Paisana, Dellapé, 2008

Dellapé, Pablo Matías, 2008, Paisana: A new genus of Neotropical Rhyparochromidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Lygaeoidea) to accommodate Neopamera brachialis (Stål) and four new species, Zootaxa 1958, pp. 17-30 : 18-19

Paisana n. gen.

Type species. Rhyparochromus (Plociomerus) brachialis Stål 1858

Included species.

Paisana brachialis ( Stål 1858) (n. comb.)

Paisana pampeana , new species

Paisana lydiae , new species

Paisana maculata , new species

Paisana saopaulensis , new species

Diagnosis. Head elongate, eyes distant from anterior margin of pronotum. Postocular region longer than interocellar space (except P. Pampeana where the postocular region is slightly shorter than the interocellar space). Procoxae with one spine in both sexes. Aedeagus unspined, vesica with two large lobes sclerotized basally.

Description. Body elongate, pruinose. Head constricted behind eyes forming a short neck ( Figs. 1–5). Juga rounded. Buccular juncture V-shaped, near the labial insertion. Eyes rounded. Distiflagellomere fusiform. Pronotum: collar demarcated by a furrow; anterior pronotal lobe slightly punctate; lateral margins of both lobes rounded. Clavus with more than three rows of punctures. External corial margin smooth or serrated. Corium with large punctures. Mesepimeron emergent, evaporative area extensive. Procoxae with a spine in both sexes; protrochanters unarmed; profemora incrassate with two rows of spines internally; male foretibiae with or without spines. Mesofemora unarmed. Meso- and metatibiae with spiniform setae.

Male Genitalia: Vesica unspined, with two large lobes sclerotized at base; ejaculatory reservoir somewhat reduced; conjunctiva without spines.

Discussion. Harrington (1980) studied the type material of Stål species and placed it in Neopamera . The type specimen is very poorly preserved, with head, thorax, and legs embedded in glue that makes it difficult to study. The access to abundant additional material of this species and other species closely related allowed me to establish the species’ affinities with more certainty. The postocular region length and characters from the male genitalia separate this species from Neopamera and the other known genera.

The species of Paisana run to the couplet 33 in Harrington´s Key to the Myodochini of the world ( Harrington 1980), where the genera Catenes Distant and Heraeus Stål are identified. The genus Catenes shows a distinctive flattened head and an aedeagus with large spines on conjunctiva ( Dellapé & Melo, 2008). Heraeus species show an elongated head, similar to that of Paisana species ; however, the diagnostic character of Heraeus is a peculiar pronotal collar, narrow dorsally and broadening ventrally, extending forward beneath the head, which is absent in Paisana species. The aedeagus of Paisana species lacks spines, and the vesica presents two large lobes sclerotized basally ( Figs. 10, 15, 20, 25, 30). Heraeus species show two lateral lobes, often with extensive basal sclerotization and different degrees of sclerotization on the lobes; in many species small spines are also present on the lobes and conjunctiva, and the ejaculatory reservoir is comparatively larger.

Traditionally, and as reaffirmed by Harrington (1980), the presence or absence of spines on the foretibiae of males was considered a distinctive character at the generic level. In a previous contribution ( Dellapé, 2003), the author noted the existence of intrageneric variation in the genus Ashlockobius . The same seems to be the case in Paisana : the males of both Paisana brachialis and Paisana pampeana have four aligned spines on the foretibiae; in contrast, these spines are absent in P. lydiae , P. maculata , and P. saopaulensis .

The presence of a serrated corial margin in Paisana lydiae suggests existence of a stridulitrum, but the author did not find a plectrum; this is significant because the presence of a stridulatory apparatus is a diagnostic character for some Myodochini genera. It is clear that a more thorough review of the characters in the Myodochini genera is needed to clarify the homologies and phylogenetic relationships among them.

Etymology. The term Paisana is used by the “gauchos” from Argentina and refers to somebody that lives in the field. The gender is feminine.