Zelus casii Zhang & Hart

Zhang, Guanyang, Hart, Elwood R & Weirauch, Christiane, 2016, A taxonomic monograph of the assassin bug genus Zelus Fabricius (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): 71 species based on 10,000 specimens, Biodiversity Data Journal 4, pp. 8150-8150 : 8150

Zelus casii Zhang & Hart sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00048228 ; occurrenceRemarks: CAS Type No. 12716; recordedBy: C. E. & E. S. Ross; sex: Adult Male; otherCatalogNumbers: CAS Type No. 12716; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluscasii; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Zhang & Hart, 2016; Location: country: BRAZIL; stateProvince: Amapa; locality: Villa Amazonas ; decimalLatitude: 0.03333; decimalLongitude: -51.05; Identification: identifiedBy: G. Zhang; dateIdentified: 2013; Event: eventDate: 1964-05-29; Record Level: institutionCode: CAS

Description

Figs 45, 46, 47

Male: (Fig. 45) Medium-sized; slender. COLORATION: Entirely brown, somewhat reddish; apices of femora slightly darkened; ventral surface of head, parts of pleura, and abdomen pale brown. VESTITURE: Sparsely setose. Dorsal surface of head with dark, short, erect, spine-like setae, denser on anterior lobe, and moderately dense, short, recumbent setae; ventral surface with sparse, short, recumbent setae and few long, erect setae. Anterior pronotal lobe nearly glabrous, few short, spine-like setae; posterior lobe with short, erect, spine-like setae, some apically curved; pleura with short to moderately long, recumbent and semi-erect setae, some covered with white waxy exudation; scutellum with recumbent setae. Legs with sparse setation. Corium and clavus with short, recumbent setae. Abdomen with sparse, short, recumbent setae, intermixed with few longer setae. Dorsal, outer surface of enlarged part of paramere with dense, long, erect setae. STRUCTURE: Head: Elongated. Postocular lobe very long; in dorsal view anteriorly gradually narrowing, posterior portion constant, slightly narrower. Eye prominent; lateral margin much wider than postocular lobe; dorsal margin attaining postocular transverse groove, ventral margin removed from ventral surface of head. Thorax: Anterolateral angle with inconspicuous subtuberculate projection; medial longitudinal sulcus evident throughout, deepening posteriorly. Posterior pronotal lobe with rugulose surface; disc distinctly elevated above humeral angle; humeral angle armed, with dentate projection. Scutellum moderately long; apex angulate, slightly projected upward. Legs: Slender. Hemelytron: Slightly surpassing apex of abdomen, not more than length of abdominal segment seven; quadrate cell moderately sized; Cu and M of cubital cell subparallel. GENITALIA: (Fig. 46) Pygophore: Ovoid; expanded laterally near base of paramere in dorsal view. Medial process expanded laterally; rather broad; moderately long; anteroposteriorly compressed; erect; curved at middle; apex emarginate, with pair of subapical, lateral, hooklike processes; lateral elevations running from below base of medial process through middle. Paramere: Short, not reaching apex of medial process; base slightly constricted; strongly curved ventrad. Phallus: Dorsal phallothecal sclerite somewhat squarish; lateral longitudinal blade-like heavy sclerotization pressed against phallothecal sclerite; apical portion of phallothecal sclerite gradually tapering, slightly convex, laterally angulate, angulation ending anteriorly in sharp, dorsad projection; apex rounded, medially emarginate; posterior margin of foramen concave. Struts attached to dorsal phallothecal sclerite; apically separate, connected by bridge; basally separate. Basal plate arm moderately robust; basally fused; in lateral view strongly curved at midpoint; bridge extremely short; extension of basal plate expanded onto arm.

Female: Unknown.

Diagnosis

Recognized by the uniform dark brown coloration; the extremely long postocular lobe; and the rather broad medial process, apex emarginate in the middle and bearing a pair of ventrally directed projections.

Etymology

Named after Casi.

Distribution

South America (Fig. 47). A single specimen is known from the State of Amazonas, Brazil.

Taxon discussion

Several characters of Z. casii are highly unique among all species of Zelus . It has an extraordinarily long postocular lobe. The medial process is very broad, has lateral ridge-like elevations, and the apex is emarginate.