Neomacrocoris transvaalensis (Distant)

Sites, Robert W., 2015, A new species, new synonymy, and notes on Neomacrocoris (Heteroptera: Nepomorpha: Naucoridae), Zootaxa 3964 (5), pp. 553-560 : 558

Neomacrocoris transvaalensis (Distant)

Macrocoris transvaalensis Distant 1904 : Entomol. 37: 258–259.

Neomacrocoris transvaalensis: Sites & Mbogho 2012 , Zootaxa 3555: 29–30.

Neomacrocoris bondelaufa Sites 2012 in Sites & Mbogho 2012: Zootaxa 3555: 6–9. New Synonymy

Discussion. Distant (1904) described Macrocoris transvaalensis from the Lydenburg District in northeastern South Africa. His description was brief to the extent that except for body size, it was consistent with nearly every species of Neomacrocoris although he placed it in the genus Macrocoris . The original description did not mention the number of specimens, sex, or repository; however, a single female specimen with a holotype label was found in the BMNH and because it was not indicated in the original description, it was designated as the lectotype and the species transferred to Neomacrocoris by Sites & Mbogho (2012). Reliable identifications of species in this genus require male genitalia and associated abdominal terga; except for a few species, females must be associated with identifiable males ( Sites & Mbogho 2012). Because N. transvaalensis was known only by females, the possibility remained that it could be conspecific with a described congener and that male specimens were needed to resolve its identity. Recent collections by Hannes Marais has made available one female and three male specimens from the Sterkspruit (river) in Lydenburg District, South Africa. The female is consistent with the lectotype of N. transvaalensis in that it bears a small lateral production on the subgenital plate, the only diagnostic character noted for N. transvaalensis . However, the males from the Sterkspruit are consistent with those of N. bondelaufa Sites , including in the diagnostic structure of the phallosoma and pseudostrigil of the 7th tergum. Although the subgenital plate of female specimens from Tanzania do not bear the lateral productions of the South African specimens, this feature is subtle and differentially expressed in the known South African specimens. As such, I consider the lack of these productions in the Tanzanian specimens to represent intraspecific variation among populations. Thus, I here synonymize N. bondelaufa with N. transvaalensis . Further, the detailed description of N. bondelaufa in Sites & Mbogho (2012) serves as a redescription of N. transvaalensis (Distant) .

Material examined. SOUTH AFRICA: Lydenburg District, Sterkspruit, 1.2 km SE of Lydenburg, 25.11409º S, 30.46908º E, 1412 m elev, 19 August 2014, H. Marais (UMC, 2♂); Lydenburg District, Sterkspruit, 8 km SE of Lydenburg, 25.14404º S, 30.53465º E, 1565 m elev, 21 August 2014, H. Marais (UMC, 1♂, 1♀).

Published records. [ SOUTH AFRICA]: Transvaal, Lydenburg Dist. / Transvaalensis Dist. Type / 8I / Type H. T. / Neomacrocoris transvaalensis (Distant) Lectotype ( BMNH, ♀). SOUTH AFRICA: Natal. Mtubatuba, III- 24 &25-1968, Paul J. Spangler ( USNM, 2 ♀). See N. bondelaufa records from Congo and Tanzania in Sites & Mbogho (2012).