Microvelia belterrensis, dos Santos & Rodrigues & Couceiro & Moreira, 2021

dos Santos, Suzane E., Rodrigues, Juliana M. S., Couceiro, Sheyla R. M. & Moreira, Felipe F. F., 2021, Gerromorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from the Metropolitan Region of Santarem, Brazil, including three new species of Microvelia Westwood, 1834 (Veliidae: Microveliinae), Biodiversity Data Journal 9, pp. 68567-68567 : 68567

Microvelia belterrensis sp. n.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: recordedBy: S.E. Santos; sex: apterous?; Location: country: Brazil; stateProvince: Pará; municipality: Belterra; locality: BR-163, Km-115 ; verbatimLatitude: 03°17'34.8"S; verbatimLongitude: 54°52'45.6"W; Event: verbatimEventDate: 25.IX.2020; habitat: igarapé; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; institutionCode: CEIOC 81770; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: recordedBy: S.E. Santos; sex: 1 apterous?, 3 apterous?; Location: country: Brazil; stateProvince: Pará; municipality: Belterra; locality: BR-163, Km-115 ; verbatimLatitude: 03°17'34.8"S; verbatimLongitude: 54°52'45.6"W; Event: verbatimEventDate: 25.IX.2020; habitat: igarapé; Record Level: type: PhysicalObject; institutionCode: CEIOC 81771; basisOfRecord: PreservedSpecimen

Description

Apterous males

Holotype/Paratype. BL 1.15/1.2, HL 0.22/0.21, HW 0.39/0.38, ANT I 0.14/0.14, ANT II 0.10/0.09, ANT III 0.13/0.13, ANT IV 0.20/0.22, INT 0.18/0.7, EYE 0.09/0.09, PL 0.13/0.14, PW 0.48/0.51; FORE LEG: FEM 0.28/0.31, TIB 0.24/0.24, TAR I 0.15/0.15; MID-LEG: FEM 0.36/0.36, TIB 0.29/0.29, TAR I 0.06/0.05, TAR II 0.11/0.11; HIND LEG: FEM 0.42/0.42, TIB 0.42/0.42, TAR I 0.05/0.5, TAR II 0.11/0.11.

Head dark-brown. Antennomere I yellowish, II-IV dark-brown. Eye reddish-brown. Labium yellowish-brown, except apex of article III and entire IV dark-brown. Pronotum with anterior half and lateral margins orange-brown, apical half dark-brown. Meso- and metanota dark brown. Prosternum yellowish-brown, darker at middle groove. Meso- and metasterna dark-brown. Pro- and metacetabula with anterior half yellowish-brown and posterior half dark brown. Anterior and posterior coxae and trochanters yellowish-brown. Mesoacetabulum and middle coxa dark-brown. Femora and tibiae yellowish-brown, darker dorsally on distal third; tarsi dark-brown. Abdominal mediotergites dark-brown. Abdominal laterotergites orange-brown with lateral margins dark. Abdominal sterna dark-brown. Terminalia yellowish-brown.

Head covered with very short setae, longer on clypeus. Antenna covered with short setae. Antennomere I widest, slightly curved laterally, thickened towards apex; II wider than III-IV, thickened towards apex; III cylindrical, thinner than IV; IV fusiform, at middle subequal to II in thickness. Labium reaching base of mesosternum.

Thoracic terga densely covered with moderately long, light setae; sides of thorax, prosternum and acetabula with denser, longer setae; meso- and metasterna with short setae. Pronotum with lateral margins bowed; posterior margin sinuous, concave centrally, exposing two rounded lobes of the mesonotum laterally (Fig. 10 C). Metanotum exposed as a short central stripe, with posterior margin widely concave. Legs covered with short setae, with some longer setae on dorsal surfaces of femora and tibiae. Femora without spines. Fore tibia straight, enlarged towards apex, with an obtuse, short spine at apex. Hind femur slightly thicker than middle femur. Hind tibia straight.

Abdominal mediotergites covered with moderately long setae. Mediotergites III-VI depressed; VI-VII with shiny median stripe; VII with posterior margin slightly concave. Abdominal laterotergites elevated to about 90°. Abdominal sterna covered with short setae, posterior margins concave, without tubercles. Abdominal segment VIII slightly exposed, dorsally more than four times wider than long; dorsum with lateral margins convergent and posterior margin slightly concave (Fig. 10 A and Fig. 11 A); ventre strongly sclerotised, with an evident central notch (Fig. 10 B, D and Fig. 11 B) and three tufts of long setae on each side (well visible in lateral view, Fig. 11 C). Proctiger with lateral projections and apical margin rounded (Fig. 11 D); parameres symmetrical (Fig. 11 E).

