Neogerris celeris ( Drake & Harris, 1934 )

Mazzucconi, Silvia Ana, Reyes, Cristina Armúa De & Estévez, Ana Lía, 2022, Aquatic and semiaquatic Heteroptera (Insecta: Hemiptera) from Iberá Natural Reserve (Corrientes Province, Argentina), Zootaxa 5104 (4), pp. 451-505 : 467

Neogerris celeris ( Drake & Harris, 1934)

( Fig. 19 )

Limnogonus celeris Drake & Harris, 1934 : Ann. Carnegie Mus., 214–215.

Neogerris celeris: Nieser & Alkins-Koo, 1991 : Occas. Pap. Dept. Zool. Univ. West Indies, 71.

Material examined. San Ignacio RS: 2 ♂, 3 ♀, Reserva Privada Don Luis, Monte Don Luis, roadside ditches, 27°52.015’S, 56°54.914’W, 5.iii.2015.

General distribution. Paraguay ( Damgaard et al. 2014). Argentina: Corrientes (this work).

Habitat. Knowledge regarding N. celeris is based only on the type series from Paraguay (Nieser 1994). Nothing is known about its habitat associations except that it was found in a marsh in Villarrica ( Drake & Harris 1934) .

At the INR, this species was collected from a single locality: a shaded roadside ditch with floating vegetation at the margins ( Fig. 14 ).

Remarks. The cosmopolitan genus Neogerris currently comprises 13 species ( Damgaard et al. 2014). Until now, only N. lubricus had been recorded from Argentina ( Coscarón 2017). The collection of N. celeris from INR extends the known range of this species from southern Paraguay to northeastern Argentina. Nieser (1994) restricted the geographical distribution of N. celeris to its type-locality in Paraguay as this species can be misidentified with N. lotus (White, 1879) due to variations in the pronotum length. Therefore, records of N. celeris from other countries are not considered here. The posterior margin of abdominal tergum VIII, which is deeply notched in N. celeris but hardly notched in N. lubricus , readily differentiates the males of these two species.

Figures

FIGURES 18–22. Dorsal habitus of 18, Curicta granulosa; 19, Neogerris celeris; 20, Ovatametra obesa; 21, Paravelia rotundanotata; 22, Steinovelia vinnula. Scale: 18, 5.88 mm; 19, 2.33 mm; 20, 1.33 mm; 21, 1 mm; 22, 1.30 mm.

FIGURES 14–17. 14, Habitat of Neogerris celeris at Reserva Privada Don Luis in roadside ditches (San Ignacio RS). 15–16, Habitat of Ovatametra obesa at Camping Monterrey (San Ignacio RS): 15, in marshes; 16, in flood-prone areas. 17, Habitat of Curicta granulosa at Lobo Cuá Stream (Laguna Iberá RS).