Strongylovelia paitooni Chen, Nieser & Sangpradub, 2006

Ye, Zhen, Chen, Pingping & Bu, Wenjun, 2015, A review of the Strongylovelia Esaki, 1924 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Veliidae) from China, with descriptions of three new species, Zootaxa 3920 (4), pp. 534-544 : 535-536

Strongylovelia paitooni Chen, Nieser & Sangpradub, 2006

( Figs. 2 , 7, 11, 14, 19, 27, 28, 29, 30, 43)

Strongylovelia paitooni Chen, Nieser & Sangpradub, 2006: 784 .

Material examined. CHINA, Yunnan Prov.: 5 apterous females, 5 apterous males, 1 macropterous male, Xishuangbanna, Mengla county, Wangtianshu rain forest park (21°37'N, 101°35'E), 29 April 2011, Zhen Ye leg. ( NKUM).

Remarks. The specimen we have examined closely match the original description except that having a pair of whitish patches on the prosternum anteriorly near the hind margin of the eyes; the mesonotum bearing a different shaped, large whitish mark in the female ( Fig. 2 ); and the metanotum possessing two orange blotches narrowly separated from mesonotum. However, a large series of S. paitooni spcimens from Phetchabun Province, northeastern Thailand also have characters that small or large yellow marks on the prosternum and different shape of marks on the mesonotum and presence or absence of spots on the metanotum (H. Zettel, pers. comm.). Thus, this species might have shown considerably variable colour or shape in these characters. In addition, we also present the first description of a macropterous male in this paper.

Macropterous male (Fig. 11). Ground colour blackish. Body length 2.25 (including forewing length); head width: 0.60, head length: 0.26, head width about 2.31 times head length, lengths of antennal segments I–II (III and IV damaged): 0.21, 0.20; pronotum pentagonal in outline, with characteristically shaped large, whitish, mark (Fig. 11), pronotum width: 0.93, pronotum length: 0.70, about 1.33 times as wide as long; lengths of leg segments (femora, tibiae and tarsi): fore leg: 0.43, 0.42 and 0.17 (0.04 + 0.13), middle leg: 0.90, 0.78 and 0.44 (0.26 + 0.18), hind leg: 0.61, 0.60 and 0.24 (0.10 + 0.14); forewings almost blackish, posteriorly surpassing posterior tip of body, hemelytra with thick corium, bearing one closed cell, veins indistinct.

Distribution. China (Yunnan), Thailand ( Fig. 43 ).

Figures

FIGURE 43. Geographical distribution of Strongylovelia species in China.

FIGURES 1 – 5. Habitus of Strongylovelia spp. (females). 1. S. formosa Esaki, 1924; 2. S. paitooni Chen, Nieser & Sangpradub, 2006; 3. S. balteiformis sp. n.; 4. S. fasciaria sp. n.; 5. S. hainanensis sp. n.. Scale 1.0 mm.