Zelus zayasi Bruner & Barber, 1937

Zhang, Guanyang, Hart, Elwood R & Weirauch, Christiane, 2016, A taxonomic monograph of the assassin bug genus Zelus Fabricius (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): 71 species based on 10,000 specimens, Biodiversity Data Journal 4, pp. 8150-8150 : 8150

Zelus zayasi Bruner & Barber, 1937

Zelus zayasi Bruner and Barber, 1937, p. 186-188, orig. descr. and fig. (subgenus Zelus ); Wygodzinsky, 1949a, p. 50, checklist; Zayas, 1960, p. 125, 126, note; Alayo, 1967, p. 36, 37, key and list.; Hart, 1987, p. 296, key and note; Maldonado, 1990, p. 332, cat.

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00007933 ; occurrenceRemarks: bears label 'Type No. 51844 U.S.N.M' and 'E.E.A. Cuba Ento No.10644'; recordedBy: F. de Zayas; sex: Adult Female; otherCatalogNumbers: USNM Type No. 51844; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluszayasi; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Bruner & Barber, 1937; Location: country: CUBA; stateProvince: Guantanamo; locality: El Yunque, Baracoa ; decimalLatitude: 20.35237; decimalLongitude: -74.57356; georeferenceSources: Google Earth; Identification: identifiedBy: Burner & Barber; dateIdentified: 1937; Event: eventDate: 1935-07-10; Record Level: institutionCode: USNM

Description

Figs 217, 218

Male: unknown.

Female: (Fig. 217) Medium-sized, total length 12.39 mm (n=1); very slender. COLORATION: Dorsal surface brown, lighter on lateral surfaces and abdomen. VESTITURE: Moderately setose. Head with erect setae. Anterior pronotal lobe with sparse, recumbent and erect setae; posterior pronotal lobe with scattered, short, erect and recumbent setae. Abdomen with short, erect setae. STRUCTURE: Head: Cylindrical, L/W = 2.29. Postocular lobe moderately long; in dorsal view anteriorly gradually narrowing, posterior portion constant, slightly narrower. Eye smallish; lateral margin only slightly wider than postocular lobe; dorsal and ventral margins removed from surfaces of head. Labium: I: II: III = 1: 1.6: 0.3. Thorax: Anterolateral angle bearing small projection; medial longitudinal sulcus evident only on posterior 1/2, deepening anterior to transverse sulcus of pronotum. Posterior pronotal lobe with rugulose surface; disc distinctly elevated above humeral angle; humeral angle rounded, without projection. Scutellum moderately long; apex angulate. Legs: Slender. Hemelytron: Attaining apex of abdomen.

Diagnosis

The extremely slender body form separates this species from most other species of Zelus . Can be distinguished from Z. puertoricensis by the lack of conspicuous lateral process on the humeral angle and from Z. subimpressus by the parallel dorsal and ventral surfaces on the anterior 2/3 of the postocular lobe. The dorsal surface in Z. subimpressus is sloping.

Distribution

The Caribbean. Known only from Cuba (Fig. 218).

Taxon discussion

Based on the description and figure of Z. bruneri , it is possible that Z. bruneri is the male of Z. zayasi . Because the specimens of Z. bruneri were not physically examined, we restrain from making this association and a formal synonymy between these two species.