Kormilevia Usinger & Matsuda 1959

Heiss, Ernst, 2013, New Aradidae from Ecuador (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Aradidae), ZooKeys 319, pp. 137-151 : 141-142

Genus Kormilevia Usinger & Matsuda 1959

Remarks.

The micropterous genus Kormilevia Usinger & Matsuda, 1959 was erected for setifera Usinger & Matsuda, 1959 from Brazil. These authors recognized that species described as Acaricoris dureti Kormilev, 1953a from Argentina , or as Pictinus plaumanni Kormilev, 1953b and Pictinus montrouzieri Kormilev, 1953b, both from Brazil, belong to Kormilevia and were transferred there giving a key to the 4 then known species. They were however uncertain about the taxonomic position of Acaricoris teresopolitanus Wygodzinsky, 1948 and did not include this in the key. Kormilev 1963 described the next species aberrans sp. n. from Colombia and 1964 gerali sp. n. from Brazil, and presents a key to 6 species including teresopolitana but omitting his aberrans.

As the comparative notes of Kormilev’s descriptions are partly insufficient, the important structures of the mesonotum are not described or illustrated (e.g., aberrans, gerali) and the position of spiracles used in Kormilev’s 1964 key are contradictory to the descriptions (plaumanni, montrouzieri), a comparison of taxa is uncertain and needs a revision based on the types. Here all available data from the literature were assembled and a tentative new key for all 8 taxa is presented below. For plaumanni and montrouzieri original material was available for study (ex. coll. Plaumann).

All Kormilevia species are micropterous, although not always recognized as such, sharing small nonfunctional wingpads that enable only a very limited range of distribution. It can be assumed that they are therefore endemic to the region of origin. Because of biogeographical considerations - the closest record to the Ecuadorian locality is that of aberrans from Bogota, Colombia, which lies about 800km north - and distinct characters, Kormilevia ecuatoriana sp. n. is described here although only a single female is available.

Key to species of Kormilevia