Noteolethaeus (Sweetolethaeus) Slater, 1972

Zámbó, András, Kovács, Szilvia & Kondorosy, Előd, 2019, Taxonomic Notes On The Genus Noteolethaeus With Three New Species From Madagascar (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Rhyparochromidae), Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 65 (3), pp. 253-268 : 263-264

Noteolethaeus (Sweetolethaeus) Slater, 1972 , stat. n.

Discussion. This subgenus is very similar to the nominotypical subgenus of Noteolethaeus . SLATER (1972) provided the following main differences between the two taxa:

1) “the smooth dorsal surface of Sweetolethaeus well separated from one another”: confirmed during the present study, more accurately: the punctures on the posterior half of the pronotum are smaller than the distance between them, on the anterior half except medial part the punctures almost absent;

2) “the four distinct rows of claval punctures in Sweetolethaeus ”: of little value, because species and individuals with additional punctures are found in both group;

3) “lack of a transverse pronotal impressions in Sweetolethaeus ”: generally true but not distinct in some species;

4) “less strongly elevated corial veins”: no difference could be observed between the two groups in this respect;

5) “more strongly lobate bucculae”: it is true for Sweetolethaeus macchiaensis only;

6) “very feebly sinuate lateral corial margin”: no difference could be observed between the two groups in this respect.

Additional differences between the two taxa, recognized during the present study, are the followings:

1. The outline of the mandibular plates is convex in dorsal view in Noteolethaeus (Sweetolethaeus) , straight in Noteolethaeus (Noteolethaeus) .

2. Corium with only a single row of punctures between vein Cu and claval furrow in Noteolethaeus (Sweetolethaeus) , in Noteolethaeus (Noteolethaeus) with at least an additional row in posterior half.

The above characters are based on Noteolethaeus (Sweetolethaeus) macchiaensis (Slater, 1972) . Noteolethaeus termiticolus (Slater, 1972) , which we included also to the subgenus Sweetolethaeus , could not have been examined in course of the present study; Dawid Jacobs kindly informed us that in his opinion this species is quite dissimilar from N. macchiaensis in a number of characters and it might be necessary to exclude it from Sweetolethaeus (possibly also from the genus Noteolethaeus ).