Rhiginia crucifera ( Stål, 1872 )

Forthman, Michael & Gil-Santana, Hélcio R., 2021, Two new species of Rhiginia Stål, 1859, with taxonomical notes on species in the “ cruciata-group ” of this genus and an updated key to the New World genera of Ectrichodiinae (Heteroptera, Reduviidae), Zootaxa 4952 (2), pp. 201-234 : 212-213

Rhiginia crucifera ( Stål, 1872)

( Figs. 40–43 )

Morphological remarks. This species has a moderately large body size (15 mm) for Rhiginia . Our material for this species was limited to images of the male paratype of R. crucifera ( Figs. 40–42 ), which matches the color patterns described by Stål (1872): the body is dark brown-black, with the ocellar tubercle, two large spots between the eyes, and the anterior pronotal lobe (except at the margins and along the sulci) yellow-brown; the entire posterior pronotal lobe (including the longitudinal sulcus), base of the hemelytra, three irregular spots on or near the veins at the corium-membrane boundary, and the abdomen (except medially on syntergites I and II, sternite II except laterally, and pygophore) orange-red to sanguineous; the antennae and legs are brown. Previous descriptions of R. crucifera have not discussed color variation, and it remains unclear to what extent color patterns may deviate from the type specimen. The images reveal a relatively ovate head, convex frons, and moderately large ocelli that are separated by a distance subequal to the diameter of an ocellus and that occupy up to half of the ocellar tubercle in lateral view ( Figs. 40, 42 ). While the clypeus is largely obscured by the antennae in lateral view of the paratype, it may be more elevated than that seen in R. crudelis (a feature included in Stål’s [1872] differential diagnosis between these two species). The anterior pronotal lobe is approximately half the length of the posterior lobe, and the anterolateral protuberances of the anterior pronotal lobe are slightly prominent and rounded (best observed in Fig. 41 ). While spread apart in the type, the hemelytra appear to reach the apex of the abdomen (or at least surpass the anterior margin of tergite VII) and have a subrectangular Cu+1A cell in the membrane ( Fig. 40 ). The proximal margin of the Cu+1A membranal cell is about twice that of the M+Cu membranal cell ( Fig. 40 ).

Discussion. Ectrichodia crucifera was described based on male ( Figs. 40–43 ) and brachypterous (hemelytra extending to approximately the midportion of abdomen) female specimens from Mexico. Stål (1872) considered this species to be very close to E. crudelis , while listing color patterns and two subtle structural traits to distinguish the two. Champion (1899) considered E. crucifera as a junior synonym of E. crudelis , describing it as a variation of the latter using one of the characteristics stated by Stål (1872) as distinctive of E. crucifera , i.e., the darkened longitudinal and transverse sulci of the pronotum ( Fig. 40 ). Champion (1899) did not include discussion of structural similarities to support this taxonomic act. Subsequent authors, however, have considered the species valid under the current combination, Rhiginia crucifera ( Wygodzinsky 1949; Maldonado 1990; Dougherty 1995; Baena & Susín 2007). Almost all the aforementioned authors cite the geographical distribution of R. crucifera as Mexico, while Dougherty (1995) only listed Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama. It is evident that more specimen material is required to re-describe R. crucifera , in which we highlight the need for more documentation of structural characters, as well as color variation.

Material examined. Paratype: Mexico / Boucard // crucifer / Stål // Paratypus // Ectrichodia / crucifer / Stål // NHRS-GULI / 000000175 (1 ♂) ( NHRS) .

Figures

FIGURES 40–43. Ectrichodia crucifera Stål, 1872, male syntype deposited in NHRS, catalog number NHRS-GULI000000175; 40, dorsal view, scale bar 5 mm; 41, ventral view; 42, lateral view; 43, labels. Made available by the Swedish Museum of Natural History under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License, CC-BY 4.0, https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.