Notocoderus Henry & Dellapé, 2009

Henry, Thomas & Dellapé, Pablo, 2009, A new genus and species of Oxycarenidae (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Lygaeoidea) from Argentina, ZooKeys 25 (25), pp. 49-59 : 51-52

Notocoderus Henry & Dellapé , gen. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:4C5559FD-1FEE-45C1-94E1-D03D57A259F7

Type species: Notocoderus argentinus sp. n.

Diagnosis. Notocoderus is distinguished by the coarsely punctate head, pronotum, and scutellum; the lack of ocelli; the bilobed pronotum with the lobes separated by a deep transverse impression, the strongly convex anterior lobe and much shorter, narrower posterior lobe bearing a tubercle at each posterolateral angle; the ostiolar auricle extended upward and outward into a stout, tuberclelike spout; and the swollen fore femur, armed below with a small spine on distal third.

Description. Total length 2.50 mm, width across hemelytra 0.80 mm. Head, pronotum and scutellum coarsely punctate; hemelytral punctures more sparse and shallow. Dorsal surface with scattered, erect, simple setae; setae longer and more dense on head and pronotum. Head globose; bucculae large and prominent, occupying nearly total length of ventral surface, ending posteriorly well past midlevel of eye, encompassing all of first rostral segment and basal half of second. Eyes small, ocelli absent. Pronotum strongly constricted, divided into two lobes separated by a distinct transverse impression; anterior lobe largest, strongly convex; posterior lobe shorter and narrower with a tubercle at each posterolateral angle. Hemelytron subbrachypterous, convex, wider than and overlapping abdomen by nearly half the width; corial margin narrowly explanate, with a row of coarse punctures along inner margin; membrane sclerotized, convex, without veins, lateral margins narrowly explanate; proportionate length of corium to length of membrane 1.78. Metathoracic scent gland auricle elongate, extending upward and outward, forming a tuberclelike spout; evaporative area covering about half of metapleuron. Metacoxae widely separated. Fore femora moderately incrassate, armed below with a small spine on distal third. Abdominal sterna III to VI fused, posterior margin of sternite VII in males with two transverse combs of glandular setae on either side of midline.

Etymology. The name Notocoderus is taken from the Greek “ notos,” meaning south, and the suffix “ coderus,” taken from the generic name Dycoderus , to reflect the overall similarity of this new southern hemisphere taxon with Uhler’s genus. The gen- der is masculine.

Discussion. Notocoderus clearly is most similar to the Nearctic genus Dycoderus in overall appearance, including the general shape of the head and pronotum and color pattern of the hemelytra. It can be distinguished from Dycoderus by the lack of ocelli; the more strongly convex anterior pronotal lobe, the more deeply constricted transverse impression, and shorter and narrower posterior lobe with a distinct tubercle (absent in Dycoderus ) at each posterolateral angle; the longer, tuberculate metathoracic auricle (more distinctly visible from dorsal aspect than in Dycoderus ); the much smaller subapical spine on the fore femur; and the narrower, more cylindrical abdomen.

Slater (1974) mentioned that there are two groups of Oxycarenidae , according to their general habitus. One includes those with somewhat broadened, ovoid, flattened bodies and tapering porrect heads, such as Crophius (now treated as a junior synonym of Anomaloptera [Hoberland 1987]; however, we note that this synonymy needs reevaluation), Oxycarenus , and Dycoderus , and a second composed of relatively slender species with rounded myrmecoid heads and frequently swollen, convex pronota, such as Neaplax and the Palearctic genera Bethylimorphus Lindberg and Bycanistellus Reuter. Although Slater’s two groups are generally diagnostic, Notocoderus and Dycoderus are clearly more closely related to each other, based on the rounded (not porrect) heads and strongly bilobed pronota, than they are to either Crophius (or Anomaloptera ) or Oxycarenus .