Zelus pedestris Fabricius, 1803

Zhang, Guanyang, Hart, Elwood R & Weirauch, Christiane, 2016, A taxonomic monograph of the assassin bug genus Zelus Fabricius (Hemiptera: Reduviidae): 71 species based on 10,000 specimens, Biodiversity Data Journal 4, pp. 8150-8150 : 8150

Zelus pedestris Fabricius, 1803

Zelus pedestris Fabricius, 1803, p. 288, orig. descr.; Stål, 1872, p. 91, cat. (subgenus Diplodus ); Lethierry and Severin, 1896, p. 151, cat.; Wygodzinsky, 1949a, p. 50, checklist; Maldonado, 1990, p. 330, cat.

Diplodus pedestris : Stål, 1868, p. 109, descr. and note; Walker, 1873, p. 125, cat.

Zelus dispar Fabricius, 1803, p. 291, orig. descr.; Stål, 1872, p. 92, cat. (subgenus Diplodus ); Lethierry and Severin, 1896, p. 151, cat.; Wygodzinsky, 1949a, p. 49, checklist; Maldonado, 1990, p. 326, cat. syn. nov. (current study).

Diplodus dispar : Stål, 1868, p. 109-110, descr. and note; Walker, 1873, p. 125, cat.

Diplodus obscuridorsis Stål, 1860, p. 75, orig. descr.; Stål, 1868, p. 109, note; Walker, 1873, p. 125, cat.

Zelus obscuridorsis : Stål, 1872, p. 91, cat. and descr. (subgenus Diplodus ); kthierry and Severin, 1896, p. 152, cat.; Wygodzinsky, 1949a, p. 50, checklist; Wygodzinsky, 1957, p. 26, note and senior syn. of Z. nugax , Z. illotus and Z. carvalhoi ; Wygodzinsky, 1960, p. 307-308, list. syn. nov. (current study).

Materials

Type status: Lectotype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: Lectotype of Zeluspedestris Fabricius, 1803 (New Designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016). Bears the following labels: Type / Zeluspedestris in Am. mer. Schmidt.; recordedBy: Schmidt; sex: Adult female; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluspedestris; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Fabricius, 1803; Location: country: unknown; locality: America meridionali ; Record Level: institutionCode: ZMUC Type status: Paralectotype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: Paralectotype of Zeluspedestris Fabricius, 1803. (New Designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016). Bears only the 'Type' label.; sex: Female; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluspedestris; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Fabricius, 1803; Location: country: unknown; Record Level: institutionCode: ZMUC Type status: Other material. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: Lectotype of Zelusdispar Fabricius, 1803 (New Designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch (2016), junior synonym of Zeluspedestris Fabricius, 1803. Bears the following labels: Type / Zeluspedestris in Am. mer. Schmidt.; recordedBy: Schmidt; sex: Male; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluspedestris; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Fabricius, 1803; Location: country: unknown; locality: America meridionali ; Record Level: institutionCode: ZMUC Type status: Other material. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: Paralectotype of Zelusdispar Fabricius, 1803 (New Designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016), junior synonym of Zeluspedestris Fabricius, 1803. Bears only a "Type" label; sex: Male; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluspedestris; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Fabricius, 1803; Location: country: unknown; Record Level: institutionCode: ZMUC Type status: Other material. Occurrence: catalogNumber: UCR_ENT 00041009 ; occurrenceRemarks: Lectotype of Zelusobscuridorsis Stål, 1860 (New Designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016). Verbatim label info: Rio Jan / Stal / Zeluspedestris Fabricius det E.R.Hart 1972 / Lectotype Zelusobscuridorsis Stal / designated by E.R.Hart / obscuridosis Stal / Typus / NHRS-GULI 000000345.; sex: Adult Female; otherCatalogNumbers: NHRS-GULI 000000345; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluspedestris; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Fabricius, 1803; Location: country: BRAZIL; stateProvince: Rio de Janeiro; locality: unknown ; Identification: identifiedBy: G. Zhang; dateIdentified: 2012; Event: eventDate: No date provided; Record Level: institutionCode: NHRS Type status: Other material. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: Paralectotype of Zelusobscuridorsis Stål, 1860 (New Designation by Zhang, Hart & Weirauch, 2016); sex: Adult Female; otherCatalogNumbers: NHRS-GULI 000000345; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluspedestris; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: Fabricius, 1803; Location: country: BRAZIL; locality: unknown ; Identification: identifiedBy: G. Zhang; dateIdentified: 2012; Event: eventDate: No date provided; Record Level: institutionCode: NHRS

