Saica rubripes Champion 1898
Creators: name: María, Valentina Castro-Huertas
name: Melo, María Cecilia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Reduviidae
Saica
Saica rubripes

description: Saica rubripes Champion, 1898
(Figs 4 A-D; 5G, O; 6E, L; 8)
Saica rubripes Champion, 1898: 177 — McAtee & Malloch 1923: 251 [key]. — Maldonado Capriles 1990: 479 [cat.]. — Swanson 2020: 978 [cit.]. — Castro-Huertas & Melo 2023: 6 [phylogenetic analyses].
MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Lectotype (here designed). Panama • Chiriqui: 1 ♂, 25-4000 ft, Champion; NHMUK013589071 / UCR_ENT00018427; BMNH; BMNH(E) 1688182 (Fig. 4 A, B). Paralectotypes. Panama • V. de Chiriqui: 1 ♂, 25-4000 ft, Champion; BMNH; NHMUK013589072 • 1 ♀; idem; 25-4000 ft, Champion; BMNH; NHMUK015105198 • 1 ♀; idem; 2-3000 ft, Champion; BMNH; NHMUK015105199. Colombia [Columbia] • 1 ♀, NHMUK015105197 (high-resolution images).
OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Panama • 1 ♂; Chorrera: PNAC; Altos de Campana; 865 m; 27-31.V.2018; J. A. Ramirez, A. Santos; light trap; STRI; BCI167423 • 1 ♂; 865 m; 27-31.V.2018; J. A. Ramirez, A. Santos; netting; STRI; RED00266 • 1 ♂; Panama Province: Barro Colorado; 9°9’17”N, 79°50’53”W; 30.IV.2015; M. Lucas; beating; MPUJ _ ENT; BCI111833 • 1 ♀; Veraguas prov.: Santa Fé; Cerro Mariposa; 8°30.735’N, 81°07.218’W; 800-1170 m; 30.V.2015; L. Sekerka and K. Stajerová igt.; individual collecting; NMPC. Bolivia • 1 ♀; Santa Cruz: Refugio Los Volcanes; Bermejo env.; 18°06’18”S, 63°35’5”W; 1-4.V.2012; O. Konvicka igt.; NMPC.
DIAGNOSIS. — Body coloration mostly reddish; posterolateral margin of pronotum reddish to slightly yellowish, spines yellowish; legs red to brown, except for protarsus pale brown; meso- and metalegs similar to proleg; forewing pale brown (Fig. 4 A-D); process of scutellum conspicuously concave posteriorly and deeply emarginated; posterior margin of pygophore with a pair of conspicuous tubercles (Fig. 5G); posteromedial process of pygophore nearly vertical in lateral view (Fig. 5O).
DISTRIBUTION. — Cuba, Panama, and Colombia (Champion 1898; McAtee & Malloch 1923; Maldonado Capriles 1990). First record for Bolivia (Fig. 8).
REDESCRIPTION
Male
Macropterous. Measurements in Table 2.
Coloration (Fig. 4A, B). Head: Red. Scape and pedicel dark brown, basi- and distiflagellomeres yellowish. First labial segment mostly red, base brown; second segment red; third segment yellowish. Thorax: Red to dark orange, posterolateral margin of pronotum reddish to slightly yellowish, spines yellowish. Proleg red, except for protarsus pale brown; meso- and metalegs similar to proleg. Forewing pale brown to yellowish, veins concolorous. Abdomen: Red, posteromedial process of pygophore yellowish.
Structure. Thorax (Fig. 4B): Humeral angle spines nearly two or three times longer than their base. Mesonotal spine straight, three times longer than its base. Protuberance of scutellum with apex entire, conspicuously concave posteriorly, lateral margins conspicuously expanded in caudal view. Metanotal spine straight, nearly 0.2 times the length of mesonotal spine. Forewing with two closed cells, apex of outer discal cell extending as far as apex of pterostigma. Abdomen: Abdominal tergite 2 not conspicuously narrower than posterior segments. Genitalia: Anterior region of genital opening (go) of pygophore narrow in dorsal view, posterior margin of ramus with a pair of pointed processes (Fig. 5G). Posteromedial process of pygophore (mpp) elevated basally and deeply concaved medially. Ramus curved and projecting laterally, nearly three times longer than its base, apically narrowed with an acute and projected apical process (Fig. 5G), nearly vertical in lateral view (Fig. 5O). Dorsal phallothecal sclerite (dps) nearly triangular with apex truncated, subapical lateral margin laterally projected, lateral projection shorter than dps apex (Fig. 6E).
Female
Macropterous (Fig. 4 C, D). Similar to male in most respects.
Structure. Abdomen: Posterolateral angles of tergite 7 flat. Genitalia: Tergite 9 nearly quadrangular. Apex of gonoplac entire, with external margins rounded (Fig. 5L).
REMARKS
Champion (1898) suggested that S. rubripes could be related to S. recurvata, but the coloration pattern, and the thoracic spines structure, particularly the scutellum process allow for separating them. In addition, Champion (1898) observed differences in the arrangement of the setae in the profemur between S. recurvata and S. rubripes, but after examining a series of specimens, we do not find them.
The species was described by Champion based on seven specimens from Panama and Colombia, including males and females. Only five syntype specimens are deposited in the BMNH collection; here we designate a male from Panama as lectotype.
description: Published as part of María, Valentina Castro-Huertas & Melo, María Cecilia, 2024, Saica Amyot & Serville, 1843 (Reduviidae, Emesinae, Saicini): taxonomic revision and phylogenetic analysis with morphological characters, pp. 813-845 in Zoosystema 46 (32) on page 830, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2024v46a32, http://zenodo.org/record/14532160