Zelus grandoculus 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 grandoculus Zhang & Hart sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00007999 ; occurrenceRemarks: Genitalia dissected; recordedBy: B. Lott; sex: Adult Male; Taxon: scientificName: Zelusgrandoculus; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Zhang & Hart, 2016; Location: country: GUATEMALA; stateProvince: Sacatepequez; locality: Antigua ; verbatimElevation: 1583 m; decimalLatitude: 14.5611; decimalLongitude: -90.7344; georeferenceSources: Gazetteer; Identification: identifiedBy: G. Zhang; dateIdentified: 2013; Event: eventDate: no date provided; Record Level: institutionCode: USNM

Description

Figs 88, 89, 90

Male: (Fig. 88) Medium-sized, total length 14.63 mm (n=1, Suppl. material 2); slender. COLORATION: Yellowish-brown and reddish-brown with some dark brown areas. Dorsal surface of head reddish-brown, postocular lobe with mid-dorsal line and circumocellar areas yellowish-brown, ventral surface of both lobes yellowish-brown. Rostrum yellowish-brown. Scape and pedicel yellowish-brown with small dark brown areas at base and apex. Flagellomeres dark reddish-brown. Anterior pronotal lobe reddish-brown dorsally; lateral surface yellowish-brown. Posterior lobe reddish-brown dorsally with margins and lateral surface yellowish-brown, humeral angle dark brown, lateral surfaces yellowish-brown. Scutellum yellowish-brown. Legs yellowish-brown with dark reddish-brown areas near apices of femora and tibiae. Hemelytron yellowish-brown to reddish-brown, costal margin of discal cell and adjacent area of corium dark brown. Abdominal dorsal surface yellowish-brown to brown, remainder of surface yellowish-brown. VESTITURE: Moderately setose. Head with recumbent setae on entire surface, more dense dorsally, long erect setae ventrally and ventrolaterally. Anterior pronotal lobe with scattered patches of recumbent and semi-erect setae dorsally, semi-erect and erect setae longer and more dense on lateral surface. Posterior lobe with recumbent setae over entire surface, some erect setae lateroventrally. Scutellum with erect and semi-erect setae. Corium and clavus with recumbent setae. Abdomen with short erect setae over entire surface, longer erect setae on margins of connexivum and ventrally on terminal segments. Exposed area of pygophore with erect setae. Apical half of paramere with short erect setae. STRUCTURE: Head: Cylindrical, L/W = 1.75. Postocular lobe moderately long; in dorsal view anteriorly gradually narrowing, posterior portion constant, slightly narrower. Eye unusually large; lateral margins much wider than postocular lobe; margins beyond dorsal and ventral outlines of head in lateral view. Ocellus elevated, large, diameter over 1.3x ocular-ocellar distance. Labium: I: II: III = 1: 1.9: 0.6. Basiflagellomere diameter larger than that of pedicel. Thorax: Anterolateral angle with inconspicuous subtuberculate projection; medial longitudinal sulcus appearing after anterior third. Posterior pronotal lobe with finely rugulose surface; disc slightly elevated above humeral angle; humeral angle armed with short spinous process. Scutellum moderately long; apex slightly produced, blunt. Legs: Slender. Pro- and metafemora of equal diameter, mesofemur slightly larger. Hemelytron: Surpassing apex of abdomen by about length of abdominal segment seven; quadrate cell small, elongate; Cu and M of cubital cell subparallel. GENITALIA: (Fig. 89) Pygophore: Elongate ovoid; not expanded laterally in dorsal view. Medial process triangular; broad; moderately long; erect; nearly straight; apex in posterior view blunt, without modification. Paramere: Cylindrical; moderately long, slightly exceeding medial process; slightly curved ventrad; apical part feebly enlarged. Phallus: Dorsal phallothecal sclerite somewhat squarish; medially slightly constricted; apical portion of phallothecal sclerite not distinctly tapered, slightly convex; apex truncate, medially emarginate; posterior margin of foramen broadly concave. Struts attached to dorsal phallothecal sclerite; apically separate, connected by bridge; basally moderately fused. Basal plate arm slender; separate; converging; in lateral view nearly straight, very slightly curved; bridge moderately long; extension of basal plate small and confined to apex of basal plate arm.

Female: Unknown.

Diagnosis

This is the only species in the genus with the margins of the eye exceeding outlines of the head both dorsally and ventrally. Compared to other species of the Zelus luridus species group (Fig. 3), the paramere is short, more slender and its apex very slightly expanded.

Etymology

The species epithet combines grandis, meaning large, with oculus, meaning eye, to indicate the prominently large-sized compound eye.

Distribution

Known only from type locality in Guatemala (Fig. 90).