Description

Figs 156, 157, 158

Male: (Fig. 156a, b) Small, total length 9.63-11.26 mm (mean 10.60 mm, Suppl. material 2); slender. COLORATION: Dorsal surface dark brown; lighter on posterior pronotal lobe; lateral and ventral surfaces yellowish-brown; legs yellowish-brown, femoral apices dark, tibiae with three or four darker bands. VESTITURE: Sparsely setose. Entire surface of head with short, recumbent and erect setae, some scattered longer erect setae on postocular lobe, especially ventrally. Anterior pronotal lobe with short, recumbent to short, erect setae, confined to setal tracts dorsally, longer setae laterally; posterior pronotal lobe with short, recumbent and moderate, erect setae. Abdomen with short, recumbent and erect and scattered, longer erect setae. STRUCTURE: Head: Cylindrical, L/W = 2.37. Postocular lobe long; in dorsal view anteriorly gradually narrowing, posterior portion constant, slightly narrower. Eye smallish; lateral margin only slightly wider than postocular lobe; dorsal and ventral margins removed from surfaces of head. Labium: I: II: III = 1: 2.1: 0.4. Basiflagellomere diameter larger than that of pedicel. Thorax: Anterolateral angle subtuberculate; medial longitudinal sulcus shallow near collar, deepening posteriorly. Posterior pronotal lobe with rugulose surface; disc distinctly elevated above humeral angle; humeral angle armed, with dentate projection. Scutellum long; apex slightly pointed. Legs: Very slender, femoral diameters subequal. Hemelytron: Slightly surpassing apex of abdomen, not more than length of abdominal segment seven; quadrate cell small; Cu and M of cubital cell subparallel. GENITALIA: (Fig. 157) Pygophore: Ovoid; not expanded laterally in dorsal view. Medial process blade-like; very slender; long, only slightly shorter than paramere; laterally compressed; semi-erect; nearly straight; apex slightly curved, acute, without modification. Paramere: Cylindrical; moderately long, achieving apex of medial process; directed posteriad; slightly curved dorsad; apical portion not enlarged, apex acute or rounded. Phallus: Dorsal phallothecal sclerite shield-shaped; small indentation of lateral margin at about mid-point; apical portion of phallothecal sclerite distinctly tapered, slightly convex, laterally rounded, not forming angle; posterior margin of foramen deeply concave. Struts attached to dorsal phallothecal sclerite; apically fused; basally fused. Basal plate arm slender; basally fused; in lateral view very slightly curved; bridge extremely short; extension of basal plate small, laterally expanded onto arm.

Female: (Fig. 156c, d) Similar to male, except for the following. Larger than male, total length 12.15-13.36mm (mean 13.09 mm, Suppl. material 2). Coloration lighter than male.

Diagnosis

The slender, cylindrical paramere and the laterally compressed, blade-like medial process can separate this species from most other species of the genus. Different from Z. illotus and Z. impar by the straight medial process, contrasting with the recurved medial processes of the other two species. Difficult to distinguish from Z. nugax , but the paramere apex is generally rounded, the dorsal phallothecal sclerite usually with lateral indentation, the basal plate arms are fused and the basal plate arm extension is present and laterally expanded.

Distribution

South America and adjacent islands of the Caribbean (Fig. 158). Countries with records: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.

Taxon discussion

Some helpful, although not consistently reliable, characters used to distinguish females of Z. pedestris from those of Z. nugax and Z. illotus are given in the taxon discussion section of Z. nugax . Uncertainties in species limits between Z. pedestris and Z. nugax are also discussed in that species. The application of the name Z. pedestris is restricted to specimens from South America.

The coloration of the posterior pronotal lobe is the most obvious variable character in the males. This varies from a very light to a medium reddish-brown in any given geographic area. This pronotal variation is absent in the females, the dorsal surface varying from a relatively uniform light to medium brown in any geographic area.