Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus (Champion, 1899)

Gil-Santana, Helcio R., Chavez, Tamara, Pita, Sebastian, Panzera, Francisco & Galvao, Cleber, 2022, Panstrongylus noireaui, a remarkable new species of Triatominae (Hemiptera, Reduviidae) from Bolivia, ZooKeys 1104, pp. 203-225 : 203

Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus (Champion, 1899)

Figs 12-16

Material examined.

Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus (Champion, 1899). Costa Rica, 1 male, Puntarenas, Est. Queb. Bonita, Res. Biol. Carara , 50 m, L-N 194500, 469850, VI.1992, J. C. Saborio [leg.], / Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus (Champion), R. Carcavallo det. , 1997 / Costa Rica INBIO, CR 1000 872011 [barcode] / 3751; Panama, 1 male, Barro Colorado , C. Z., 18.III.1936 / collected by Gertsch. Lutz, Wood / Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus (Champion, 1899), X-946, H. Lent det. / N° 733, HEMIPTERA, Inst. Oswaldo Cruz; Venezuela, 1 male, Cojedes, XI.[19]73, M [?] lrrique / Coleção Rodolfo Carcavallo [Green label] / 3760; 1 male, Estado Falcón, município Colina, Lugar: Puerto Novo, VII.[19]57 / Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus (Champion, 1898), det. M. A. Soares / 3015; Ecuador, 1 male, Guayaquil, Sta. [?] Liceia , 08.X... / P. rufotubercul [...] / Colecao Rodolfo Carcavallo [Green label] / 3749 ; Peru, 1 male, Cusco, Convención, 5.VIII.[19]70, Coll. F. carrasco / Vivienda / 3014 ; Bolivia, La Paz, 2 males, 4 females, Carrasco, 6/93 [VI.1993], P. rufotuberculatus Dom. / 3019 (1 male), 3020, 3026 (2 females); 1 female, Tojima, Licoma , 5/94 [V.1994] / 3025 (CTIOC) .

Remarks.

Besides reviewing all previous description and thorough redescriptions of P. rufotuberculatus ( Champion 1899; Lent and Pifano 1940; Lent and Jurberg 1975; Lent and Wygodzinsky 1979), 13 specimens of this species (eight males and five females from different countries) deposited at CTIOC were examined (e.g., Figs 12 , 13 ). Selected measurements of specimens examined in this work are presented in Tables 3 and 4 . Data on morphological variation observed to P. rufotuberculatus were summarized together with previous synthesis by Salomón et al. (1999) in Table 5 . The female genitalia of P. noireaui sp. nov. was compared with the female genitalia of specimens of P. rufotuberculatus examined and also with the results recorded by Rodrigues et al. (2018) to the latter species, and no difference was found between them. Male genitalia of four males representing extremes of size (as selected by total length) and from different countries (18 mm, 21 mm, Venezuela; 24.5 mm, Panama; 25 mm, Costa Rica, respectively) were dissected in order to ascertain possible intraspecific variation. Although the general morphology of the male genitalia of P. rufotuberculatus seemed similar to its description by Lent and Jurberg (1975), three observations deserve to be recorded. Firstly, the presence of a pair of finely and densely denticulate lateral endosoma processes was confirmed (Figs 15 , 16 ). Secondly, bigger males have more sclerotized structures, including, for example, the phallothecal plates. The most striking, indeed is the (subapical) median process of endosoma ( “vesica” sensu auths.), which although with similar shape definitively was shown to be increasingly larger how much bigger is the male examined. Thirdly, it was verified that, in contrary to Lent and Jurberg (1975) and Lent and Wygodzinsky (1979) assumptions, there is no second or distal pair of endosoma processes. By comparing the figs 1, 203, and 209 of Lent and Jurberg (1975) with all genitalia dissected in this study, it becomes evident that what was interpreted by them as a second or distal pair of lateral endosoma processes are in fact the pair of lateral flap-like prominences (flp) of the dorsal phallothecal plate (dpp), including a moderately elongate process (ep) which is present on the ventral portion of these lateral flap like prominences (Fig. 14 ). It is noteworthy that between these flap-like process and the main portion of phallothecal plate there is an intermediate portion which is much less sclerotized and is prone to be easily broken or fractured in the dissecting process. In this latter case, an artifact can be created, and the observer will possibly misinterpret this flap like portion of phallothecal plate as an independent structure, what it is not. On the other hand, the ventral elongate process is clearly connected to the ventral portion of the dorsal phallothecal plate and is not a part of the endosoma, nor a process of it (Fig. 14 ).

Figures

Figures 12 - 16. Panstrongylus rufotuberculatus (Champion, 1899). 12, 13 habitus dorsal view 12 male from Costa Rica 13 female from Bolivia 14 - 16 male genitalia 14 latero-apical portion of dorsal phallothecal plate (flap like prominence), ventral view, ep elongate process 15, 16 lateral process of endosoma, lateral view 16 detail of the portion with denticulate processes. Scale bars: 0.5 mm (12, 13); 0.1 mm (14 - 16).