Hebrus syriacus Horvath 1896
Creators: name: Kment, Petr
name: Jindra, Zdeněk
name: Berchi, Gavril Marius
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Hebridae
Hebrus
Hebrus syriacus

description: Hebrus syriacus Horváth, 1896
(Figs. 26, 29–39, 67)
Hebrus syriacus Horváth, 1896: 326. Lectotype (designated by Linnavuori, 1994: 94): ♀, Israel, Haifa (HNHM).
Material examined. CYPRUS: Kyrenis, Ammos, 7.vii.1939, 1 ♀, H. Lindberg lgt. & det., P. Kment revid. (NMPC).
Descriptive notes. The female examined (Figs. 26, 29–39) fits the redescription by Linnavuori (1994), although the scutellum seems less bifid apically (see Figs. 36–37) and the membrane of the hemelytra is uniformly milky-brown and of the same colour as the posterior portion of the clavus (Fig. 26). The clavus has sparse pilosity and corium relatively dense pilosity (Fig. 38). The membrane reaches the posterior 2/3 of mediotergite VII, leaving the apex of the dorsum free (Fig. 26).
Measurements (mm): Body length: 1.66. Head width (across eyes): 0.4. Pronotum: median length: 0.38, anterior width: 0.38, humeral width: 0.69. Lengths of antennal segments: I: 0.18, II: 0.14, III: 0.20, IVa: 0.08, IVb: 0.24. Length of metafemur: 0.51, metatibia: 0.63, metatarsus: 0.22.
Distribution (Fig. 67). Asia: Cyprus (new record), Israel (Horváth 1896, as Syria; Linnavuori 1961, 1994), Jordan (Linnavuori 1961),? Syria (Stichel 1956, Andersen 1995). New species for Cyprus.
The type locality in the original description was given as ‘ Syria: Kaiffa (Reitter)’ (Horváth 1896). Linnavuori (1961) listed four more specimens, one from Jordan and three from Judea, all from J. Sahlberg’s collection. Linnavuori (1994) interpreted the type locality as ‘ Israel, Haifa’ and speculated that ‘since all new finds from Israel belong to H. pusillus pusillus (Fallén, 1807), H. syriacus has possibly become extinct.’ Distribution of H. syriacus in Syria requires confirmation as it seems to be based on the above mentioned error.
Comments. Horváth (1896) described the species based on the macropterous female, but did not specify the number of specimens, although there was probably only one. Andersen (1995) listed the type material as syntypes from Syria. Linnavuori (1994) redescribed the species based on a single female, presenting it as a ‘type’, and explicitely stated: ‘ The holotype is the only known specimen’. This statement fulfilled the requirements of Article 74.6 of the ICZN (1999) for fixation of the lectotype by inference of the holotype.
Horváth (1896) compared the new species to H. ruficeps: ‘Similar to H. ruficeps, easily distinguished by body smaller and narrower, colouration of body pale, pronotum anteriorly not declivous, and posteriorly less dilated. Length 1.5 mm.’ Linnavuori (1994) redescribed the species based on the ‘holotype’ and provided illustrations of the head in lateral view and thorax and hemelytron in dorsal view, and provided the following differential diagnosis: ‘ H. syriacus is readily distinguished from H. pusillus and the related species by the smaller and narrower body, much narrower and more parallel-sided pronotum and, especially, the apically bifid scutellum’. Neither Horváth (1896) nor Linnavuori (1994) described apical antennal segments. Jordan (1954) included H. syriacus in a comparative table of seven European Hebrus species, and provided lengths of the antennal segments (mm): I— 0.18, II—0.16, III—0.20, IVa—0.10, IVb—0.24. However, the material Jordan (1954) used for comparison was not listed in that paper and remains unknown.
Linnavuori (1994) did not assign H. syriacus to any of the subgenera; however, the metanotal elevation apically truncated with a wide V-shaped incision (Linnavuori 1994: Fig. 4 b), antennal segments I and II subequal in length (Stichel 1955, Linnavuori 1994), antennal segment IVb more than twice as long as IVa (Jordan 1954), antennal segment I little longer than eye diameter (Horváth 1896, Stichel 1955), and its small size (1.50–1.66 mm) suggest placement of H. syriacus in Hebrusella. (Body length of Euro-Mediterranean Hebrusella is 1.30–1.80 (exceptionally 1.93) mm, in Hebrus s. str.> 1.70 (usually 1.80) mm—see Poisson 1944, 1953; Jordan 1954; Wagner 1954, 1957; Kanyukova 1997, 2006)). On the other hand, examination of the antenna by scanning electron microscope revealed that segment IV is subdivided only by a membranous joint (Figs. 34–35), which supports its placement in Hebrus s. str. sensu Poisson (1944). However, the subgeneric classification of Hebrus is problematic and requires revision (see Summary).
description: Published as part of Kment, Petr, Jindra, Zdeněk & Berchi, Gavril Marius, 2016, Review of West-Palaearctic Hebridae with description of a new species and redescription of Hebrus fulvinervis (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), pp. 201-239 in Zootaxa 4147 (3) on pages 217-219, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4147.3.1, http://zenodo.org/record/261264