Enithares malayensis Brooks, 1948

Nieser, Nico, 2004, Guide To Aquatic Heteroptera Of Singapore And Peninsular Malaysia Iii. Pleidae And Notonectidae, Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 52 (1), pp. 79-96 : 93

Enithares malayensis Brooks, 1948

Enithares malayensis Brooks, 1948 ; Lansbury, 1968 (redescription); Fernando & Cheng, 1974; Fernando & Leong, 1976; Kovac & Yang, 1990.

Diagnosis. – Length, male and female 9.0-9.4; width, male and female 3.2-3.6.

Eyes reddish brown to grey, vertex and anterior one third of pronotum brown. Middle third of pronotum yellowish, posteriorly hyaline but appearing darker due to scutellar colour showing through. Scutellum black with a yellowish “V”-shaped area. Hemielytra and hind wings translucent, appearing black over most of dorsum of abdomen, proximal part of membrane black.

Head in dorsal view rounded anteriorly, width of head three times or more anterior width of vertex. Anterior width of vertex twice the synthlipsis. Dorsal margin of pronotal fovea directed straight caudad before turning laterad. Metasternal xiphus as in Fig. 35 ml.

Male. Foretibia curved forward, concave on anterior surface and convex on posterior surface. Inner ventral angle of mesotrochanter with a spur-like projection ( Fig. 8 ). Middle tibia weakly convex along dorsal surface and expanded distally.

Remarks. – Males are distinguished by the spur-like projection of mesotrochanter ( Fig. 8 ). Females should be recognizable by the shape of the metasternal xiphus combined with size.

Distribution. – Recorded from the Malay Peninsula: Johor, Kedah, Pahang, Perak, Selangor, Singapore and Indonesia: Riau Archipelago (Fernando & Cheng, 1974; Lansbury, 1968; Kovac & Yang, 1990). In the ZRC there are also samples from Kelantan, Pahang and Terengganu. One male from Pulau Tioman, Ziming, 27 Jul.1996 is an addition to the checklist from this island ( Yang et al., 1999). This seems to be the commonest Malayan species. Equally common in streams as in stagnant ponds.

Figures

Fig. 35. Enithares species, metasternal xiphus. c = E. ciliata, mn = E. mandalayensis, ml = E. malayensis, me = E. metallica.

Fig. 8. Enithares malayensis middle femur and trochanter.s = spur at inner ventral margin of trochanter.