Eotrechus terrestris Andersen, 1982

Duc, Tran Anh & Zettel, Herbert, 2006, Notes on Eotrechus Kirkaldy, 1902 (Heteroptera: Gerridae), with descriptions of two new species, Zootaxa 1353, pp. 39-51 : 49

Eotrechus terrestris Andersen, 1982

( Figs. 21–24 )

Eotrechus terrestris Andersen, 1982: 15 , figs. 17, 23 (type locality: Sikkim, India).

Material examined. Paratypes: 1ɗ 1Ψ (apterous), INDIA?, taken from wet path in copula, 4600 ft., leg. H. Stevens., 9 Jul. 1918, Brit. Mus. 1922­307 ( BMNH).

Others: NEPAL: 2ɗɗ (apterous), Centr., Lanqtanq NP, Lanqtanq valley, Rimche env., leg. P. Šrámek, 13 Oct. 2002 ( CPS, NHMW).

Descriptive notes. Size. Apterous males, length 7.60 (incl. genitalia)/ 7.25 (from head to hind margin of 8th tergite), width 2.34.

Colour. Body mainly black dorsally with golden or metallic green pubescence. Head with triangular yellow markings posteriorly. Antennal segments: first, second, third segments mainly yellow, with brown apices; fourth segment brown. Pronotum with three longitudinal slender yellow stripes, running from anterior to posterior margins: one median and two lateral. Mesonotum with slender yellow stripe medially, length of stripe about one­half mesonotal length. Venter, except prosternum light yellowish, mainly black or dark brown, covered with a golden pubescence. All coxae, trochanters, femora, and tibiae yellow or slightly brown. All tarsi dark brown.

Structural characteristics: Head width across eyes 1.64; interocular width 0.64; eye kidney­shaped on dorsal view, eye size 0.75. Antennae about 0.79x of body length (6.00: 7.60), lengths of segments 1–4: 1.70: 1.52: 1.34: 1.44; first segment with 7–8 black spinelike hairs in apical part. Pronotum broader than long, shorter than head length (0.98: 1.32). Lengths of mesosternum and metasternum: 2.00 and 0.71. Lengths of leg segments (femur: tibia: tarsal segment 1: tarsal segment 2) as follows, fore leg: 2.65: 2.29: 0.28: 0.40; mid leg: 5.85: 5.90: 0.40: 0.48; hind leg: 5.80: 6.60: 0.41: 0.50. Fore trochanter apically with small black tubercle. Fore femur ( Fig. 21 ) moderate, length about 5.10x maximum width (2.65: 0.52), ventral surface without spinelike hairs; fore tibia almost straight, with scattered black spinelike hairs along external side, with row of long spines on apical margin, inner process at apex not produced. Mid and hind femora slender and shorter than body, with scattered small black spines. Claws stout, lengths of fore, mid, hind claws 0.15: 0.20: 0.18. Abdomen moderate, length of abdominal venter from sternum 2 to sternum 7: 1.90; sterna 6–7 with median groove, this wide on sternum 7; sternum 7 about 1.18x length of two preceding sterna combined (0.60: 0.51), posterior margin slightly emarginated ( Fig. 22 ). Genital segments relatively long: proctiger with hind margin triangularly produced ( Fig. 24 ); pygophore broad, 2 long projections with pointed apex ( Figs. 23–24 ), proctiger and pygophore projections slanting dorsad. Paramere small, length about 2 times width, tip round, with some long soft hairs.

Remarks. Eotrechus terrestris was described by Andersen (1982) very briefly, based on four specimens from India. Andersen noted that this species is very similar to Eotrechus longipes and can be separated by the structure of the male genitalia. Thanks to the collecting efforts of Petr Šrámek, two males of E. terrestris from Nepal are available to the authors for examination. These specimens agree with the male paratype of Eotrechus terrestris deposited in BMNH, although a few structural differences were observed. This is the first record of E. terrestris from Nepal. Thus, in this study, we provide some descriptive notes on the specimens from Nepal (see above).

Figures

FIGURES 21 – 24. Eotrechus terrestris (male): (21) right fore leg; (22) abdominal venter, posterior part, genitalia excluded; (23) pygophore, lateral view; (24) pygophore & proctiger, ventral view.