Rheumatobates crassifemur esakii Schroeder, 1931

Castro-Vargas, Maria I. & Morales-Castaño, Irina T., 2011, The Rheumatobates Bergroth, 1892 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Gerridae) of Colombia, including the description of R. plumipes n. sp. and a key to represented species, Zootaxa 3040, pp. 1-18 : 10-11

Rheumatobates crassifemur esakii Schroeder, 1931

Examined material. COLOMBIA: CASANARE: 43 2Ƥ apt., 13 macr., Trinidad, Caño Los Chochos, 02.VI.1991, H. Aristizábal leg. ( LEUQ). 53 3Ƥ apt., Trinidad (50 m), río Guachiria, 9.VI.1990, H. Aristizábal leg. (HA). VICHADA: 2Ƥ apt., 1Ƥ macr., Puerto Carreño (200 m), río Vita, 15.V.1994, H. Aristizábal leg. ( CIAB).

Color. Head dark brown, with a small dark U-shaped orange spot. Antennal segment I orange, with brown pubescence; antennal segments II, III and IV brown, with long brown pubescence. Pronotum dark brown, with rectangular orange spot. Thorax in view ventral brown. Mesonotum dark brown. Metanotum dark brown. Fore femur orange, with brown spot at distal region; tibia and tarsus brown; mid and hind legs brown; mid and hind trochanter with orange spots at the basal region and brown spots at the distal region. Abdominal segments dark brown; sternites dark brown.

3 Apterous ( Fig. 7 a). Head: total length, 0.5, maximum width 0.45, interocular distance, 0.42. Length of antennal segments (I–IV): 0.46, 0.08, 0.12, 0.48. Antennal segments modified; segment I strongly widened at basal 1/3; segment II short, about as wide as long, with two long ventrolateral setae; segment III thinner and longer than segment II, with two setae at the inner margin; segment IV curved and distinctly widened toward apex, with an apical row of four long strong setae, followed by four shorter erect setae, and with laterobasal elongated projection ( Fig. 2 e). Rostrum: total length, 0.67. Thorax: pronotum: total length, 0.18. Legs: hind legs modified; length of leg segments (femur, tibia, tarsus I, tarsus II,): foreleg: 0.85, 0.31, 0.05, 0.23; fore femur with four long setae at basal region, and three long setae at apical region; midleg: 1.82, 2.42, 0.86, 0.45; femur widened at distal 2/3, dorsoventrally flattened, with row of short setae at inner margin; hindleg: 0.72, 1.18, 0.2, 0.27; trochanter widened at base, reduced towards apex, with row of twenty to twenty-five short erect setae on outer margin, and tuft of long setae at basal inner region. Base of femur subquadrate, with row of long setae towards apex ( Fig. 3 e). Abdomen: total length, 1.23; tergite VII longer than preceding tergite; tergite VIII elongated, with multiple villi on its surface, and posterior margin slightly curved at mediadorsal part; pygophore simple, rounded.

Ƥ Apterous ( Fig. 7 b). Head: total length, 0.46, maximum width, 0.43, interocular distance, 0.38. Length of antennal segments (I–IV): 0.26, 0.08, 0.25, 0.43; segment III with four long setae; segment IV with one long seta, twice as long as preceding segment. Rostrum: total length, 0.63. Thorax: pronotum, total length, 0.15; posterior margin with lateral projections rounded. Legs: length of leg segments (femur, tibia, tarsus I, tarsus II,): foreleg: 0.63, 0.31, 0.05, 0.22; fore femur with row of ten setae at inner margin and three short erect setae at dorsolateral margin; midleg: 1.82, 1.01, 0.95, 0.38; femur with two short erect setae at dorsobasal region; hindleg: 1.18, 0.87, 0.15, 0.23; femur with three short erect setae at dorsal region. Abdomen: total length, 1.66; anterior margin of metasternum concave ( Fig. 7 c); connexiva short and acute towards apex; tergite VIII subtriangular, as long as the sum of two preceding tergites; gonocoxae as long as preceding sternite.

3 Macropterous. Head: total length, 0.42, maximum width, 0.4, interocular distance, 0.37. Length of antennal segments (I–IV): 0.35, 0.1, -, -. Rostrum: total length, 0.57. Thorax: pronotum, total length, 0.85; pronotum extending backward, totally covering the mesonotum. Legs and wings: hind legs modified; length of leg segments (femur, tibia, tarsus I, tarsus II,): foreleg: 0.87, 0.3, 0.05, 0.22; midleg: 1.8, -, -, -; hindleg: 0.7, -, -, -; Forewings: total length, 2.5; these surpassing apex of abdomen. Abdomen: total length, 1.12.

Ƥ Macropterous. Head: total length, 0.4, maximum width, 0.37, interocular distance, 0.35. Length of antennal segments (I–IV): -, -, -, -. Rostrum: total length, 0.62. Thorax: pronotum, total length, 0.72; which extends backward, covering totally the mesonotum. Legs and wings: length of leg segments (femur, tibia, tarsus I, tarsus II,): foreleg: 0.55, 0.25, 0.05, 0.22; midleg: -, -, -, -; hindleg: 1.02, 0.8, 0.15, 0.25; Fore wings: total length, 2.25; these surpassing apex of abdomen. Abdomen: total length, 1.42.

Diagnosis. Males of this species are differentiated from R. crassifemur crassifemur because the antennal segment I is distinctly widened at basal 1/3; the antennal segment IV is visibly enlarged towards the apex, with a row of four long strong setae, followed by four shorter erect setae; the fore femur has four long setae at basal region and three long setae at apical region; the hind trochanter has a row of twenty to twenty-five short erect setae at outer margin; the base of hind femur is subquadrate. Females, the length of antennal segment IV is almost twice the length of the preceding segment; the tergite VIII is subtriangular.

Distribution in Colombia. Casanare, Vichada and Amazonas.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Male antennae of Rheumatobates. a. R. plumipes n. sp. b. R. imitator. c. R. bergrothi. d. R. crassifemur crassifemur. e. R. crassifemur esakii. f. R. carvalhoi. g. R. probolicornis.

FIGURE 3. Hind legs of male of Rheumatobates. a. R. plumipes n. sp. b. R. imitator. c. R. bergrothi. d. R. crassifemur crassifemur. e. R. crassifemur esakii.

FIGURE 7. Rheumatobates crassifemur esakii. a. dorsal view of apterous male. b. dorsal view of apterous female. c. ventral view of apterous female.