Zelus chamaeleon Stal , 1872

Zhang, Guanyang, Hart, Elwood R & Weirauch, Christiane, 2016, A taxonomic monograph of the assassin bug genus Zelus Fabricius (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): 71 species based on 10,000 specimens, Biodiversity Data Journal 4, pp. 8150-8150 : 8150

Zelus chamaeleon Stal, 1872

Zelus chamaeleon Stål, 1872, p. 90-91, orig. descr. and cat. (subgenus Diplodus ); Lethierry and Severin, 1896, p. 151, cat.; Champion, 1898, p. 260, note; Wygodzinsky, 1949a, p. 48-49, checklist; Maldonado, 1990, p. 326, cat.

Materials

Type status: Lectotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00041001 ; occurrenceRemarks: Lectotype of Zeluschamaeleon Stål, 1872. (New designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016). Verbatim label info: Bogota. / Lindig / v. niger Stal / designated by E.R.Hart / Lectotype Zeluschamaeleon Stal / NHRS-GULI 000000322; recordedBy: Lindig; sex: Adult Male; otherCatalogNumbers: NHRS-GULI 000000322; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluschamaeleon; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Stål, 1872; Location: country: COLOMBIA; stateProvince: Cundinamarca; locality: Bogota ; decimalLongitude: -75.16833; georeferenceSources: Gazetteer; Identification: dateIdentified: 2012; Event: eventDate: Date not provided; Record Level: institutionCode: NHRS Type status: Allolectotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: None ; occurrenceRemarks: Allolectotype of Zeluschamaeleon Stål, 1872. (New designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016). Labels: Bogota / Lindig / Typus / v. fasciativentris Stal.; recordedBy: Lindig; sex: Adult Female; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluschamaeleon; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Stål, 1872; Location: country: COLOMBIA; stateProvince: Cundinamarca; locality: Bogota ; decimalLongitude: -75.16833; georeferenceSources: Gazetteer; Event: eventDate: Date not provided; Record Level: institutionCode: NHRS Type status: Paralectotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00041002 ; occurrenceRemarks: Paralectotype of Zeluschamaeleon Stål, 1872 (New designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016). Verbatim label info: Lindig / Bogota. / Paralectotype Zeluschamaeleon Stal / designated by E.R.Hart / NHRS-GULI 000000323; recordedBy: Lindig; sex: Adult sex unknown; otherCatalogNumbers: NHRS-GULI 000000323; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluschamaeleon; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Stål, 1872; Location: country: COLOMBIA; stateProvince: Cundinamarca; locality: Bogota ; decimalLongitude: -75.16833; georeferenceSources: Gazetteer; Identification: dateIdentified: 2012; Event: eventDate: Date not provided; Record Level: institutionCode: NHRS Type status: Paralectotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00041003 ; occurrenceRemarks: Paralectotype of Zeluschamaeleon Stål, 1872 (New designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016). Verbatim label info: Lindig / Bogota. / v. mainticollis[?] Stal / Paralectotype Zeluschamaeleon Stal / designated by E.R.Hart / Typus / NHRS-GULI 000000327; recordedBy: Lindig; sex: Adult sex unknown; otherCatalogNumbers: NHRS-GULI 000000327; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluschamaeleon; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Stål, 1872; Location: country: COLOMBIA; stateProvince: Cundinamarca; locality: Bogota ; decimalLongitude: -75.16833; georeferenceSources: Gazetteer; Identification: dateIdentified: 2012; Event: eventDate: Date not provided; Record Level: institutionCode: NHRS Type status: Paralectotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00041013 ; occurrenceRemarks: Paralectotype of Zeluschamaeleon Stål, 1872 (New designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016). Verbatim label info: Bogota / Lindig / Paratypus / Lectotype Zeluschamaeleon Stal / designated by E.R.Hart / NHRS-GULI 0000003958; recordedBy: Lindig; sex: Adult sex unknown; otherCatalogNumbers: NHRS-GULI 0000003958; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluschamaeleon; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Stål, 1872; Location: country: COLOMBIA; stateProvince: Cundinamarca; locality: Bogota ; decimalLongitude: -75.16833; georeferenceSources: Gazetteer; Identification: dateIdentified: 2012; Event: eventDate: Date not provided; Record Level: institutionCode: NHRS

