coloration as head, posterior margin of posterior pronotal lobe lighter; scutellum dark with contrasting yellow apical spine. Hemelytron (abducted): clavus brown with distal yellow stripe; corium dark or light brown with proximal, anteromedial, posteromedial, and distal yellow spots; membrane dark with pale V-shaped marking along R and M veins; membranal veins R and M proximally pale. Legs: yellowish-brown. Abdomen: yellowish-brown; dorsal laterotergites light brown with yellow spots anteriorly.

INTEGUMENT AND VESTITURE. Head and pronotum: coarsely granulose with sparse, short macrosetae interspersed among sparse pubescence; interocular region with two pairs of stout setigerous tubercles paramedially; antennifer with long lateral setigerous tubercle; morphologically ventral surface of labium with sparse, short macrosetae. Thorax: anterolateral angles of pronotal collar without macrosetae or setigerous tubercles. Hemelytron: corium with dense long setation. Legs: posterior row of protuberances on mid and hind femora with three large spines on distal half and three or fewer small spines. Abdomen: ventral surface pubescent.

STRUCTURE. Head: elongate, 1.3–1.4 times as long as wide; anteocular region about one third of head length, longer than postocular region (measured to anterior margin of neck); postocular region in dorsal view about as long as eye, lateral margins gently rounded and subrectangular; pedicel 1.4–1.5 times length of head width; maxillary plates ellipsoidal, adjacent to and longer than clypeus; apices of maxillary plates in dorsal view directed straight; clypeus in dorsal view narrower than maxillary plates; clypeal apex round, narrowed; interocular glabrous markings anterolaterally curved, joined at interocular sulcus paramedially; interocular sulcus in dorsal view curved and smoothly rounded anteriorly; eye width in dorsal view narrower than synthlipsis; eye not reaching ventral head margin in lateral view; ventrolateral swelling of buccula with tuberculate protrusion that surpasses buccular margin; labial segment I in lateral view straight, reaching posteroventral eye margin; morphologically dorsal surface of labial segment II nearly straight, about 0.6 times length of segment I. Thorax: pronotal collar narrow medially with anterolateral angles short and flared laterally; anterior pronotal lobe about 0.6 times length of posterior pronotal lobe, lateral margins almost straight; glabrous markings on pronotum slightly depressed; median apodeme depression of pronotum deep, circular; scutellar spine long, subhorizontal; anteriad-directed process of prosternum with paramedial lobes; anterior margin of stridulitrum not elongated into protuberance; proepimeron with smoothly rounded posteroventral margin. Legs: fossula spongiosa present on fore and mid legs. Abdomen: anterior margin of terga weakly carinulate; terga II and III with paired prominent longitudinal carinae, reaching about one-third of tergum III.

Female

Unknown.

Distribution ( Fig. 17 )

Only known from Congo and Gabon in Africa.

Remarks

The male paratype varies from the holotype in the following: head and pronotum finely granulose, postocular region subrectangular, buccula without lateral tuberculate protrusion. The holotype was preserved in ethanol when the mid and hind legs were dissected for DNA extraction but was not Illumina sequenced.

Figures

Fig. 12. Pygophore of species of Voconia Stål, 1866. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

Fig. 14. Aedeagus of species of Gerbelius Distant, 1903 and Voconia Stål, 1866. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.

Fig. 8. Dorsal habitus of holotypes of Voconia Stål, 1866 species with distribution: purple = Afrotropical region, green = Australasian region, blue = Neotropical region, pink = Oriental region. Scale bars = 3 mm.

Fig. 10. Lateral habitus of species of Voconia Stål, 1866. Scale bars = 3 mm.

Fig. 17. The distribution of species of Voconia Stål, 1866 in Africa.