Oncocephalus stysi, Moulet, 2008

Moulet, Pierre, 2008, Oncocephalus stysi, a new species of Stenopodainae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae) from Israel, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 48 (2), pp. 361-365 : 362-365

Oncocephalus stysi sp. nov.

(Figs. 1-3, 4d, 5-6)

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, ‘ Israel, S Distr. / ‚En Agrabbim / 31.7.- 9.8.1986 / R. Linnavuori rec’ [white label, printed] // ‘ Holotype / Oncocephalus stysi n. sp. / P. Moulet det 2007’ [red label, handwriting] (coll. R. Linnavuori, Raiso, Finland; to be deposited in the National Museum and Gallery of Wales , Cardiff, United Kingdom) .

Description. Male. Length: 12.75 mm. General colouration pale yellow, with more or less dark brown to blackish tinge, especially on head and pronotum; patterns with little contrast (Fig. 1).

Head ( Fig. 2 ) rather long, 1.23 times as long as diatone and 0.82 times as long as pronotum, granulate with very short, white or golden setae; diatone 1.34 times as long as pronotum wide at anterior angles; anterior lobe flat, 0.67 times as long as entire head, dark brown from transverse furrow to level of antennal tubercle and yellow prior to level of antennal tubercles, laterally with little rounded tubercles, each bearing a short apical seta; posterior lobe globose, higher than the anterior one, black, with two more or less acute setiferous teeth on each lateral edge; antennal tubercle provided with a finger-like tooth bent laterally; transverse furrow very well developed but not deep; gula dark brown. Eyes voluminous, globose, strongly protruding from outline of head, contiguous underneath. Ocelli very large, yellow. Antennae brownish yellow; first segment 0.74 times as long as head; second segment 2.21 times as long as first and 1.63 times as long as head; third and fourth segments thread-like. Rostrum very thin, yellow; first segment 1.50 times as long as second, darkened basally; second segment darkened apically.

Pronotum brown, shortly trapezoid, twice as long as wide at anterior angles and 0.77 times as long as wide at posterior angles, with anterior margin hardly concave medially and posterior margin widely convex; anterior angles short and acute, laterally bent; anterior lobe 0.75 times as long as posterior one, disc without peculiar structures, mostly yellow or yellowish with three yellow stripes on a median circular blackish marking; lateral stripes shorter than median one; transverse furrow well developed but not deep; posterior lobe hardly convex, with two admedian divergent carinae arising at the level of transverse furrow and almost reaching posterior margin; median line with a narrow, posteriorly enlarged light stripe; humeral angles round, hardly surpassing corium laterally. Scutellum 1.42 times as long as wide at base, dark brown with pale extreme apex; apical part very long, tapered, regularly and feebly raised. Thoracic pleura brown. Venter yellowish, laterally brown with spots that become larger from base to apex.

Legs yellow, covered with more or less long white or yellow pubescence; apices of fore femora and extreme base of the fore tibiae at most slightly darkened. Fore femora ( Fig. 3 ) slightly dilated, 5.10 times as long as thick and 1.14 times as long as fore tibia, underneath with a row of eight acute teeth distributed all along femur and another row of three teeth in basal half, and without any other structures between them except transparent and very short setae. Fore trochanter with two globular tubercles; apical one larger ( Fig. 3 ). All tarsi 3-segmented. Hemelytron white yellowish, greatly surpassing apex of abdomen; clavus and basal half of external cell of corium very slightly darkened; discal cell of membrane entirely brown; external apical cell with small rounded spot at base and long one near apex. Abdomen with narrow apex; posterior margin less concave medially, rather bisinuous ( Fig. 4d ). Pygophore ( Fig. 6a,b ) more rectangular than in O. aspericollis . Apex of pygophore with distinct notch. Subapical lobe of paramere ( Fig. 5 ) distinctly longer and narrower than in O. hierosolymensis and much longer and narrower than in O. aspericollis (see MOULET 2001). Female. Unknown.

Fig. 1. Oncocephalus stysi sp. nov., habitus, scale bar: Differential diagnosis. In general appea-

5 mm. rance, Oncocephalus stysi sp. nov. is similar to O. aspericollis known from the eastern

Mediterranean ( Greece, Turkey, Israel, and Syria), Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. The new species can be distinguished by its yellow legs (with dark rings in O. aspericollis ) and by the hem-

elytra surpassing far beyond the apex of abdomen (reaching or hardly surpassing the apex of abdomen in O. aspericollis ). The apex of abdomen is also broader and the median excision deeper in O. aspericollis ( Fig. 4 a-c) and, finally, the pygophore in O. aspericollis is widened from its base to apex and lacks the apical notch.

Oncocephalus stysi sp. nov. is very close to and has many characters in common with

O. hierosolymensis , known also from Israel. However, many morphometric characters allow the separation of the two species (see the key below); moreover, the lateral margins of the anterior pronotal lobe are denticulate in O. hierosolymensis (plain in O. stysi sp. nov.).

The three species ( O. aspericollis , O. hirosolymensis , and O. stysi sp. nov.) share a very thin rostrum. This character separates them from all other Oncocephalus with two rows of ventral teeth on the fore femora, and allows their grouping in a new species-group, the O. aspericollis -group. The three species can be distinguished as follows:

1(4) Head long or very long, at least 1.23 times as long as diatone and at least 0.82 times as long as pronotum; fore tibiae straight. ........................................................................ 2

2(3) Head longer, 1.50-1.75 times as long as diatone and 0.93-1.04 times as long as pronotum; head black, anterior lobe sometimes lighter medially; second antennal segment 1.75- 2.05 times as long as first; general colouration of pronotum pale beige; lateral tubercle of pronotum rather strong, visible; lateral margins of anterior pronotal lobe denticulate; pygophore not notched at apex; body length 12.5-14.1 mm. ........................................ ................................................................................. O. hierosolymensis Moulet, 2001

3(2) Head shorter, 1.23 times as long as diatone and 0.82 times as long as pronotum; anterior lobe of head from antenniferous tubercle to apex pale; second antennal segment 2.21 times as long as first; entire pronotum brown except margins of anterior lobe; lateral margins of pronotum without lateral tubercle; lateral margins of anterior pronotal lobe not denticulate; pygophore distinctly notched at apex; body length 12.75 mm. ........... .............................................................................................................. O. stysi sp. nov.

4(1) Head shorter, 1.06 times as long as diatone and 0.70 times as long as pronotum; fore tibiae apically bent. .......................................................... O. aspericollis Reuter, 1882

Etymology. The species is named in honour of Prof. Pavel Štys, thanking him for his invaluable papers on the Heteroptera and help.

Distribution. Southern Israel.

Figures

Fig. 2-6. 2 – Oncocephalus stysi sp. nov., head, lateral view, scale bar: 1 mm. 3 – O. stysi sp. nov., fore femur, lateral view, scale bar: 1 mm. 4 – apex of abdomen, dorsal view (a,b – O. aspericollis Reuter, 1882, from Jerusalem; c – O. aspericollis from Yeroham; d – O. stysi sp. nov.), scale bar: 1 mm. 5 – O. stysi sp. nov., pygophore (a – dorsal side; b – ventral side), scale bar: 0.5 mm. 6 – O. stysi sp. nov., parameres in several positions, scale bar: 0.25 mm.