Nabidomiris clypealis Poppius, 1914

Morales, Irina, Forero, Dimitri & Unesis, 2016, The genusNabidomiris (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae): review of the species and description of a new species from South Africa, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 56 (2), pp. 507-516 : 509

Nabidomiris clypealis Poppius, 1914

( Figs 1 , 5, 6 , 21 )

Material examined. DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO: 1 ♀, [SUD-KIVU / LWIRO] / River Km 47 / N. of Bakavu / 1650 m. / [2° 13’ 55S 28° 47’ 11E] / 1.iv.1958 / E.S. Ross and R.E. Leech ( CASC) . SOUTH AFRICA: 1 J, ‘[NORTH WEST / RUSTENBURG]: Rustenburg U. So.Afr / [26° 00’ 00” S; 30° 00’ 00” E] / 23.i. 1974 / Ashley B. Gurney’ ( AMNH) .

Diagnosis. Recognized by the following combination of characters: basal margin of pronotum about 1.4 times the width of the head (Table 1), humeral angles with two rounded black spots ( Fig. 1 ); males macropterous, hemelytra sometimes reduced in females, apices reaching only the penultimate segment of the abdomen; male endosoma with a wide ribbon-like sclerite with wide base ( Fig. 5 , rs), ventral right sclerite fusiform ( Fig. 6 , vrs).

Male genitalia. Pygophore elongated with apex semi-triangular and a tubercle on left lateroposterior ventral margin. Parameres: left paramere sickle-shaped, ending in lateral tip, right paramere with basal sensory lobe straight. Endosoma ribbon-like sclerite (rs) wide with broad base, trichiae on surface medium-sized ( Fig. 5 ); median sclerite (ms) absent; ventral right sclerite (vrs) fusiform with microtrichia on margin of sclerite ( Fig. 6 ).

Plant associations. Unknown. VAYSSIÈRES et al. (2001) mentioned N. clypealis as a predatory species on Solanaceae vegetable crops. Given the little known biology of Nabidomiris this might be surprising, but further observations are needed to confirm the predatory behavior or at least rule out facultative predatory habits.

Distribution. Described originally from Victoria Nyanza, Morrukku near Bukoba (nowadays Tanzania) ( POPPIUS 1914). New records from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Africa ( Fig. 21 ) are provided here. If correctly identified, VAYSSIÈRES et al. (2001) record from La Reunion would imply a more widespread distribution into the Indian Ocean. The wide distributional gap between localities in central Africa and the one in South Africa indicate a potential occurrence of this species between these areas.

Figures

Figs 1–4. Nabidomiris spp., dorsal habitus of male. 1 – N. clypealis Poppius, 1914, 2 – N.giloicus Linnavuori, 1975, 3 – N. longipennis Odhiambo, 1958, 4 – N. natalensis sp. nov.

Figs 5–16. 5–10 – Nabidomiris spp., male endosoma.5–6 – N. clypealis Poppius, 1914: 5 – left lateral view, 6 – right lateral view; 7–8 – N. giloicus Linnavuori, 1975: 7 – left lateral view, 8 – right lateral view; 9–10 – N. longipennis Odhiambo, 1958: 9 – left lateral view, 10 – right lateral view. 11–16 – N. natalensis sp. nov., male genitalia: 11 – left lateral view; 12 – right lateral view; 13 – ventral view; 14 – pygophore, dorsal view; 15 – right paramere; 16 – left paramere. Scale bars: 1 mm. Abbreviations: gs – secondary gonopore, ms – medial left sclerite, rs – ribbon-like sclerite, s – spicule of endosoma, sgs – sclerite of the secondary gonopore, t – tubercle on ventral left margin of pygophore, vrs – ventral right sclerite.

Fig. 21. Distribution map for species of Nabidomiris. Black symbols represent data from specimens examined; grey symbols represent data taken from the literature.