Description

Figs 51, 52, 53

Male: (Fig. 51a, b) Medium-sized, total length 12.50-14.06 mm (mean 13.45 mm, Suppl. material 2); robust. COLORATION: Usually entire surface of body black, some specimen with white posterior margin of posterior pronotal lobe, some with posterior pronotal lobe uniformly orangish-brown. Scape with or without band. Profemur with single pale brown band, protibia without band; meso- and metafemora with two or three bands, tibiae with single band. VESTITURE: Sparsely setose. Dorsum of head with dense, short, stout, recumbent, black setae and sparse, long, fine, erect setae, as long as width of eye in dorsal view; ventral surface with moderately dense, short, recumbent, fine setae and spare, moderately long, erect setae. Moderately dense, short, stout, recumbent setae on pronotum; anterior lobe also with sparse, long, erect setae; scutelum with dense, short to long, semi-erect setae; pleura with short to long, semi-erect or erect setae; sternites with dense, long, erect setae. Corium and clavus with short, recumbent setae. Abdomen with moderately dense, short, recumbent to sub-adpressed setae, intermixed with long, erect setae. With dense, short, adpressed setae, mixed with sparse, very long, moderately stout, semi-erect setae; apical half with dense, moderately long, stout, semi-erect setae. STRUCTURE: Head: Somewhat globular, L/W = 1.93. Postocular lobe short; in dorsal view narrowing till abrupt posterior constriction, very short behind constriction. Eye moderately sized; lateral margin much wider than postocular lobe; dorsal and ventral margins removed from surfaces of head. Labium: I: II: III = 1: 1.6: 0.4. Basiflagellomere diameter slightly larger than that of pedicel. Thorax: Anterolateral angle with inconspicuous subtuberculate projection; medial longitudinal sulcus evident only on posterior 1/2, deepening anterior to transverse sulcus of pronotum. Posterior pronotal lobe with rugulose surface; disc distinctly elevated above humeral angle; humeral angle armed, with spinous processes. Scutellum moderately long; apex angulate, slightly projected upward in some specimens. Legs: Slender. Hemelytron: Surpassing apex of abdomen by about twice length of abdominal segment seven; quadrate cell moderately large; Cu and M of cubital cell converging towards R. GENITALIA: (Fig. 52) Pygophore: Ovoid; mid-lateral fold adjacent to paramere insertion; expanded laterally near base of paramere in dorsal view. Medial process triangular; short, shorter than paramere; erect; straight; apex in posterior view acute, with hooklike projection extending towards downward, ending as transverse bridge. Paramere: Cylindrical; short, not reaching apex of medial process; directed posteriad, slightly curved towards medial process; basally narrower; slightly curved ventrad; apical part enlarged. Phallus: Dorsal phallothecal sclerite shield-shaped; lateral ridge-like dorsad expansion continuous with basal arm; apical portion of phallothecal sclerite gradually tapering, convex, medially keeled; apex truncate; posterior margin of foramen deeply concave. Struts attached to dorsal phallothecal sclerite; apically separate, connected by bridge; basally separate. Basal plate arm robust; separate; converging; in lateral view slightly curved; bridge short; extension of basal plate expanded onto arm.

Female: (Fig. 51c, d) Similar to male, except for the following. Larger than male, total length 13.45-15.02 mm (mean 14.39 mm, Suppl. material 2). More variable than in male. Dorsum of postocular lobe always black; pale, slender, medial longitudinal stripe; anteocular lobe usually black, if with part of surface red, clypeus always black. Dorsum of anterior pronotal lobe almost always black, collar sometimes red, lateral surface black or mixed with red. Dorsal surface of posterior pronotal lobe of four major color patterns: entirely black, entirely red or orange, anterior portion red and posteriorly black, mostly black with medial red circular patch; last pattern most common (eight out of fourteen); lateral surface always red or orange (when dorsal surface is orange). Variable amounts of black and red on pleura. Corium and clavus brownish-black or yellowish-brown; membrane always dark brown. Abdomen segment usually red, anterior black stripe; entirely black in some specimens. Hemelytron slightly surpassing apex of abdomen.

Diagnosis

Can be recognized by the following combination of characters: the long, erect, fine setae on head, anterior pronotal lobe, pleura and sternites; the stout and short head and the nearly hemispherical postocular lobe; the short paramere, not exceeding medial process; the medial process short and triangular, apex as hooklike process, extending ventrally as transverse ridge; and the apical surface of dorsal phallothecal sclerite medially with keel-like elevation.

Distribution

South America (Fig. 53). Known only from Colombia.