Menestheus Stal 1868
Creators: name: Faúndez, Eduardo I.
name: Rider, David A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Pentatomidae
Menestheus

description: Menestheus Stål, 1868
Menestheus Stål, 1868: 504 (original description). Type species: Menestheus cuneatus Distant, 1899, by present fixation (see comments below).
Menestheus: Stål (1876): 51 (keyed); Lethierry & Severin (1893): 109 (catalog); Kirkaldy (1909): 181 (catalog); Distant (1910): 469 (redescription); Gross (1975): 177 (redescription); Cassis & Gross (2001): 450 (catalog).
Redescription. General body features: Elongate body (2.50 to 3.10 times longer than wide, Figs 1, 2), dorsal coloration yellowish-cream, dorsal and ventral surface finely and densely punctate.
Head: Elongate, acute (1.3 to 1.4 times longer than wide, Figs 3, 4), longer than pronotum, paraclypei considerably longer than clypeus, contiguous anteriorly; eyes prominent, antenniferous tubercles short, each with a small, acute tooth; antennae 5-segmented; bucculae straight ventrally, rounded posteriorly; rostrum 4-segmented, first segment extending beyond bucculae, reaching prosternum, apex of rostrum reaching base of abdomen.
Thorax: Pronotum trapezoid (Figs 3, 4), humeral angles rounded, anterolateral margins with a small rounded projection; scutellum shaped as isosceles triangular, with 4 foveae along base, apical portion narrow, apex rounded. Hemelytra elongate, membrane with several longitudinal veins. Thoracic sterna distinctly sulcate without median keel, prosternal sulcus bordered on each side by a strongly elevated ridge which forms an obtuse flap anteriorly near base of head. Ostiolar peritreme short, auriculate (Fig. 9); evaporatoria rugose, occupying mesial two-thirds of each metapleuron and apical portion of each mesopleuron, ostiolar plate strongly punctate. Legs without spines, superior surface of each tibiae sulcate, tarsi 3-segmented.
Abdomen: Connexival margin straight, each segment unicolored; base of abdomen lacking tubercle or spine; segments IV, V, and VI each with a pair of black or brown dots. Genitalia: Male pygophore ventrally with a truncate excavation (Figs 5, 6), dorsally with two triangular processes on each side (Figs 7, 8), parameres with basal and proximal lobe, basal lobe with small teeth on upper surface (Figs 14, 15). Female spermatheca with a long sclerotized rod, apex bent interiorly, dilation of spermathecal duct ovate, narrow, restricted to a small membranous area around the sclerotized rod (Fig. 12), spermathecal bulb with two digitiform processes on each side (Fig. 13), proximal flange of spermathecal pump round with a conic dilation anteriorly, distal flange of pump circular, subconic posteriorly. Genital plates with first gonocoxae truncate, second gonocoxae trapezoid, paratergites fused as single structure, bilobed, paratergites IX subtriangular (Figs 10, 11).
Comments. Menestheus was originally described based on a misidentified species by Stål (1868) (i.e. Paramenestheus nercivus sensu Stål, 1868) (Bergroth, 1912). That species, Paramenestheus nervicus Dallas, 1851, is currently correctly placed in the genus Paramenestheus (Faúndez, 2017). Bergroth (1912) wrote that Stål probably examined a specimen of M. cuneatus or another closely related species, and the current identity of the genus is associated with the concept of M. cuneatus. Therefore, we here establish Paramenestheus nercivus non Dallas, 1851 sensu Stål, 1868 = Menestheus cuneatus Distant, 1899 as type species of Menestheus Stal, 1868 by application of Article 70.3.2 of the ICZN (1999).
description: Published as part of Faúndez, Eduardo I. & Rider, David A., 2018, Review of the genus Menestheus Stål, 1868 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae), pp. 275-280 in Zootaxa 4407 (2) on pages 276-277, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4407.2.8, http://zenodo.org/record/1216400