Altavelia flavomarginata ( Hungerford, 1930 )

Polhemus, Dan A., Molano, Fredy, Morales, Irina, Moreira, Felipe Ferraz Figueiredo & Floriano, Carla Fernanda Burguez, 2019, Altavelia, a new genus of Neotropical Veliinae (Heteroptera: Gerromorpha: Veliidae), with a key to species and descriptions of four new species from Colombia, Zootaxa 4585 (2), pp. 295-314 : 306-307

Altavelia flavomarginata ( Hungerford, 1930) (new combination)

( Figs. 3B , 4D, 4J , 9 A–B, 10)

Lelia flavomarginata Hungerford, 1930: 123 .

Lelia amoena Drake, 1957: 138 (new synonymy).

Paravelia amoena: J. Polhemus 1976: 512 .

Paravelia flavomarginata: J. Polhemus 1976: 512 .

Type material examined. HOLOTYPE ♂ apterous (USNM): ‘Venez.’ ‘Type\ Velia \ amoena \ Drake’ ‘C J Drake\ Coll. 1956’.

Additional material examined. All specimens apterous unless otherwise noted. 1♀ (UPTC): ‘ Colombia, Risaralda \ Municipio de Pereira, Vereda La Suiza \ 1800 m, Vegetación borde de quebrada\ mayo 2014, Col: J. Barrera, F. Molano’. 1♂ (CEBUC): ‘ Colombia, Caldas \ Jardín Botánico, 9.ii.2014, 2200m \ Y. Maya’. 2♂ (CEBUC): ‘ Colombia, Caldas \ Jardín Botánico, 13.ii.2014 \ 2200m’. 1♂, 2♀ (WSPC): ‘ Colombia, Norte de Santander \ Toledo\ 6 km SE of El Porvenir on Hwy\ 1750 m \ 7.154850/-72.403417\ W. Sondermann’. 1♂, micropterous (USNM): ‘ Colombia, Valle del Cauca \ upper Rio Ponce near\ El Topacio, Farallones\ de Cali National Park\ 1550 m., 27 July 1989 \ CL 2423 D.A. & J. T. Polhemus’. 1♂, 4♀ (IAVH E-175675, E-175677, E- 175676, E-175689, E-175690): ‘ Colombia, Huila, SO Acevedo\ PNN Cueva de los Guacharos, Sector Cedros Cabaña\ Bosque Secundario bien conservado\ 1° 37' 7'' N, 76° 61' 19'' W\ 1950 m \ Manual\ 29.xi.2001 \ E. González & D’.

Comments. The holotype of Velia amoena is a wingless male specimen in moderately good condition, glued to a card ( Fig. 9B ); it is held in the C. J. Drake Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC. All of the leg segments are present except for the right middle leg (which is missing entirely) and the right fore tarsus. The antennae are represented only by articles I–II on the left side. The body is intact, but the pronotum has a large hole where a pin was apparently inserted at some time in the past. It appears that the specimen was originally pinned, then later removed from the pin and card-mounted. The abdominal terminalia are intact and have not been dissected. The labels below the specimen consist of a hand-written locality label on white paper reading only “Venez.”, followed by a hand-written label on red paper reading “Type Velia amoena Drake ”, then followed by a printed label on white paper reading “C J Drake Coll. 1956”. In his description, Drake (1957) indicated that P. amoena may be separated from P. flavomarginata by the “antennal measurements, shape of parameres, and color markings.” However, there are no specimens of P. flavomarginata in either the Drake Collection or line collection at USNM, and it is not clear if Drake had any examples of this species for comparison.

The coloration of Drake's holotype is nearly identical to that of recently collected specimens of P. flavomarginata from Colombia (see records in D. Polhemus 2014), and comparison of antennal ratios to Hungerford's (1930) description is limited because both of the specimens upon which Hungerford based his description of P. flavomarginata had only articles I and II present, although in both species article I is only slightly longer than II. Despite Drake’s assertion of genitalic differences, a comparison of the male terminalia shows that the form of the proctiger and parameres in the holotype of P. amoena are identical to the figures of these structures provided by Hungerford (1930) for P. flavomarginata . As a result, P. amoena is placed into synonymy under P. flavomarginata .

Through the courtesy of Mr. Wolfram Sondermann of Bogotá (in litt.), it is also possible to provide yet another Colombian record for this species in the present paper, with the specimens’ identity having been verified through examination of digital photographs sent by Mr. Sondermann. He also supplied the following detailed notes regarding the habitat: “This is a rather special habitat, a cold roadside ditch fed by water running down vertical rock, and marginally with some Sphagnum . Due to these conditions, the other insects found are either rheophilic or stagnophilic: Agametrus humilis , Copelatus alternatus , Copelatus cf. concolor, two undescribed Copelatus spp., Eurygerris atrekes , Gyrinus sp., Laccophilus sp., Oocyclus morgani , Rhantus andinus , and Tropisternus sp.” This vertical rheocrene habitat is similar to that reported for P. flavomarginata at El Topacio, near Cali, by D. Polhemus (2014).

Figures

FIGURE 3. A. Altavelia montana, thorax and base of abdomen, ventral view; white arrows show position of central tubercles. B. Altavelia flavomarginata, female, apex of thorax and abdomen, dorsal view.

FIGURE 4. A. Altavelia altoandina, male proctiger, dorsal view. B. Altavelia antioquia, male proctiger, dorsal view. C. Altavelia columbiensis, male proctiger, dorsal view. D. Altavelia flavomarginata, male proctiger, dorsal view. E. Altavelia montana, male proctiger, dorsal view. F. Altavelia altoandina, paramere. G. Altavelia antioquia, paramere. H. Altavelia columbiensis, paramere. I. Altavelia daza, paramere. J. Altavelia flavomarginata, paramere. K. Altavelia montana, paramere. L. Altavelia inveruglas, male proctiger, dorsal view. M. Altavelia inveruglas, paramere. N. Altavelia osborniana, male proctiger, dorsal view. O. Altavelia osborniana, paramere.

FIGURE 9. A. Altavelia amoena (junior synonym of A. flavomarginata), male, dorsal view. B. Altavelia flavomarginata, male, dorsal view. C. Altavelia inveruglas, male, dorsal view. D. Altavelia osborniana, female, dorsal view