Eyarinella, Zettel & Laciny, 2021

Zettel, Herbert & Laciny, Alice, 2021, The taxonomy of some unusual Microveliinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Veliidae) from India, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 61 (2), pp. 517-527 : 520-521

Eyarinella gen. nov.

( Figs 3, 4 , 16–24 )

Type species. Eyarinella robusta sp. nov.

Diagnosis. Body stout, ovate ( Figs 3, 4 ). Posterior of head deeply inserted in anterior part of pronotum ( Fig. 16 ). Eyes moderately large ( Figs 16, 17 ). Antenna long and slender, about two thirds of body length; antennomere I ( Fig. 16 ) 0.9 times as long as head length; relative lengths of antennomeres: IV> III ≧ I> II. Pronotum convexly rounded posteriorly ( Fig. 16 ). Lateral evaporatorium small, situated in ventral half of metapleuron. Legs stout. Claws preterminal, their apices not reaching apex of tarsus. – Male: Propleuron with a sharp ridge behind eye ( Fig. 17 ), in dorsal view appearing tooth-like. Femora stout ( Figs 18, 19 ), otherwise unmodified. Protibia unmodified; protibial grasping comb extremely short ( Fig. 18 ), restricted to a short ear-shaped spur at apex of tibia. Mesotibia without grasping comb. Pregenital abdomen without projections. Segment 8 moderately elongated ( Fig. 21 ). Pygophore ( Fig. 22 ) distally upcurved and with concave posterior margin. Proctiger ( Fig. 23 ) narrow, tongue-shaped; apex narrowly rounded. Parameres ( Fig. 24 ) symmetrical, curved, very long and slender. – Female: Genitalia situated in a posterior opening of segment 7.

Comparative notes. The stout body distinguishes Eyarinella gen. nov. from all other Oriental genera of Microveliinae, except from Geovelia and a few species of Microvelia ( Microvelia shows a great variation in body shape). However, in Microvelia the antenna is much shorter and stouter, and the genitalia of females are less protruding. Geovelia differs from Eyarinella gen. nov. in several characters, e.g., by a short head that is not deeply embedded in a concavity of the pronotum, by large eyes (e.g., Figs 5, 6 ), and by subterminal claws. The long antenna of Eyarinella gen. nov. resembles several genera of Microveliinae with a hygropetric lifestyle, e.g., Baptista Distant, 1903 , Aquulavelia Thirumalai, 1999 , and Thirumalaia gen. nov. The male of Eyarinella gen. nov. possesses the following two unique characters: the sharp ridge anteriorly on propleuron ( Fig. 17 ), and the rudimentary protibial grasping comb ( Fig. 18 ). Etymology. The generic name is dedicated to Dr. E. Eyarin Jehamalar of the Zoological Survey of India for her numerous valuable publications on Indian water bugs. Gender: feminine.

Figures

Figs 1–4. Habitus of Thirumalaia ocularis gen. nov. & sp. nov. (1 – apterous male, 2 – apterous female), and of Eyarinella robusta gen. nov. & sp. nov. (3 – apterous male, 4 – apterous female).

Figs 16–24. Structural details of Eyarinella robusta gen. nov. & sp. nov.: 16 – head, first antennomere, and pronotum, dorsal; 17 – head and anterior margin of pronotum, lateral; 18 – foreleg of male (arrow points at proximal end of grasping comb); 19 – metafemur of male; 20 – abdominal segments 6–8, and proctiger of female, dorsal; 21 – abdominal segment 8 of male, ventral; 22 – pygophore of male, ventral; 23 – proctiger of male, dorsal; 24 – left paramere, lateral. Pilosity omitted, except in Fig. 24.

Figs 5–8. Habitus of Geovelia fikaceki sp. nov. (5 – apterous male, 6 – apterous female), and Neoalardus typicus (Distant, 1903) (7 – apterous male, 8 – apterous female), both specimens from India.