Ectomocoris caccabatus, Swanson, 2019

Swanson, Daniel R., 2019, Doomed to a vile lot: new taxa, notes, and an updated generic key for the Old World corsairs (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Peiratinae), Zootaxa 4700 (2), pp. 196-228 : 204-207

Ectomocoris caccabatus sp. nov.

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( Fig. 7 )

Diagnosis: Easily separated from congeners in eastern Asia by the absence of pale maculae on the hemelytra or connexiva and the presence of a sooty patch on the hemelytral membrane.

Description: Brachypterous female (holotype). Coloration: Black, except antennae, clavus and adjacent area of corium, incisures of connexiva, median apical spot of seventh ventrite, and all tarsi slightly lighter (dark castaneous). Anterior pronotal lobe with slight shiny blue metallic tint. Medial and cubital cell of membrane, plus adjacent area mesad of M vein on corium, conspicuously darker black.

Structure: Head. Head fusiform, integument smooth, wholly covered with short whitish pilosity and longer setae. Anteocular region triangular, unarmed, tylus slightly elevated above juga. Interocular region with arcuate convex sulcus at posterior border of eyes with short midlongitudinal sulcus emanating cephalad. Postocular region rounded to neck. Neck slightly tumid anterolaterally, tubercles not obvious. Ventral surface of head tumid before eyes. Antennae with all segments cylindrical and covered with short whitish pilosity and sparse longer setae, scape thickest, pedicel thinner, then basi- and distiflagellum. Eyes moderately large, reniform (concave posteroventrally), appearing glabrous, in lateral view not reaching dorsal margin or ventral margin. Ocelli present, medium-sized, slightly raised, separated from each other by slightly less than three times the diameter of single ocellus, separated from eye by twice diameter of single ocellus. Rostrum curved, second segment slightly tumid on surface opposing head, sparsely covered with longish setae.

Thorax. Anterior lobe of pronotum with collar armed with rounded tubercles, subrounded, integument smooth, sulci indistinct, obliterated, except for conspicuous shallow midlongitudinal sulcus in basal half, with short pilosity in remains of sulci, disc unarmed. Posterior pronotal lobe arcuately quadrate, integument slightly rugulose, covered with short pilosity, disc unarmed, humeri rounded (right one damaged in holotype), posterior margin smoothly rounded, posterior angles non-existent. Scutellum triangular, disc depressed, sides carinate, integument pilose, armed with short barely projected rounded horizontal apex. Propleuron with integument smooth, sparsely pilose, set off from dorsal surface by carina that becomes obsolete basally, otherwise unarmed. Mesopleuron with integument smooth, sparsely pilose, unarmed. Metapleuron with integument transversely wrinkled, metapleural sulcus bicarinate and curved, sparsely pilose except dense silvery hairs posteriorly. All sternites more or less smooth, sparsely to moderately pilose. Prosternum sparsely pilose laterad of rostral groove. Mesosternum with disc raised slightly in middle. Metasternum with disc more or less tumid. Brachypterous, hemelytra reaching apex of fifth abdominal tergite, exposing connexiva, costa pilose, more so at base. Left hemelytron damaged in holotype, folded under from costa to medial vein.

Legs. Procoxa elongate, contiguous, cavities open posteriorly, unarmed but with dense whitish pilosity mesad. Protrochanter unarmed sparsely hairy. Profemur fusiform, straight, greatly incrassate (more so basally), much thick- er than other femora, unarmed, sparsely pilose above and laterally, densely so ventrally. Protibia cylindrical, more or less straight but apex slightly reflexed dorsad and thickened, with short whitish pilosity mesally and apicodorsally, also setose apically, fossula spongiosa present, occupying almost three-quarters length of segment, tibia otherwise unarmed. Protarsus three-segmented, cylindrical, sparsely setose on all surfaces but with denser short pilosity ventrally. Claws simple. Middle legs with mesocoxa globular, mesofemur less thickened, protibia with short whitish pilosity for whole length and dense brush of golden pilosity on anterior surface for most of length, all else as fore legs. Hind legs with metafemur cylindrical, not at all thickened, not reaching abdominal apex, fossula spongiosa absent, dense brush of setae limited to apex of tibia, all else as middle legs.

Abdomen. Abdomen oval, tergites with slightly tumid median circle. Connexiva with short golden pilosity, margins entire. Venter with dense short whitish pilosity, plus longer setae, with both becoming less frequent laterad. Spiracles situated near connexival suture halfway between anterior and posterior margin.

Genitalia. Of general peiratine form. Visible portion of eighth tergite short, posterior margin convex. Ninth tergite trapezoidal. Tenth tergite subtriangular, apex subrounded. Lobes of valvifer 1 (=eighth segment) hemispherical. Valvulae 1 somewhat elongate, convex apicolaterally, apex roundly acute. All segments with integument generally smooth, lacking spines or tubercles. Ninth and tenth tergites with abundant short golden decumbent setae and sparse slightly longer semi-erect setae. Lobes of valvifer 1 with a few long erect setae near apical margins.

