Pothea jaguaris (Carpintero)

Gil-Santana, Hélcio R., 2014, Pothea berengeri sp. nov. from Brazil, with taxonomic notes on Pothea furtadoi Gil-Santana & Costa and Pothea jaguaris (Carpintero) and reinstatement of Parapothea Carpintero as junior synonym of Pothea Amyot & Serville (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Ectrichodiinae), Zootaxa 3826 (3), pp. 497-516 : 507-512

Pothea jaguaris (Carpintero) , REINSTATED COMBINATION

Figures 48–71, Tables 1–4 .

Parapothea jaguaris Carpintero, 1980: 9 –10, 32 [description]; Maldonado, 1990: 64 [catalog]; Carpintero & Maldonado, 1996: 129, 134 [figures, citation as type species]; Forero, 2004: 144 [citation]; Forero, 2006: 8 [citation]; Gil-Santana, 2007: 60 [new record].

Pothea jaguaris ; Dougherty, 1995: 212 [new combination, checklist].

Redescription. Female: Total length 16.2–18.5 ( Table 1 ). Male: Total length: 14.6–18.5 ( Tables 2–4 ). COLORATION: The coloration is quite variable, yellowish-orange and/or with reddish suffusions, to somewhat yellow-brownish general coloration, with blackish markings, variably present in their extent on head, including collum, labium segments, distal portion of labrum, thorax, including legs and corium of hemelytra and sternites (Figs. 48–60). Antennae blackish with joints clear; basal portion of segment I yellowish in variable extent in some specimens; hairs and setae of antennae brownish red to yellowish distally (Figs. 54, 58). Thorax: pronotum with three pairs of blackish spots: 1—anteriorly on the fore lobe of pronotum; 2—suboval spots on central portion of hind lobe of pronotum, variable in size and extent and variably confluent in midportion, in the region of the median sulcus as well; 3—on lateral portion of approximately distal half of fore lobe and basal half of hind lobe of pronotum, including the transverse furrow laterally (Figs. 48–52, 56, 59). Pleurae and sterna with blackish spots and markings in variable extents to almost blackish in darker specimens. Legs: femora with base, submedian distal ring and apex blackish, with some variability in the extent or presence of these markings; tibiae with base and two rings, submedian proximal and distal, blackish, variable as well; in two specimens, tibiae almost all blackish with subbasal ring and distal portion yellowish; tarsi yellowish to yellowish-orange. Corium of hemelytra variably marked with dark spots together with yellowish areas, spots on veins, or some of these latter yellowish-colored to variable extent, to almost completely blackish; membrane of hemelytra blackish (Figs. 48, 51, 56, 59). Connexivum shows alternating blackish and yellow-reddish coloration, but the latter is darker in some specimens (Figs. 48, 51, 56, 59). Sternites yellowish with very variable blackish markings on sternites; sternite II with a transverse blackish band, for which dimensions both in transverse and antero-posterior directions are variable among specimens. Sternites III–VI with lateral large spots accompanied by central bands, which have variable format along the segments, or become a pair of median separated spots, or the latter variably fused, sometimes forming a large dark band, occupying the majority of the segment. Sternite VII with lateral blackish spots of variable size; a median distal band which can be shaped as an inverted “V” or as a smaller spot with variable size, and a pair or two pairs of small subrounded dark spots, of variabe size in some specimens (Figs. 50, 55, 60).

PLATE 7. Figs. 48–56, Pothea jaguaris , 48–55, female, 48–50, specimen from Bolivia, 48–49, dorsal view, 49, head and thorax, 50, latero-ventral view, 51, specimen from Ceará, Brazil, dorsal view, 52–55, specimen from Amapá, Brazil, 52, head and thorax, dorsal view, 53, head, lateral view, 54, antennal segment I, dorsal view, 55, latero-ventral view, 56, male from Acre, Brazil.

STRUCTURE AND VESTITURE: Integument mostly glabrous shiny and smooth (Figs 48–53, 55–57, 59–60). Head. Antenna: eight segmented, with hairs and setae brownish red to yellowish distally; in males, all segments pubescent (Fig. 58). First segment thicker than others, bare in mid-dorsal region, hairs somewhat longer than the transverse width of segment (Fig. 58); second antennal segment with long hairs, which are two to almost three times as long as width of the segment (Fig. 58). Clypeus denticulate in males. Labium thick with sparse setae, more numerous on ventral face of segment II few at the apex of segment III, and some scattered on segment IV; segment II longer than the others together and surpassing posterior margin of the eyes (Figs. 53, 57). Thorax (Figs. 48–49, 51–52, 56, 59): Integument of pronotum on anterior lobe of pronotum moderately rugous or smooth; midlongitudinal sulcus in anterior pronotal lobe not reaching interlobar sulcus; deep enough to form a pair of protuberant paramedial lobes in some specimens, but in others it is shallow and there is no evidence of such lobes, even in larger specimens; midlongitudinal (in the first half of posterior lobe), transverse (interlobar) and posterolateral sulci formed by canaliculae, which vary in depth among the specimens; humeral angles rounded. Femora, particularly, fore and mid femora, thick in some specimens, with patches of long and numerous yellowish hairs on ventral surface of fore and mid trochanters and femora. In mid trochanters and femora, hairs are more numerous on the basal half; in some specimens these hairs are shorter or less numerous; mid ventral fringe of short curved yellowish to orange hairs on median portion of ventral face of all tibiae; apex of tibiae and tarsi covered with somewhat longer hairs with the same coloration; presence of a median ventral shallow and thin crest, where the ventral fringe of hairs are inserted on fore and mid femora and all tibiae; in some specimens this crest is not perceptible on femora; spongy fossa well developed on pro and meso tibiae. Hemelytra length varied from shorter than abdomen to slightly surpassing the tip. Male genitalia (Figs. 61–71): pygophore subrounded, posterior margin rounded; paramere apices close in resting position (Figs. 61–62). Median process of pygophore sclerotized, apex rounded or slightly subtriangular (Figs. 62–63). Parameres symmetrical, a little curved, with sparse hairs, with a short subapical tooth (Figs. 61–62, 64). Phallus with articulatory apparatus moderately long, subquadrate; dorsal phallothecal plate oval, sinuous in center of anterior margin, lateral margins somewhat bent; struts enlarged at basal half and united in the apex, which is rounded (Figs. 65–67). Median process of endosoma subquadrate, with central sclerotized structure in the shape of an “X” (Fig. 70), or more similar to a “T” (Figs. 69, 71) including other specimen with darker sternites (Fig. 60, B).

