Microvelia diluta Distant

Usinger, Robert L., 1946, Hemiptera Heteroptera of Guam, Insects of Guam II, Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Bulletin 189, pp. 11-103 : 98

93. Microvelia diluta Distant , Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. VIII, 3: 500, 1909; Lundblad, Arch. Hydrobiol., Suppl. 12: 307, 1933; Esaki, Tenthredo 1: 351, 1937.

Fifty-seven apterous specimens, Upi Trail, May 5, Usinger; eight apterous specimens, Mt. Chachao , May 16, Usinger; one specimen, apterous, head waters of Talofofo River, June 17, Usinger .

The extraordinary sexual dimorphism was noted by Lundblad who also remarked 011.the occurrence of the small males in copulation with the females in his series of preserved specimens. Esaki (Tenthredo 1:352, 1937) apparently overlooked this characteristic of diluta in his discussion of Microvelia notophora from the Carolines, for he stresses the "unique" habit of males habitually riding on the backs of the larger females and does not compare his new species with diluta . He reports the capture of a macropterous female of diluta at light on Saipan. Most of the Guam specimens were collected together, the small male clasped to the back of the female by means of his legs. None of these pairs was actually in copulation. M. notophora differs from diluta in that only the fore tibiae possess an apical comb and this comb is nearly one third the length of the tibia. Notophora differs further, according to Esaki's description, in the very short pronotum which is only about one third as long as the mesonotum. The size of apterous males and females of notophora is about as in diluta but the Guam males differ from this, being slightly larger, 1.4-1.5 mm. M. diluta Distant is known elsewhere from India, Ceylon, Sumatra, and Saipan.