Carventus chilensis KORMILEV , 1981: 296

Heiss, Ernst, 2017, The Aradidae of Chile (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), Linzer biologische Beiträge 49 (1), pp. 147-158 : 149-152

Carventus chilensis KORMILEV, 1981: 296 ( Figs 5, 6, 7, 9 )

Carventus chilensis KORMILEV, 1981: 296 (original description, fig. habitus 3, terminal segments

3, ♀) Carventus chilensis: KORMILEV & FROESCHNER 1987: 73 (catalog) Carventus chilensis: COSCARON & CONTRERAS 2012: 238 (catalog, bibliography, distribution) M a t e r i a l e x a m i n e d (CEHI):13, 1♀ Chile / Res. Nac. Nonguén, litter / nr. Conception /

1985-12-02 F.Morales // (the male was damaged after taking the habitus photo 5).

Carventus chilensis was described on a male from Chile, Prov. Nuble, Los Troncos 25.V.1977 and a female from Chile, Prov. Conceptión, Neuquén 4.X.1972 (misspelling of Nonguén which is in Chile instead of Neuquén, a locality in Argentina). KORMILEV described it as micropterous, however, as small or vestigial wings – characterizing microptery – are lacking and fused with mesonotum, it is to be regarded as an apterous taxon.

The genus Carventus STÅL, 1865 comprises to date 42 species, distributed in the Oriental and Australian Regions, nearly half of them were described from New Guinea (KORMILEV & FROESCHNER 1987). Three species are native to Australia (C. australis KORMILEV, 1958; C. elongatus KORMILEV, 1965, both macropterous and C. brachypterus KORMILEV, 1966, with reduced wing pads from Tasmania) and none is

known from New Zealand, where it seems to be replaced by the apterous Carventaptera spinifera USINGER & MATSUDA, 1959.

As there are surprisingly only two species recorded from Neotropical Region:

Carventus mexicanus BERGROTH, 1895 from Mexico

Carventus chilensis KORMILEV, 1981 from Chile

Their assignment to the genus Carventus seemed doubtful and should be confirmed.

Examination of the holotype of Carventus mexicanus (from the collection of the Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna) and the abovementioned couple of Carventus chilensis confirmed, that C. mexicanus belongs and is to be transferred to the neotropical genus Neoproxius (USINGER & MATSUDA, 1959), which will be treated in a separate paper.

Carventus chilensis shows several differences to true Carventus , of which no apterous species is yet known. Habitus and thoracic structures resemble more those of Carventaptera, however C. chilensis is e.g. distinguished from both genera by the different position of spiracles and the elongate oval shiny callosities on male sternite VII, where only round tubercles are developed in Carventus and no such structure in Carventaptera.

D i f f e r e n t i a l d i a g n o s i s: Character comparison of C. chilensis to the geographically closest species of the genus, the macropterous Carventus australis and the apterous Carventaptera spinifera shows following differences:

Besides biogeographical considerations and that there is no true Carventus species recorded from the New World, this comparison of characters supports the suspicion, that C. chilensis does not belong to and cannot be placed neither in Carventus nor in Carventaptera. Therefore a new genus Chileaptera gen.nov. is proposed and C. chilensis is here designated as type species, thus: Chileaptera chilensis comb.nov.

Figures

Figs 5-11: (5) Chileaptera chilensis, male from Nonguén; (6) Carventus chilensis male holotype (from KORMILEV 1981, Fig. 1); (7) Chileaptera chilensis, female from Nonguén; (8) Carventaptera spinifera, male from New Zealand; (9) Carventus chilensis, male, ventral, elongate oval calli on vltg VII (from KORMILEV 1981, Fig. 3); (10) Carventus australis, male from NSW, Australia; (11) Carventus australis, male, ventral, round tubercles on vltg VII.