Cheirochela birmaniensis Montandon, 1897: 369

Dan, Polhemus, John, Polhemus & Sites, Robert, 2008, A Revision Of The Indochinese Genera Cheirochela And Gestroiella Heteroptera Naucoridae And A Review Of The Tribe Cheirochelini, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 56 (2), pp. 255-279 : 263

Cheirochela birmaniensis Montandon, 1897: 369 .

Supplemental redescription. – Macropterous male holotype:

General colouration dark brown, with dark yellow markings on head, pronotum, hemelytra, and lateral abdomen; head dark yellow with dark, posteriorly opening V-shaped mark centrally on frons, posterior margin narrowly dark, eyes black; pronotum narrowly margined with dark yellow laterally and posteriorly; hemelytra with basal embolium, claval suture, and a pair (1 + 1) of narrow longitudinal streaks lying inward from and slightly posterior to termina of embolar fractures dark yellow; visible sections of abdominal tergites medium brown, narrowly margined laterally with dark yellow. Form elongate-ovate, body length 25.40, maximum width (across embolia) 13.00; head length 4.10, width 5.10, anterior/ posterior interocular 3.00/3.40, eye length 2.25, width 1.00, anteclypeus projecting ahead of eyes for 0.61 the length of an eye; pronotum length (midline) 10.40, width 2.50; scutellum length 5.40, width 7.50. Hemelytra macropterous, reaching nearly to tip of abdomen, claval vein and embolar fracture well defined, all other venation obscure.

notation on its labelling, which matches the similar notation on the type of C. feana .

Cheirochela birmaniensis is narrower in overall form than C. feana , with which it is apparently syntopic in the hill streams of northern Burma. It may be easily separated from both C. assamensis and C. tonkina by the well developed posteromedial projections on abdominal sternites IV and V, which project posteriorly over the bases of the adjoining segments. The male paramere also has a basal lobe that is much smaller and less well developed than that seen in C. tonkina or C. feana (compare Figs. 8–10 ) and a distinctly elongate and apically notched dorsomedial process in the male genital capsule (Fig. 13).

As noted for C. feana , the type locality lies in the vicinity of Bhamo , in northern Burma. Based on current collections, this species occurs across the width of the Shan Plateau, from Burma into Laos ( Fig. 16 ) .

Material examined. – BURMA [ MYANMAR], Kachin Division: 1 macropterous male, 1 brachypterous male, Catcin Cauri, Fea, Nov.1886 (co-types, MSNG) . LAOS, Xiang Khoang Prov.: 1 brachypterous male, Haut Mekong, Nam Mat, 15 April 1918, R . V . de Salvaza ( RMNH) .

Figures

Figs. 7–11. Cheirochela species, male right paramere: 7, C. assamensis, holotype; 8, C. feana, paratype. 9. C. birmaniensis, holotype; 10, C. tonkina, paratype; 11, C. thailandana, paratype.

Fig.16. Distributions of Cheirochela species in Indochina:squares = C. birmaniensis; diamonds = C. assamensis; circles = C. feana.