Measurements (in mm). Total length (apex of head to apex of abdomen): 15.2; head length: 2.5; head width (across eyes): 1.7; anteocular length: 1.3; postocular length: 0.4; neck length: 0.2; scape length: 1.2; pedicel length: 2.2; basiflagellum length: 2.0; distiflagellum length: 2.1; antennal segment ratio: 1.0: 1.8: 1.6: 1.7; eye length: 0.8; eye width: 0.5; rostral segment 1 length: 0.8; rostral segment 2 length: 1.5; rostral segment 3 length: 0.8; rostral segment ratio: 1.0: 1.8: 1.0; pronotum length: 3.5; pronotum width (across humeri): 3.2; anterior pronotal lobe length: 2.5; posterior pronotal lobe length: 1.0; scutellum length: 1.1; scutellum width (at base): 1.2; hemelytra length: 7.0; procoxa length: 2.0; protrochanter length: 1.1; profemur length: 3.6; protibia length: 2.8; protibial fossula spongiosa length: 2.0 (of which 0.4 surpasses apex of protibia); protarsus length: 1.2; protarsal segment ratio: approximately 1.0: 1.7: 1.7; mesocoxa length: 0.7; mesotrochanter length: 1.2; mesofemur length: 3.3; mesotibia length: 2.9; mesotibial fossula spongiosa length: 1.4; mesotarsus length: 1.5; mesotarsal segment ratio: 1.0: 1.4: 2.0; metacoxa length: 1.1; metatrochanter length: 1.3; metafemur length: 5.1; metatibia length: 5.3; metatarsus length: 2.3; metatarsal segment ratio: 1.00: 2.40: 2.75; abdomen length: 7.7; abdomen (widest) width: 4.1.

Male: unknown.

Type material: HOLOTYPE, ♀, [SOUTH] KOREA: Central Nat’l. Forest , 18 mi. NE. of Seoul, 27 July 1954, George W. Byers ( UMMZ).

Distribution: Known only from the type locality ( Fig. 8 ).

Etymology: The specific epithet is derived from the Latin adjective cacabatus, caccabatus , - a, - um, ‘black, sooty, like a cooking utensil’ and references the conspicuously darker black patch of the medial and cubital cells of the hemelytra membrane, i.e., like a patch of soot on a dark pan.

Remarks: Josifov & Kerzhner (1972) reported no species of Ectomocoris from Korea, and to my knowledge, this is the first record of the genus Ectomocoris from the Korean Peninsula.

Ectomocoris caccabatus sp. nov. remains distinct from East Asian congeners. Most other species of Ectomocoris known from eastern Asia possess pale markings in the hemelytra and/or connexiva, i.e., Ectomocoris angusticeps Miller 1948 ; Ectomocoris biguttulus Stål, 1871 ; Ectomocoris brooksi Miller, 1941 ; Ectomocoris cangyuanensis Ren, 1990 ; Ectomocoris cheribonensis Miller, 1940 ; Ectomocoris dispar Miller, 1940 ; Ectomocoris elegans ( Fabricius, 1803) ; Ectomocoris flavomaculatus Stål, 1871 ; Ectomocoris infuscatus Miller, 1954 ; Ectomocoris longruiensis Ren, 1990 ; Ectomocoris maldonadoi Cai & Lu, 1991 ; Ectomocoris menglanensis Ren, 1990 ; Ectomocoris trimaculatus ( Fallou, 1891) ; and Ectomocoris yunnanensis Ren 1990 ; of these fifteen species, seven are known only from Malaysia, Indonesia, or the Philippines. However, five other species of Ectomocoris described by Ren (1990) have the color pattern described only as “Body black”: Ectomocoris bannaensis Ren, 1990 ; Ectomocoris hainanensis Ren, 1990 ; Ectomocoris reni Maldonado Capriles, 1993 (= Ectomocoris montanus Ren, 1990 nec Villiers, 1948); Ectomocoris zhejiangensis Ren, 1990 ; and Ectomocoris zhui Ren, 1990 . Even so, in addition to the absence of pale maculae, E. caccabatus sp. nov. also is distinctive in possessing a darkened hemelytral spot occupying the inner cells of the hemelytral membrane. None of the six “black-body” species were described as possessing any darkened maculae, and all but E. zhejiangensis come from southern provinces of China (i.e., Yunnan, Guiangxi, Hainan). The latter comes from Zhejiang Province on the eastern coast, approximately 780 km from the Korean Peninsula and approximately 1,000 km from the type locality of E. caccabatus sp. nov. Additionally, E. zhejiangensis , described from a male of 16.7 mm in length, is too large to be the counterpart of the smaller female holotype of E. caccabatus sp. nov., as females are larger than males of the same species.

As only the holotype is known, the prevalence of pterygopolymorphism in this species is unknown, and the utility of brachyptery as a character to diagnose this species is dubious.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Ectomocoris caccabatus sp. nov., female holotype: (A) dorsal habitus; (B) lateral habitus; (C) pronotum, dorsal view; (D) hemelytra, dorsal view; (E) external genitalia, caudal view; (F) labels. Scale bar =2 mm.

FIGURE 8. Type locality of Ectomocoris caccabatus sp. nov.