Apterous females

BL 1.21-1.26, HL 0.22, HW 0.40-0.42, ANT I 0.14, ANT II 0.08-0.10, ANT III 0.12, ANT IV 0.20-0.22, INT 0.18, EYE 0.09-0.10, PL 0.12-0;14, PW 0.54-0.58; FORE LEG: FEM 0.30, TIB 0.24, TAR I 0.14-0.16; MID-LEG: FEM 0.36, TIB 0.28-0.30, TAR I 0.06, TAR II 0.12; HIND LEG: FEM 0.40-0.42, TIB 0.40, TAR I 0.06, TAR II 0.12.

Colouration and structure similar to apterous male, but larger and more robust (Fig. 12 ). Fore tibia straight, enlarged towards apex, without apical spine. Abdomen larger than in in males, as wide as pronotum (Fig. 12 A). Abdominal segment VIII yellowish-brown dorsally and ventrally. Posterior margin of abdominal mediotergite VIII straight. Abdominal laterotergites elevated to about 45 º.

Diagnosis

This new species can be distinguished from other South American Microvelia Westwood, 1834 by the pronotum of the apterous form covering the mesonotum centrally, but exposing it laterally; the metanotum exposed centrally, with the posterior margin widely concave; the abdominal segment VIII of the males slightly exposed dorsally, more than four times wider than long, with the lateral margins convergent and the posterior margin slightly concave, ventrally deeply inserted into the pregenital abdomen, strongly sclerotised, with an evident central notch and three tufts of long setae on each side (only one tuft is visible before dissection); and the male proctiger with small, rounded, lateral projections. Additionally, M. belterrensis sp. nov. has the body shorter than 1.30 mm (apterous males 1.15-1.20 mm; apterous females 1.21-1.26 mm).

Microvelia venustatis Drake & Harris, 1933 (Fig. 13 a, b, c; apterous male in Rodrigues et al. 2021: fig. 89) and M. hinei Drake, 1920 (Fig. 13 d, e, f) are small species that share with M. belterrensis sp. nov. the general appearance and the male terminalia strongly inserted into the pregenital abdomen, although more deeply than in the new species and more weakly sclerotised. In contrast, M. venustatis displays a thicker antennomere IV and the abdominal sterna of the male bear tufts of setae medially (at least on segments V-VII; Fig. 13 b), which are absent in the other two species. Microvelia hinei can be distinguished from both by the pronotum of the apterous form completely covering the mesonotum, exposing only the metanotum centrally, the slightly longer body (paratype apterous male 1.40 mm), the different colour pattern and the posterior margin of the male abdominal segment VIII nearly straight dorsally (vs. concave in M. belterrensis sp. nov.).

Microvelia ubatuba Moreira & Barbosa, 2011, in turn, shares with the new species the male abdominal segment VIII notched ventrally. Although M. ubatuba is known only from macropterous specimens, it can be distinguished from M. belterrensis sp. nov. by the longer and narrower male abdominal segment VIII, dorsally with a distinct concavity at the posterior margin and ventrally with a strong rounded depression and a smaller and weakly sclerotised notch on the posterior margin ( Moreira and Barbosa 2011: 299, figs. 7-11).

Finally, the male proctiger with lateral projections was previously reported in two other Neotropical species, M. mimula White, 1879 and M. quieta Drake & Carvalho, 1954 ( Drake and Carvalho 1954: 224, figs. 1 and 2). Both are easily distinguished from M. belterrensis sp. nov. by the longer body and the well-exposed male terminalia.

Etymology

This species is named after Belterra Municipality, where the type-series was collected.

Figures

Figure 10. Microvelia belterrensis sp. nov., apterous male, holotype A. Habitus, dorsal view; B. Habitus, ventral view; C. Head and thorax, dorsal view; D. Abdomen, segments IV-VII and terminalia. Scale bars: (A, B) 1 mm, (C, D) 0.2 mm.

Figure 11. Microvelia belterrensis sp. nov., male terminalia A. Dorsal view; B. Ventral view [abdominal segment VIII broken]; C. Lateral view; D, E Genital capsule: D. Dorsal view; E. Ventral view. Scale bars: (A, B and E) 0.1 mm, (C and D) 0.2 mm.

Figure 12. Microvelia belterrensis sp. nov., apterous females, paratypes A. Habitus, dorsal view; B. Habitus, ventral view; C. Habitus, dorsal view; expanded abdomen, probably with eggs. Scale bars: 1 mm.