Aphelocheirus (s.str.) similaris POLHEMUS et POLHEMUS, 1989

Zettel, H. & Tran, A. D., 2009, Notes On The Aphelocheiridae (Heteroptera) From Indochina, With Redescriptions Of Aphelocheirus Inops And A. Gularis And The Description Of A New Species From Vietnam, Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 55 (3), pp. 211-226 : 225

Aphelocheirus (s.str.) similaris POLHEMUS et POLHEMUS, 1989

Aphelocheirus (Aphelocheirus) similaris POLHEMUS et POLHEMUS, 1989: 242–243 .

Aphelocheirus (s.str.) similaris POLHEMUS et POLHEMUS, 1988 : ZETTEL 1998: 93–94.

Material examined. 1 male (macropterous-dealate) labelled “ VIETNAM.Prov. Lao Cai.\ Dist .

Sa Pa. Cat-Cat-FVBC.\ 1250m. 8. 04– 2. 06.1998.\ leg. Frontier, Vietnam ” ( HNHM) .

Notes. This species is known only from northern Vietnam, and only in five specimens of the macropterous morph ( POLHEMUS & POLHEMUS 1989, ZETTEL 1998, and this study). The parameres of the newly examined specimen match well with the illustrations presented by ZETTEL (1998: figs 50–53); the structure of the left paramere is unmistakable for any other Southeast Asian species.

Distribution. Recorded from Hanoi ( POLHEMUS & POLHEMUS 1989) and Lao Cai Province

( ZETTEL 1998, and this study) in Vietnam.

*

Acknowledgements – Type material for this study has been kindly loaned by ANDRÁS OROSZ and Dr. TAMÁS VÁSÁRHELYI (both Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary). Both authors are grateful to the same persons and to LÁSZLÓ PEREGOVITS and Dr. DÁVID RÉDEI for the hospitality during their research stay in Budapest in 2005. Our thanks are also due to Dr. NGUYEN VAN VINH and Mr. NGO XUAN NAM (Hanoi University of Science, Vietnam) for the collection of Aphelocheirus , including the new species, to Prof. ROBERT W. SITES (Columbia University, U.S.A.) for giving specimens of A. femoratus to the NHMW for comparison with the new species, to Dr. TAN HEOK HUI (National University of Singapore) for teaching us operating the Visionary Digital camera system in the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, and to Prof. ROBERT W. SITES and Dr. DÁVID RÉDEI for valuable suggestions to the manuscript. The junior author sincerely thanks Prof. PETER K. L. NG (National University of Singapore) and Prof. NGUYEN XUAN QUYNH (Hanoi University of Science, Vietnam) for facilitating his field work in Vietnam. This senior author’s research visit to Budapest has been financially supported by the EU (Synthesys Project, no. HU-TAF-370). The study of the junior author was supported by the National University of Singapore, Research Grant R-154- 000-222-112, when he was Prof. PETER K. L. NG’ s student there.