Apiomerus maya Dispons, 1971

Masonick, Paul & Weirauch, Christiane, 2022, Taxonomic revision of the Apiomerus maya species group (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae), Zootaxa 5154 (5), pp. 537-556 : 542-544

Apiomerus maya Dispons, 1971

Figs 1B , 2B, 2H , 3B, 3F , 4

Apiomerus maya Dispons, 1971: 9 . Holotype: ♂, Guatemala; ISNB.

Apiomerus maya: Maldonado (1990: 6) (catalog).

Revised diagnosis: Recognized by a combination of the following characteristics: (1) small size (<14 mm in length) and predominantly brown body and forewings, (2) males with lyre-shaped medial process of the pygophore with broadly spaced, slightly curved rami, (3) pair of strongly developed triangular projections near base of the dorsal phallothecal sclerite, (4) short, broad, flat, and round basal dorsolateral sclerites of the endosoma with longitudinal striations, and (5) about 26 endosomal denticles that are arranged into two longitudinal rows of about 13 pairs.

Redescription: Male: Small, 11.91–12.53 mm in length, width across humeral angles 3.67–3.96 mm (n=5). COLORATION: Mostly black; anterior pronotal lobe dark brown, posterior pronotal lobe brown ( Fig. 1B ); corium brown, only veins near forewing membrane white or pale-yellow, quadrate cell of the corium is not outlined in white or pale-yellow; entire forewing membrane brown; basal spot of connexivum 7 roughly twice the size of marking on the preceding segment (from dorsal view); lateral spots of abdominal sterna absent. STRUCTURE: Medial process of pygophore lyre-shaped in caudal view, rami widely separated and slightly bent away (laterally) from one another midway along their length ( Fig. 2B ); paramere weakly bent, with bristles subequal to or slightly longer than its maximal width ( Fig. 2H ); dorsal phallothecal sclerite arrow-shaped in dorsal view, with pair of strongly developed triangular projections near base (tp: Fig. 3B ), apex of dorsal phallothecal sclerite strongly reflexed and deeply notched; basal dorsolateral sclerites of endosoma short, broad, flat, and round; dorsal surface of endosoma with about 26 denticles arranged into about 13 pairs forming two longitudinal rows; dorsolateral surface of endosoma with slight sclerotization near base.

Female: Small, about 11.75 mm in length, width across humeral angles about 3.47 mm (n=1).

Biology: This species has been collected from April to June at elevations ranging between 45–335 meters.

Distribution: Apiomerus maya inhabits the coastal lowlands of southeastern Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala.

Discussion: This species is represented by relatively few specimens compared to the other species in the A. maya species group. It is easily separated from both A. pipil and A. venosus by its small size, color, and from A. immundus by the unique morphology of the male aedeagus.

Type material examined: Holotype: ♂, GUATEMALA: exact locality and date unknown, leg. Rodriguez ( UCR _ ENT 00038047 ) ( ISNB).

Additional specimens examined: 3 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀ (see Appendix).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Dorsal habitus images of (A) A. immundus Bergroth, 1898 [♂ LECTOTYPE = UCR_ENT 00040816], (B) Apiomerus maya Dispons, 1971 [♀ = UCR_ENT 00013169, ♂ HOLOTYPE = UCR_ENT 00038047], (C) A. pipil Dispons, 1971 [♀ = AMNH_PBI 00218895, ♂ = UCR_ENT 00032865], and (D) A. venosus Stål, 1872 [♀ = UCR_ENT 00031790, ♂ = UCR_ENT 00032336]. All scale bars represent 4 mm.

FIGURE 2. (A–F) Caudal views of the pygophores (pyg) of males of the maya species group displaying the bifid medial process with rami (rm). In these taxa, the base of the medial process is greatly reduced giving the impression of the rami being inserted directly on the posterior rim of the pygophore. The rami are often broadly spaced from one another and render the medial process either V-shaped, as frequently observed in A. pipil (see C), or lyre-shaped (most male A. venosus). Figs. A– F are not to scale. (G–J) Dissected right parameres. All scale bars for Figs. G– J represent 0.25 mm.

FIGURE 3. Dorsal (A–D) and lateral (E–H) views of the aedeagus of males of the maya species group.An arrow-shaped dorsal phallothecal sclerite (dps) is commonly seen in males of these species (subconical in A. immundus). Note the paired triangular projections (tp) positioned basally on the dps of Apiomerus maya (B & F); these projections are absent in other maya group taxa. The basal dorsolateral sclerites of the endosoma (bdls) can be short and round (A. maya), moderately elongated with fine sculpturing basally (A. immundus), or greatly elongated and slightly twisted (A. pipil and A. venosus). The number of peg-like endosomal denticles (ed) aligned longitudinally along the distal dorsal lobes of the endosoma (ddl) varies across the group. In some taxa, notably A. immundus and some A. venosus, lateral sclerotizations of the endosoma (ls) may be observed along the endosoma’s proximal dorsolateral surface. All scale bars represent 0.5 mm.

FIGURE 4. Examples of intraspecific polychromatism across ranges of maya species group taxa.