Zelus couturieri

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 couturieri

Iquitozelus couturieri Bérenger, 2003, p. 23, orig. descr. and fig.

Zelus couturieri ( Bérenger, 2003), comb. nov. (current study).

Materials

Type status: Holotype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: Host plant: Psidium guajava; recordedBy: Couturier, G; sex: Adult Female; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluscouturieri; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: (Berenger, 2003); Location: country: Peru; stateProvince: Loreto; locality: Iquitos ; Event: eventDate: 1992-07-20; Record Level: institutionCode: Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: Host plant: Psidium guajava; recordedBy: Couturier, G; sex: Adult Female; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluscouturieri; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: (Berenger, 2003); Location: country: Peru; stateProvince: Loreto; locality: Iquitos ; Event: eventDate: 1992-07-20; Record Level: institutionCode: Museo de Entomologia, Universidad Agraria La Molina, Lima Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: Host plant: Psidium guajava; recordedBy: Couturier, G; sex: Adult Female; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluscouturieri; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: (Berenger, 2003); Location: country: Peru; stateProvince: Loreto; locality: Iquitos ; Event: eventDate: 1992-07-20; Record Level: institutionCode: USNM Type status: Paratype. Occurrence: occurrenceRemarks: Host plant: Psidium guajava; recordedBy: Couturier, G; sex: Adult Female; Taxon: scientificName: Zeluscouturieri; family: Reduviidae; genus: Zelus; scientificNameAuthorship: (Berenger, 2003); Location: country: Peru; stateProvince: Loreto; locality: Iquitos ; Event: eventDate: 1992-07-20; Record Level: institutionCode: Jean-Michel Berenger Collection

Description

Figs 63, 64

Diagnosis

The connexivum segment VI with foliaceous expansion is unique among all females of Zelus spp.

Distribution

South America (Fig. 64). Known only from Peru.

Taxon discussion

Bérenger (2003) described a new species of Harpactorini from Iquitos, Peru, and erected a new genus, Iquitozelus to accommodate this species. We here transfer I. couturieri to Zelus for reasons aforementioned. This species shows a great deal of resemblance to three other species of Zelus , Z. amblycephalus , Z. umbraculus and Z. umbraculoides , all newly described in the current study. In these species, the head, legs and pronotum are more or less uniformly greenish-brown. There are a number of differences. The posterior pronotal lobe disc in Z. couturieri appears to be only slightly above and nearly continuous with humeral angle. In the other three species, the discs are clearly above humeral angle. The posterior margin of the posterior pronotal lobe in Z. couturieri is not developed, whereas it is well defined in other species. Furthermore, the lateral process of the humeral angle is conspicuously darkened, also unique to Z. couturieri . Based the foregoing observations, it is likely that Z. couturieri represents a distinct a species, and not the female of Z. umbraculoides or Z. umbraculus . The specimens were not physically examined as Bérenger (2003) has provided a detailed description of this species.