PLATE 8. Figs. 57–65, Pothea jaguaris , male, 57–58, specimen from Acre, Brazil, 57, head, lateral view, 58, right antenna, segments I–II, dorsal view, 59–60, specimens from French Guiana, 59, dorsal view, 60, ventral view, 61–65, male genitalia, 61–62, pygophore and parameres, 61, ventral view, 62, dorsal view, 63, median process of pygophore, 64, right paramere, dorsal and ventral view, respectively, 65, phallus, dorsal view.

PLATE 9. Figs. 66–71, Pothea jaguaris , male genitalia, 66–67, phallus with expanded endosoma, 66, lateral view, 67, dorsal view, 68, median portion of expanded endosoma, with the median process, dorsal view, 69–71, median process of endosoma, dorsal view, 69, male from Pará, Brazil, 70–71, males from French Guiana, 70, from male of Fig. 60, A, 71, from male of Fig. 60, B.

Female: COLORATION: same as males. STRUCTURE AND VESTITURE: Antenna: first and basal half of the second segment of females are bare or very sparsely pubescent; first segment thicker than others, completely bare to 20 short setae on internal face; second segment with setae shorter or a little longer than the width of the segment, with very few scattered longer erect hairs ca. twice as long as the width of the segment (Fig. 54). Clypeus rounded in females; Hemelytra did not reach tip of abdomen in the females examined.

Discussion. As possible sexual dimorphism in eyes and ocellus sizes were not clear when examining the specimens, some selected measures were recorded ( Tables 1–4 ) to investigate this. There were other observed variations in the specimens of this taxon: all specimens except the female from Bolivia and a male from French Guiana have a small rounded tubercle on the ventral portion of the head (gula) anteriorly (Figs. 53, 57), as well as size variation of the tubercle among the specimens; while in the male from French Guiana, in which the tubercle is absent, some setae are present on the same area of gula. Investigating the male genitalia, the different portions of male genitalia were shown to be similar among the specimens examined, with very subtle differences in the thickness of parameres or size of teeth; median process of pygophore rounded to slightly subtriangular. Those differences showed intermediate or gradual states, occurring randomly among specimens, negating any association with color pattern or geographical precedence. The median process of the endosoma showed some minor variation as well, with the central sclerotized structure similar in shape to a “T” (Figs. 69, 71) recorded in specimens with more or less dark body markings from Brazil and French Guiana (Fig. 60, B), while its structure presented as the shape of an “X” (Fig. 70) in a male from French Guiana with paler body markings (Fig. 60, A). However, the shapes of the dorsal phallothecal plate and struts (Fig. 65) are particularly characteristic and there was no noticeable variation among specimens examined.

Specimens examined. BOLIVIA, Bolivia Tropica, Región Chaparé, 400m, XII-1949, Zischka [? leg.], 1 female; BRAZIL, Acre, 11 km NE de Rio Branco, 5–10.V.1981, Penny & Elias leg., 1 male; Amapá, Serra do Navio, VII-1959, J. Lane leg., 1 female, [MNRJ]; Amazonas, Campo Petrolífero do Urucu-Coari (04º 53´42,5” S – 65º 11´16,2” W), 21.IX–04.X.2004, José A.M. Fernandes leg., 2 males; Ceará, Carquejo, 1 female, III.1963, 1 female; FRENCH GUIANA, Nourages [04º 52´N – 52º 41´W], IX.2009, window trap, Seag leg., 7 males, 1 female.

New Record: French Guiana.

Tables

TABLE 1. Selected measurements (mm) of female specimens (N = 4) of Pothea jaguaris.

	French Guyana	Bolivia	Amapá, Brazil	Ceará, Brazil	Mean	SD
Total length	16.2	17.2	18.0	18.5	17.47	1.0
Abdomen maximum width	6.0	5.9	6.0	5.9	5.95	0.58
Head length (incl. collum)	3.6	3.8	3.9	4.5	3.95	0.39
Head width across eyes	2.0	2.1	2.2	2.0	2.07	0.09
Interocular distance	0.95	1.0	1.0	1.0	0.98	0.02
Right eye: transverse width;	0.65	0.55	0.60	0.60	0.6	0.04
length (meas. from above)	0.55	0.70	0.75	0.85	0.71	0.12
Ocellar tubercle width	0.55	0.65	0.63	0.65	0.62	0.04
Right ocellus width	0.20	0.20	0.20	0.20	0.20	0