Rhagovelia kalalaoensis Zettel & Laciny 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zettel, Herbert
name: Laciny, Alice
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Veliidae
Rhagovelia
Rhagovelia kalalaoensis

description: Rhagovelia kalalaoensis sp. nov.
(Figs 3, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 17)
Type material. HƟΓƟΤΥΡΕ (apterous ♁) and ΡΑRΑΤΥΡΕඌ (1 apterous ♁, 1 apterous ♀): Madagascar, Nosy Boraha: Forêt de Kalalao, 27.X.1992, leg. M. Madl (all NHMW).
Description. Male (apterous). Measurements (holotype, paratype): Body length 2.91, 2.55; maximum body width (at metapleura) 1.06, 1.03. Head length 0.45, 0.42, width 0.80, 0.78; minimum eye distance 0.13, 0.12. Pronotum length 0.83, 0.81, width 1.00, 1.00. Lengths of antennomeres (holotype), I 0.77, II 0.45, III 0.47, IV 0.51. Lengths of leg segments (holotype): profemur 0.94, protibia 1.00, protarsus 0.02 + 0.03 + 0.24, mesofemur 1.59, mesotibia 1.47, mesotarsus 0.10 + 0.50 + 0.72, metafemur 1.34, metatibia 1.44, metatarsus 0.05 + 0.08 + 0.29.
Colour (Fig. 3). Trunk chiefly black. Pronotum anteriorly with transverse yellow stripe medially interrupted by narrow blackish brown line. Tergite 6 with small yellowish brown spot, tergite 7 with large yellow spot. Laterotergites 3–6 and sternites 3–6 with narrow yellow lateral margins. Propleuron and acetabula yellow. Venter bicoloured; mesosternum until sternite 6 black, other parts yellow (segment 8 slightly darker). Antenna black, basal third of antennomere 1 yellow. Legs largely black; all coxae, pro- and metatrochanter, basal third of profemur, and base of metafemur yellow.
Pilosity. Body dorsally with dispersed, short, grey, appressed pubescence and inconspicuous, dispersed, grey, subdecumbent short setae; only head, sides of pronotum, and posterior margin of segment 8 with some long black setae. Tubercle of protrochanter with tuft of black setae. Profemur on posterior face with basal row of three slightly thickened setae; posterior row of flexor side with short stout setae. Other black setae on legs normal, slender, of varying length.
Structures. Jugum not flattened, narrow, with few black spicula laterally and posteriorly. Proepisternum with few black spicula anteriorly. Pronotum more than twice as long as head, covering mesonotum. Protrochanter (Fig. 6) with subapical tubercle. Profemur (Fig. 6) with distinct concavity on extensor side. Metafemur (Fig. 8) moderately incrassate, ca. 3.3–3.4 times as long as wide, on flexor side with rich dentition: basal row consisting of 13–14 densely set short spines only weakly increasing in length distally, their distance smaller than their length; posterodistal row consisting of 11–13 teeth strongly decreasing in size distally, the first one considerably longer than the second; anterodistal row consisting of 7–9 minute spines. Metatibia (Fig. 8) straight, on flexor side with fine toothlike structures along entire length, with very short apical spine. Pregenital segments of abdomen relatively slender. Tergites relatively narrow; tergites 1–5 matt, 6 with small shiny spot at middle, 7 almost entirely shiny (except margins). In holotype, fifth tergite 2.1 times as wide as long; seventh tergite 1.8 times as long as sixth and 1.0 times as long as wide. Sternites almost unmodified; sternite 7 between paired, very shallow lateral impressions very weakly convex, hind margin broadly concave. Segment 8 small, subcylindrical, with indistinct ventromedial carina.
Genital segments small and weakly modified. Pygophore slender subovate. Proctiger (Fig. 10) moderately slender, basolateral lobes moderately protruding and posteriorly angled. Paramere (Fig. 12) small, proximal part very short and setose, middle part curved, bearing short setae ventrally, distal part slightly widened and broadly rounded.
Female (apterous). The single teneral female has shrivelled during drying so that exact measurements and a description of the exact position of connexiva in a natural condition cannot be provided. However, the most important structural details allow a diagnosis of this morph:
Colour similar as in male, but sternite 7 almost entirely yellow (except margin) and yellow base of metafemur slightly smaller.
Pilosity similar to that of male, but without hair tuft on protrochanter, with slender setae on profemur, and pubescence on sternites strongly reduced. Tergites with sparse pubescence; tergite 7 (Fig. 17) with long, posteriorly directed tuft of black setae, the longest setae reaching apical third of tergite 8. Apical tuft of setae on connexiva moderately developed. Tergite 8, proctiger, and gonocoxa 1 with short pilosity, only the latter with a few moderately long setae.
Structural characteristics. Head and thorax similar to those of male. Protrochanter without tubercle. Metafemur more slender than in male, on flexor side with distal row consisting of 6 teeth. Metatibia without teeth on flexor side. Abdomen strongly modified. Connexiva without any swellings. The narrow posterior tergites suggest that the connexival margins are strongly convergent posteriorly in dorsal aspect. Tergites 1–3 convex, 4–8 flat; tergite 7 (Fig. 17) narrow, almost parallel-sided (weakly narrowed posteriorly), about 1.5 times as long as wide at base; tergite 8 (Fig. 17) roundish, about as wide as long and about one fourth wider than base of tergite 7. Posterior corner of sternite 7 (Fig. 14) only slightly acute (almost rectangular) and weakly protruded.
Macropterous morphs. Unknown.
Comparative notes. Rhagovelia kalalaoensis sp. nov. is a member of the R. tesari group. It is very similar to R. aquacola Polhemus & Andersen, 2015, but the new species is much smaller and its legs are darker. For direct comparison we used apterous specimens of R. aquacola originating from the type area deposited in the Natural History Museum Vienna. The two species share the armature of the legs, especially the characteristic hairy tubercle on the protrochanter of males (Fig. 6), and the long, posteriorly directed pilosity at the hind margin of tergite 7 of females (Figs 17, 18). The paramere shapes are identical. The main structural difference is found in the apterous female: in R. kalalaoensis sp. nov. the connexiva are slender all over their length (with strong swelling on segments 4 and 5 in R. aquacola), tergite 7 is narrower than tergite 8 (subequal in R. aquacola; comp. Figs 17 and 18), and the connexival corner of sternite 7 is less protruded in lateral aspect (comp. Figs 14 and 16). Using the key by PƟΓΗΕΜUඌ & AΝĐΕRඌΕΝ (2015), R. kalalaoensis sp. nov. keys out with R. brincki Polhemus & Andersen, 2015 because of its small body size, but strongly differs from it by the paramere shape and other aforementioned characters.
Etymology. Named after the type locality, the Forêt de Kalalao; adjective.
description: Published as part of Zettel, Herbert & Laciny, Alice, 2020, Rhagovelia species from Nosy Boraha east of Madagascar (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Veliidae), pp. 419-425 in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 60 (2) on pages 422-423, DOI: 10.37520/aemnp.2020.26, http://zenodo.org/record/4489332