Abelocephala Maldonado, 1996

Forthman, Michael, 2021, Two new species of Abelocephala (Heteroptera: Reduviidae) from Taiwan, Zootaxa 4920 (2), pp. 278-286 : 279

Abelocephala Maldonado, 1996

Abelocephala Maldonado, 1996: 140 .

Type species: Abelocephala thai Maldonado, 1996 , by original designation.

DIAGNOSIS: In addition to the diagnostic traits for the tribe Abelocephalini , Abelocephala can be distinguished by the following: head, thorax, and legs with dense patches of bulbous trichomes and suberect and decumbent setae; head ovoid to oblong; clypeus not anteriorly projected; interocular space as wide as or wider than eye width; first two basal antennal segments with numerous long and short setae; basiflagellomere 2-segmented and distiflagellomere 4-segmented (i.e., antennae appear 8-segmented); ventroposterior apical lobe on the scapus lacking; visible labial segment I as long as or longer than segment II; visible labial segment III the shortest and lacking an apical process; pronotum trapezoidal, with a deep medial longitudinal depression; anterior pronotal lobe separated from posterior lobe by a distinct transverse depression; anterior pronotal lobe with rounded anterior angles, densely setose with paramedial C-shaped glabrous regions, without tubercles; posterior pronotal lobe glabrous or with few setae/trichomes; scutellum nearly triangular, apex obtuse and without paramedial processes; legs slender and lacking spines and tubercles; hemelytra macropterous to micropterous; and abdominal sternites with sparse setation. The genus is similar to Homognetus Bergroth, 1923 , Megapocaucus Miller, 1954 , and Apocaucus Distant, 1909 . However, Abelocephala lacks the two tuft-like sets of long, erect hairs between a sunken vertex as observed in Megapocaucus and Apocaucus . The genus is distinguished from Homognetus by the densely pubescent vertex and the absence of a pair of distinct tubercles on the anterior pronotal lobe.

DISTRIBUTION: The described species of Abelocephala are known from the Oriental Region. Published records and digitized specimens have so far shown that all described species of Abelocephala are not known outside of their type localities in Thailand and Japan, as well as the two new species described here from Taiwan.