Zelus mattogrossensis Wygodzinsky, 1947

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 mattogrossensis Wygodzinsky, 1947

Zelus mattogrossensis Wygodzinsky, 1947, p. 431-434, orig. descr. and fig.; Wygodzinsky, 1948, p. 17, cat.; Wygodzinsky, 1949a, p. 49, checklist; Wygodzinsky, 1960, p. 308, note; Maldonado, 1990, p. 329, cat.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: J.C.M. Carvalho; Taxon: scientificName: Zelusmattogrossensis; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Wygodzinsky, 1947; Location: country: BRAZIL; stateProvince: Mato Grosso; locality: Chavantina ; decimalLatitude: -14.66667; decimalLongitude: -52.35; Event: eventDate: 1947-06; Record Level: institutionCode: Instituto de Ecologia e Experimentacao Agricola, Rio de Janeiro Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: P. Wygodzinsky; Taxon: scientificName: Zelusmattogrossensis; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Wygodzinsky, 1947; Location: country: BRAZIL; stateProvince: Goias; locality: Leopoldo Bulhoes ; Event: eventDate: 1937-11; Record Level: institutionCode: collection of P. Wygodzinsky Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00046752 ; recordedBy: J. C. M. Carvalho; sex: Adult Male; Taxon: scientificName: Zelusmattogrossensis; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Wygodzinsky, 1947; Location: country: BRAZIL; stateProvince: Minas Gerais; locality: Carmo do Rio Claro ; verbatimElevation: 859 m; decimalLatitude: -20.9667; decimalLongitude: -46.1167; georeferenceSources: Gazetteer; Identification: identifiedBy: G. Zhang; dateIdentified: 2012; Event: eventDate: 1944-12-13; Record Level: institutionCode: AMNH

Description

Figs 133, 134, 135

Male: (Fig. 133a, b) Small, total length 9.18-10.49 mm (mean 9.85 mm, Suppl. material 2); slender. COLORATION: Brown. Medial longitudinal stripe on postocular lobe, patch between eye and ocellus, and ventral surface of head light-colored. Two yellow bands on scape and one on pedicel. Anterior pronotal lobe darker than posterior lobe. Lateral surface of pronotum and parts of pleura lighter colored. Femora and tibiae banded. VESTITURE: Moderately setose. Body surface with short, recumbent and erect setae; some longer setae on ventral surface of head and abdomen. Paramere with dense, moderately long, erect setae on dorsal surface. Corium and clavus with short, recumbent setae. STRUCTURE: Head: Cylindrical, L/W = 2.61. Postocular lobe long; in dorsal view anteriorly gradually narrowing, posterior portion constant, slightly narrower. Eye moderately sized; lateral margin only slightly wider than postocular lobe; dorsal margin attaining postocular transverse groove, ventral margin removed from ventral surface of head. Labium: I: II: III = 1: 1.8: 0.4. Basiflagellomere diameter larger than that of pedicel. Thorax: Anterolateral angle bearing small projection; medial longitudinal sulcus shallow near collar, deepening posteriorly. Posterior pronotal lobe with rugulose surface; disc distinctly elevated above humeral angle; humeral angle rounded, without projection. Scutellum moderately long; apex angulate, not projected. Legs: Moderately robust. Hemelytron: Slightly surpassing apex of abdomen, not more than length of abdominal segment seven; quadrate cell small, relatively broad; Cu and M of cubital cell converging towards R. GENITALIA: (Fig. 134) Pygophore: Elongate ovoid; slightly expanded laterally near base of paramere in dorsal view. Medial process cylindrical; slender; moderately long; erect; straight; apex in posterior view angulate, subapical ridge-like medial elevation, not across. Paramere: Cylindrical; moderately long, slightly exceeding medial process; directed posteriad, slightly curved towards medial process; basally slightly constricted; nearly straight. Phallus: Dorsal phallothecal sclerite somewhat pentagonal in dorsal view; sharp blade-like heavy sclerotization originating from basal arms, directed apically, elevated above dorsal surface, extending to about mid-point of phallothecal sclerite; ridge mesad to process; apical portion of phallothecal sclerite gradually tapering, convex, laterally angulate; apex truncate; posterior margin of foramen inversely V-shaped. Struts attached to dorsal phallothecal sclerite; apically fused; basally separate. Basal plate arm robust; medially fused; in lateral view strongly curved at midpoint; bridge short; extension of basal plate expanded onto arm.

Female: (Fig. 133c, d) Similar to male, except for the following. Larger than male, total length 10.30-11.72 mm (mean 10.98 mm, Suppl. material 2). Pale brown, anterior and posterior pronotal lobes same color, legs without bands or with very inconspicuous bands. Hemelytron attaining apex of abdomen.

Diagnosis

Distinguished by the small size; the robust form, the humeral angle rounded, without projection; the profemur much longer than the metafemur (1.20x); the profemoral length being less than 20.0x the profemoral width (16.94x). The paramere base not distinctly constricted; the medial process slender, apex angulate and bearing subapical medial protrusion; the presence of blade-like process on dorsal phallotheca and the process not extending beyond mid-point.

Distribution

South America (Fig. 135). Countries with records: Bolivia, Brazil and Paraguay.