Grammedessa Correia & Fernandes, 2016

Silva, Paulo Augusto Lima Da & Fernandes, José Antônio Marin, 2022, Description of six new species to Grammedessa Correia & Fernandes, 2016 (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Edessinae), Zootaxa 5129 (2), pp. 211-226 : 212-213

Grammedessa Correia & Fernandes, 2016

We update the original description and diagnosis of the genus as follows:

Diagnosis. Medium to large species. Length 14.3–21.9 mm. Width 9.4–13.2 mm. Dorsal surface greenishyellow to dark brown. Tegument densely punctate; ventrally often with dark spots usually associated with punctures ( Fig. 1B, D ). Head dorsally with six to eight well-defined longitudinal punctured black stripes. Bucculae outer faces usually spotted. Humeral angles projection with different sizes. Evaporatorium somewhat punctate and spotted. Male superior processes of the genital cup partially fused to the diaphragm. Proctiger subcylindrical, perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the body; posterior surface with a thin raised carina along the median line.

Description. Head wider than long (1.3–1.5 times); slightly grooved. Bucculae rectangular. Rostral segment IV laying into the anterior bifurcation of the metasternal process. Antenna 5-segmented; I<II<or>III<IV=V. Pronotum wider than long (2.6–4.3 times); cicatrices distinct, delimited by punctures or grooves or both. Anterolateral margins straight to curved; anterior 1/3 slightly to distinctly wrinkled.Scutellum apically acute, not reaching tergum VI.Wings: corium densely punctured; posteriorly with a medial, raised vein. Evaporatorium smooth to coarse, concolorous or darker than pleura. Ostiolar peritreme short to long, reaching half or ¾ of the distance between the ostiole of the scent gland and the lateral margin of the thorax. Metasternal process laterally sparsely setose, slightly elevated; spotted or not; branches of the anterior bifurcation narrow, long, apically somewhat acuminated. Legs spotted or not; femora apically with three pairs of small spines, one pair on each side and another dorsal. Abdomen: Dorsally brown with median longitudinal line pale yellow; densely punctured, punctuation small and shallow. Connexivum exposed, finely punctured, spotted or not; connexival segments with a small median callus, surrounded by small impressions; segment VII posteriorly black. Ventrally with thin punctuation sometimes on dark spots.

Male. Pygophore: Dark yellow to green, elongated. Superior processes of the genital cup slightly concave; surface of the superior processes and anterior surface of the parameres with the same texture, different from the rest of the pygophore. Proctiger elongated; posterior surface with medial carina sometimes restricted to ventral half; anal opening visible or not in ventral view. Ventral rim tumid.

Female. Valvifers 8 large and punctured, punctures frequently on dark spots. Valvulae 8 medially elevated, hidden or visible among valvifers 8. Valvifer 9 trapezoidal. Laterotergites 8 broad, medially convex, distally elongated, exceeding connexival segment VII. Laterotergites 9 triangular, posteriorly acute, reaching or not the level of laterotergites 8.

Remarks. Species belonging to Grammedessa can be distinguished from other Edessinae using the key to genera and subgenera of Edessa (Almeida et al.) . Grammedessa differs from other Edessinae (with exception of Calcatedessa ) by its head dorsally with six to eight well-defined longitudinal punctured black stripes and the male proctiger posterior surface with a thin raised carina along the median line ( Correia & Fernandes 2016). Other characters that can be used to distinguish Grammedessa , but not present in all species of the taxon, are the tegument usually densely punctate, often with dark spots associated with the punctures and the evaporatorium somewhat punctate and spotted. Grammedessa can be distinguished from Calcatedessa by Its tegument more uniformly punctate/spotted, while Calcatedessa anterolateral margins of pronotum, costal margins, and connexivum are impunctate to slight punctate with punctures concolorous with tegument; the tarsomeres and apex of tibiae are reddish-brown and the spiracles are in a dark green spot only in Calcatedessa ( Correia & Fernandes 2016, Da Silva & Fernandes 2021); the general shape of male genitalia are different in both genera, but the superior processes of the genital cup are absent in Calcatedessa .

Distribution. Costa Rica, Panama, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia.

Updated identification key to species of Grammedessa

1. Pronotum usually with punctures concolorous with the surrounding area ( Fig. 1M ) or punctures darker only on posterior half of the pronotum ( Fig. 1E, G ), but not associated with spots.................................................... 2

- Pronotum usually with punctures associated with dark spots slightly bigger than the puncture ( Fig. 1C )................. 9

2. Abdomen ventrally with dark spots ( Fig. 1L )............................................................... 3

- Abdomen ventrally not spotted ( Fig. 1N ).................................................................. 6

3. Legs finely spotted in black; abdomen with dark brown punctures.............................................. 4

- Legs without fine black spots; abdomen spotted on disc and punctured only between spiracles and lateral margin................................................................................................. G. rorativentris

