Collaria improvisa Reuter 1893
Creators: name: Morales, Irina
name: Ferreira, Paulo S. F.
name: Forero, Dimitri
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Collaria
Collaria improvisa

description: Collaria improvisa Reuter, 1893
(Figs. 6, 18, 29, 42, 51, 64, 74, 86, 98)
Collaria improvisa Reuter, 1893: 208 [n.sp.]; Carvalho 1959: 284 [catalog]; Schwartz 2008: 1179 [diag., morph.]; Schuh 2002– 2014 [catalog].
Diagnosis. Recognized by the head coloration (Fig. 6), antennal segment I two times the width of segment II; endosoma with medial left sclerite short and covered by trichia, right posterior sclerite smooth, and apex of dorsal right sclerite broad (Fig. 51).
Redescription. Male. COLORATION: Dark brown with black and pale yellow areas. Head: Brown, with a transverse V-shaped pale spot posterior to sulcus, two dark brown spots around antennal scape, two black spots on middle of vertex and on margin of neck; eye pale brown; mandibular plate, maxillary plate, and apex of buccula, black; labium brown with black apex; clypeus black; antennal segments black with antennal scape, pale. Thorax: Pronotum brownish with pale line reaching disc; calli and lateral margins pale-yellow; inner region of calli pale brown; two elongated black spots on humeral angles of disc; collar pale-yellow; proepisternum with pale spot on dorsal region, reddish on median region, and pale on margin. Scutellum black and brown with a longitudinal paleyellow line and pale apex. Hemelytra brownish; clavus dark brown; embolium, and external region of cuneus pale; internal margin of cuneus and hemelytral membrane dark brown. Ventral side: Black, ostiolar peritreme with pale brownish margins, abdomen yellowish with a black spot at apex of pygophore. VESTITURE AND STRUCTURE: Head: Antenna with dense pilosity longer than thickness of segments; segment I 0.9 times width of head (Table 1) and two times width of II; segment II, 2.5 times longer than I (Table 1). Pronotum: Anterior lobe gradually narrowed, glabrous and carinate lateral margin. MEASUREMENTS: See Table 1. GENITALIA: Pygophore triangular; apex semi-triangular (Fig. 18), with a projected left lateroposterior margin (Fig. 18). Parameres: Left paramere sickle-shaped ending in a lateral tip with dorsal margin of basal sensory lobe almost straight and ventral margin of basal sensory lobe clearly convex; hypophysis with sharp lateral projection (Fig.29); right paramere as in Fig. 29. Endosoma: With medial left sclerite oval with microtrichia on surface (Fig. 42); ribbon like sclerite with a short lobe or area beneath secondary gonopore covered with microtrichia (Fig. 42), ventral right sclerite (vrs) elongated with smooth surface, dorsal right sclerite (drs) fusiform with apex broad and smooth (Fig. 51).
Female: Similar to male in color and size. MEASUREMENTS: Table 1. GENITALIA: First gonapophysis with apical grooved region strongly sclerotized and acute, (Fig. 64).Second gonapophysis apex triangular, striated with a ventral teeth (Fig. 74). Dorsal labiate plate with small sclerite caudal to sclerotized rings (Fig. 86). Posterior wall with rounded interramal lobes (Fig. 98). Dorsal structure covering half of interramal lobes, medial process absent (Fig.98).
Geographic distribution. Northeastern Africa (Sudan), Eastern Africa (Madagascar and Tanzania), Southern Africa (South Africa) and the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean (Schuh 2002–2014) (Fig. 107).
Plant associations. Unknown.
Discussion. Collaria improvisa is easily distinguished from C. obscuricornis and C. schwartzi sp. nov. by the transverse V-shaped pale stripe on head, pale-yellow collar, brownish spots on hemelytra, and by male and female genitalia. Reuter (1893), described C. improvisa from specimens of Seychelles Islands without designating a holotype; he deposited the studied specimens in the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN). We did not find Reuter´s type material or syntype series at MNHN, Naturhistoriska riksmuseet (NHRS), Finnish Museum of Natural History (MZH), or in other museums. Nevertheless, we found one specimen at the NHRS, bearing an identification label in Poppius handwriting, who worked with material corresponding to the description by Reuter.
We examined specimens from South Africa, but the species is also recorded from Northern and Estern Africa, thus indicating that further collecting is needed not only to expand the known range for this species, but also to known its plant associations.
Examined material. SOUTH AFRICA: KwaZulu-Natal 1 ♀ Bloukrans, 20 miles ENE Plettenberg, [28°49'0"S; 29°52'0"E], 14.i.1951, Brunk (MNRJ). 1 ♀ Eshowe: Zululand, [28°52'60"S; 31°28'0"E], 15.iii.1951, A.L.Capener (MNRJ). 1 ³ 1 ♀ Estcourt: 75km WSW Estcourt, Cathedral Peaks Forest Station, 29°0'0"S; 29°52'60"E, 19.xii.1979, S. & J.Peck (AMNH). Western Cape: 1 ³ 1 ♀ Kirstenbosh Gardens, Cape Town, [38°98'S; 18°48'E], 15.ix.2004, Schuh et al., (AMNH). 1 ³ 1 ♀ Mossel Bay: 34°10'60''S; 22°07'60''E, ii.1922, R.E. Turner, (MRAC). TANZANIA: Mkoa wa Kilimanjaro, 1 ³ Kibogonto-Kilimanjaro, Meru, [3° 10' 60S; 37° 6' 0E], 2.i., Nieder (NHRS-GULI 000009431).
description: Published as part of Morales, Irina, Ferreira, Paulo S. F. & Forero, Dimitri, 2016, Taxonomic revision of Collaria Provancher, 1872 (Hemiptera: Miridae) with the description of a new species from the Afrotropical region, pp. 201-246 in Zootaxa 4138 (2) on pages 213-215, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4138.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/257494