Cavelerius minor Slater & Miyamoto, 1963

Gao, Cuiqing & Zhou, Yu, 2021, Review of the genus Cavelerius (Heteroptera: Blissidae) with descriptions of three new species from China and Southeast Asia, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae) 61 (1), pp. 113-132 : 118-119

Cavelerius minor Slater & Miyamoto, 1963

( Figs 1d ; 5 ; 6 )

Cavelerius minor Slater & Miyamoto, 1963: 151 ; Sඅൺඍൾ*© & O’Dඈඇඇൾඅඅ (1995: 48).

Type material examined. Pൺ*©ൺඍඒඉൾ: INDIA: Haldwani Div. [pr] / Kumaon, [pr] / India. H. G. C. [pr] // Champion [pr] / Coll. B. M. [pr] / 1927–409 [pr] // DONATION FROM / J. A. SLATER / COLLECTION [pr] // Cavelerius [hw] / minor [hw] / PARATYPE [pr] / J.A. Slater [pr] / S. Miyamoto [hw] [red label] ( AMNH).We examined the photos ( Fig.5 ). Additional material examined. INDIA: 1J, NE- INDIA. MൾGΗൺඅൺඒൺ Sඍൺඍൾ / West Garo Hills, Nokrek NP / 9–17.v.1996, 950– 1250m / GPS N25°29.6′ E90°19.5′ (WGS84) / coll. E Jendek, O Sausa [pr] ( NKUM); 1 ♀, NE- INDIA. MൾGΗൺඅൺඒൺ Sඍൺඍൾ / W Garo Hills, Balphakram NP / 22–27.v.1996, 250– 550m / GPS N25°11′ E90°51′ (WGSB4) / coll. E Jendek, O Sausa [pr] ( NKUM).

Redescription. Small species, nearly parallel sided. Colouration. Head, pronotum, scutellum and abdomen black. First and basal 2/3 of second antennal segment yellow, rest of segment two and segment three brown, fourth antennal segment brownish black. Hemelytra dark yellow. Inner margins and commissure of clavus brown, vein A1 on clavus infuscated toward apex. Apical one - fourth of corium brown. About one-third of vein Cu brown, apical margins of corium brown. Membrane largely brown, pale at basal angle, on small patch adjacent to apex of corium and broadly at apex of membrane. Legs yellow, expect for brown fore femora.

Structure. Head moderately broad, clypeus extending forward at most to apical one-third of first antennal segment. Pronotum broad and lateral margins almost parallel. Punctures on anterior lobe small and deep, but sparse on posterior lobe and scutellum. Transverse impression sinuate and shallow. Postero - lateral lobes of pronotum strongly produced caudad, lobes terminally rounded, posterior margin of pronotum strongly concave. Membrane extending caudad onto tergites VI or VII.Abdomen slightly wider than hemelytra.

Spiracles on laterotergite II about one - sixth as large as total width of laterotergite II there ( Fig. 6b ). Apical part of pygophore dorsal opening broad, of almost same width as basal part ( Fig. 6c ). Paramere with short and obtuse outer lobe and thin pointed inner lobe; blade of paramere slightly curved, apex obtuse ( Figs 6d–g ). Phallus shown in Figs 6 h–k . Wings of sperm reservoir widest near base, about two and a half times longer than wide ( Fig. 6k ).

Measurements (n = 3; mm). Body length 5.65–6.22. Head: length 0.50–0.58; width across eyes 0.84–0.90; interocular space 0.52–0.58; interocellar space 0.30–0.32; eye–ocellus space 0.14–0.18; eye length 0.18–0.20; eye width 0.16–0.17. Length of antennal segments I–IV: I – 0.18, II – 0.44–0.52, III – 0.38–0.44, IV – 0.66–0.77.

Length of labrum 0.24; length of labial segments I–IV:

I – 0.40, II – 0.44, III – 0.36, IV – 0.34. Thorax: Pronotum, median length 1.02–1.08; width at anterior margin 1.24–1.27; width at posterior margin 1.28–1.29. Scutellar length 0.50–0.55, width 0.60–0.66. Length of hemelytra 3.12–3.28; length of corium 1.80–1.87; claval commissure 0.46–0.47.

Distribution. India: Uttarakhand, Kerala (Sඅൺඍൾ*© & Mංඒൺ- ආඈඍඈ 1963).

Differential diagnosis. The examined female specimen has hemelytra yellow, all inner veins and margins are yellow, except for brown apical fourth of corium and membranal spot which is paler than in the male specimen.

Cavelerius minor is similar to C. illustris in having similar membranal spot size and large posterolateral lobes of pronotum, but the basal 2/3 of second antennal segment is yellow and concolorous with segment one (vs. second antennal segment unicolorous brown, strongly contrasting with pale first segment in C. illustris ); the posterolateral lobes are terminally rounded in C. minor (vs. acutely pointed or rounded in C. illustris ); the membranal spot is dark brown in C. minor (vs. light brown in C. illustris ).

Figures

Fig. 1. Cavelerius spp. a – C. antennatus Slater & Miyamoto, 1963, dorsal view; b–c – C. tinctus (Distant, 1903), dorsal and ventral view; d – C. minor Slater & Miyamoto, 1963, dorsal view; e–f – C. saccharivorus (Okajima, 1922), dorsal and ventral view.

Fig. 5. Paratype of Cavelerius minor Slater & Miyamoto, 1963 and labels. a – paratype, dorsal view; b – labels (Photographed by Steve Thurston, AMNH).

Fig. 6. Cavelerius minor Slater & Miyamoto, 1963. a – male abdominal dorsum, dorsal view; b – basal part of male abdominal dorsum, enlarged; c – pygophore, posterodorsal view; d–g – left paramere, four different aspects; h–j – phallus, three different aspects; k – sperm reservoir and adjoining portion of phallus, dorsal view.