4. Metasternal process finely spotted, at least laterally; laterotergites 9 distally projected in a short spine, almost a third of the length of the plate.................................................................................... 5

- Metasternal process not finely spotted; laterotergites 9 distally projected in a long spine, almost half of the length of the plate..................................................................................... G. matogrossensis

5. Legs with a large dark spot on the distal part of femur and base of tibia............................... G. pallicornis

- Legs without dark area on the distal part of femur or base of tibia.................................... G. multicavata

6. Pronotum and scutellum with punctures concolorous with the surrounding area ( Fig. 1M )........................... 7

- Pronotum anteriorly with punctures concolorous with the surrounding area, posteriorly with dark punctures; scutellum with dark punctures ( Fig. 1E, G )............................................................................. 8

7. Bucculae spotted....................................................................... G. brunneotarsata

- Bucculae not spotted................................................................ G. acalyptoprocta sp.n.

8. Legs spotted, spots with different sizes ( Fig. 1H ).............................................. G. fundicava sp.n.

- Legs without spots ( Fig. 1J ).......................................................... G. graciligramma sp.n.

9. Ostiolar peritreme long, more than 1/3 of the distance between ostiole of the scent gland and margin of metapleuron..... 10

- Ostiolar Peritreme short, almost 1/5 of the distance between ostiole of the scent gland and margin of metapleuron ( Correia & Fernandes 2016, Fig. 14F).................................................................... G. braziliana

10. Head width shorter than the length of the humeral angles projection ( Fig. 1A ).................................... 11

- Head width longer than the length of the humeral angles projection ( Fig. 1C ).................................... 12

11. Humeral angles projection apically dentiform (see Correia & Fernandes 2016, Fig. 14C), anteriorly bent..... G. paraensis

- Humeral angles projection apically spiniform ( Fig. 8A ), laterally directed......................... G. hamata comb.n.

12. Metasternal process spotted............................................................................ 13

- Metasternal process without spots....................................................................... 15

13. Metasternal process completely spotted.................................................................. 14

- Metasternal process spotted only in the branches of anterior bifurcation.............................. G. stillativentris

14. Head of parameres almost as broad as stem; inner part and margin of posterolateral angles black; valvifers 8 with dark brown spots close posterior margin. Panama and Costa Rica............................................. G. bugabensis

- Head of parameres broader than stem; only margin of posterolateral angles black; valvifers 8 with faded brown spots close to the posterior margin. Bolivia................................................................... G. polytreta

15. Ventral surface of thorax and abdomen laterally uniformly spotted ( Fig. 1L )..................................... 16

- Ventral surface of thorax and abdomen with yellow lateral vittae not spotted (see Correia & Fernandes 2016, Fig. 14B)............................................................................................ G. flavolimbata

16. Legs without spots................................................................................... 17

- Legs spotted, spots with different sizes ( Fig. 1F )............................................. G. longispina sp.n.

17. Ventral side of abdomen densely and uniformly spotted, except midline ( Fig. 1L ); posterolateral angles of the pygophore somewhat excavated ( Fig. 7C–D )....................................................................... 18

- Ventral side of abdomen densely and uniformly spotted only laterally, disc not spotted ( Fig. 1D ); posterolateral angles of the pygophore deeply excavated ( Fig. 3A, C ).................................................... G. nigricava sp.n.

18. Humeral angles projection shorter than eye width, margin with a small black line................ G. stichtocephala sp.n.

- Humeral angles projection 1.5 times longer than eye width, apex black (see Correia & Fernandes 2016, Fig. 14 G)............................................................................................... G. hypsolineata

Figures

FIGURE 1. Grammedessa. A–B: G. hamata comb.n. A: Dorsal view. B: Ventral view. C–D: G. nigricava sp.n. C: Dorsal view. D: Ventral view. E–F: G. longispina sp.n. E: Dorsal view. F: Ventral view. G–H: G. fundicava sp.n. G: Dorsal view. H: Ventral view. I–J: G. graciligramma sp.n. I: Dorsal view. J: Ventral view. K–L: G. stichtocephala sp.n. K: Dorsal view. L: Ventral view. M–N: G. acalyptoprocta sp.n. M: Dorsal view. N: Ventral view. Scale = 10 mm.

FIGURE 3. Genitalia of G. nigricava sp.n. A–C: Male genitalia. A: Pygophore in dorsal view. B: Pygophore in ventral view. C: Pygophore in posterior view. D: Female genital plates in ventral view. Scale = 1 mm.

FIGURE 7. Male genitalia of G. stichtocephala sp.n. A: Pygophore in dorsal view. B: Pygophore in ventral view. C: Pygophore in posterior view. Scale = 1 mm.

FIGURE 8. Male genitalia of G. acalyptoprocta sp.n. A: Pygophore in dorsal view. B: Pygophore in ventral view. C: Pygophore in posterior view. Scale = 1 mm.