Nerthra asiatica ( Horvath , 1892)

Xie, Tong-Yin & Liu, Guo-Qing, 2018, Notes on some toad bugs from China (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Gelastocoridae), ZooKeys 759, pp. 137-147 : 137

Nerthra asiatica ( Horvath, 1892) Figs 1A, B; 2 A–G

Mononyx asiaticus Horváth, 1892: 136.

Mononyx grossus Montandon, 1899: 395 (syn. Kiritshenko 1926: 226); Distant 1906: 16; Oshanin 1909: 956; Oshanin 1912: 89; Kiritshenko 1926: 226; Wu 1935: 559.

Nerthra asiatica : Todd 1955: 349; Todd 1957: 154; Nieser and Chen 1992: 5; Polhemus 1995: 24; Thirumalai 1998: 192; Bal and Basu 2003: 542; Kment and Jindra 2008: 191; Xie and Liu 2013: 6.

Material examined.

CHINA: Sichuan Province: 1♂, Mount Emei [峨眉山], 29.58N, 103.41E, 24. IV. 1962, Bai-juan CHEN leg.; 1♀, Ya’an [雅安], 29.98N, 103.01E, 4. VII. 1963, alt. 600-900m, Jiang XIONG leg.; Hubei Province: 1♀, Wufeng Tujia Autonomous County [五峰土家族自治县], 30.20N, 110.67E, 10. VII. 1999, alt. 1000m, Chuan-ren LI leg.; 1♂, National Natural Reserve of Xingdou Mountain [星斗山国家级自然保护区], 30.14N, 109.00E, 30. VII. 1999, alt. 840-900m, Chuan-ren LI leg.; Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region: 1♀, Mêdog county [墨脱县], 29.33N, 95.34E, alt. 800m, VIII. 1984, Tan HE leg.

Redescription.

Body large size for the genus. Body dorsally brown with scutellum slightly darker than rest (Fig. 1 A–B). Ventral surface dark brown, the bases of the middle and hind legs with a few patches of yellowish brown.

Head. Apical tubercle absent, lateral and superapical tubercles small, irregular in shape, not sharply pointed.

Thorax. Pronotum widest at transverse furrow, a little narrower than abdomen; lateral margins of pronotum parallel or nearly so, anterior and posterior margin weakly sinuate; surface coarsely granulate. Scutellum elevated, apex slightly lobed, with tumescences at the middle of the lateral margins. Hemelytra not extending to the end of the abdomen, membrane well developed; embolium with the basal half of the lateral margin nearly straight, not expanded laterally at middle. Connexivum greatly expanded laterally in females. Bristles short or moderately long, clavate, slightly curved, bristles in rows and clumps on hemelytra and in clumps on scutellum and pronotum.

Abdomen. Abdominal V-IV sternites of male mostly asymmetrical, ninth sternite rather oval, wider than long, not as long as eighth sternite; seventh sternite sternite about half as long as eighth sternite; fifth sternite very short medially (Fig. 2E). In female, abdomen nearly symmetrical. Lobes of ovipositor slightly projecting posteriorly; posterior margin of last visible abdominal sternite triangularly emarginate (Fig. 2F).

Distribution.

China (Sichuan Province, Hubei Province, Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region), India ( Todd 1955, Kment and Jindra 2008).

Remarks.

This is the first time the male has been described. In the shape of the pronotum it would seem to be closely related to N. spissa (Distant, 1911), but the right paramere (Fig. 2 C–D) of these two species is different. Nerthra spissa has a rather large male clasper for the size of the insect, nearly straight, cylindrical, abruptly narrowed to point at apex, twisted, and the aedeagal furrow obliquely crossing the basal half of clasper. This species differs from N. indica (Atkinson, 1889) by the its larger body size and the shapes of the tubercles of the head, the lateral margin of the pronotum, the hind wing (Fig. 2G), and the structures of male and female genitalia.

The holotype is a female from China: Flumen Poi-ho (G. N. Potanin)' [= Sichuan, Gar Qu (= Pai Ho River)] ( Kiritshenko 1926; Todd 1955; Polhemus 1995). The paratype of Mononyx grossus Montandon in the Francis Huntington Snow Entomological Collection at the University of Kansas was labelled 'Thibet (Mou-Pin)' [= Sichuan, Ya’an (= Mou-ping country)] ( Todd 1955). This species found in Mêdog county is reported from Xizang (Tibet) Autonomous Region for the first time.