Rhagovelia nuqui Molano & Morales & Moreira 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Molano, Fredy
name: Morales, Irina
name: Moreira, Felipe Ferraz Figueiredo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Veliidae
Rhagovelia
Rhagovelia nuqui

description: Rhagovelia nuqui sp. nov.
(Figs. 1a; 2a, c, e, g; 3a; 4; 5)
Type material examined. HOLOTYPE apterous ♂ (UPTC-MHN-ART-0036): ‘ Colombia \ Chocó \ municipio de Nuquí \ quebrada La Abuela \ 9.VII.2015 \ Col: F. Molano’. PARATYPE apterous ♀ (UPTC-MHN-ART-0030): same data as holotype.
Additional material examined. 1♂ 1♀ apterous (UPTC): ‘ Colombia \ Chocó \ Bahía Solano \ Parque Nacional Natural Utría \ 0 msnm \ Manglar \ 5.XI. 2016 \ Col. F. Molano’. 1♂ apterous (UPTC): ‘ Colombia \ Chocó \ Nuquí \ Majagualito, entre Jovi y Coqui, Sector La Playa \ 21.X. 2017 \ Col. F. Molano & I. Morales’. 3 ♂ 3♀ apterous (UPTC): ‘ Colombia \ Chocó \ Nuquí \ Quebrada Jovi con La Chantadura \ 21.X. 2017 \ Col. F. Molano & I. Morales’. 8 ♂ 8♀ apterous (UPTC): ‘ Colombia \ Chocó \ Nuquí \ Pangui, Río Pangui, Sitio 19 \ 23.X. 2017 \ Col. F. Molano & I. Morales’. 3 ♂ 3♀ apterous (UPTC): ‘ Colombia \ Chocó \ Nuquí \ Pangui, Quebrada Chigüi, Sitio 18 \ 23.X. 2017 \ Col. F. Molano & I. Morales’. 2 ♂ 2♀ apterous (UPTC): ‘ Colombia \ Chocó \ Nuquí \ Muelle, La Poza, Coquí, Sitio 4 \ 14.X. 2017 \ Col. F. Molano & I. Morales’. 16♂ 13♀ apterous (UPTC): ‘ Colombia \ Chocó \ Nuquí \ Termales, Quebrada Terco, Sitio 12 \ 22.X. 2017 \ Col. F. Molano & I. Morales’.
Apterous male (Fig. 1a). Color. Body dark brown to black; dorsum centrally covered by short silvery setae. Antenna brown with base of antennomere I light yellow. Pronotum brown with a central rectangular orange spot occupying half of its width. Coxae and trochanters light yellow. Fore femur yellow from base to middle, distal half brown; middle femur brown, lighter at apex; hind femur dark brown with yellowish brown stripe on dorsum and venter, apex brown, tibia and tarsus dark brown in all legs. Abdominal terga and sterna dark brown.
Structure. Head short, shining black at insertion of trichobothria and a triangle formed by minute dots on vertex, with long setae along mesal margins of eyes. Two ocular setae present. Antennomere I with five long robust setae (Fig. 2a); II with long robust setae at middle. Pronotum short (Fig. 2g), covered by long dark setae. Mesonotum hexagonal, slightly convex at center. Metanotum short, with posterior margin straight, lateral margins with shining punctations anteriorly. Legs covered by robust setae, fore tibia strongly curved (Fig. 2c), hind femur with a row of 19 spines on posterior surface, composed of five small spines, followed by one long spine, and 13 short spines decreasing towards femoral apex (Fig. 2e). Abdomen covered by golden and silvery setae; anterior margin of mediotergite I with shining punctations; mediotergites I–VI subequal in length (each 0.16), VII longer (0.24). Abdominal laterotergites slightly elevated, with rounded posterior corner. Paramere curved at middle, with apex rounded (Fig. 3a), covered by abundant setae on internal margin.
Measurements. BL 2.44; HL 0.33; HW 0.29; ANT I 0.56, ANT II O.33, ANT III 0.46, ANT IV 0.42; EYE 0.23; PL 0.16; PW 0.82; FORELEG: FEM 0.79, TIB 0.85, TAR I 0.03, TAR II 0.16; MIDLEG: FEM 1.28, TIB 1.22, TAR I 0.36, TAR II 0.36; HINDLEG: FEM 0.95, TIB 1.38, TAR I 0.03, TAR II 0.29.
Apterous female. Similar to apterous male in structure and color, except with mesonotum concave, metanotum with minute shining punctations, fore femur darker apically, hind femur with eight spines on posterior surface, and abdominal sternites I–IV and VII–VIII with orange spots centrally.
Measurements. BL 3.20; HL 0.46; HW 0.39; ANT I 0.79, ANT II 0.42, ANT III 0.59, ANT IV 0.49; EYE 0.26; PL 0.19; PW 0.99; FORELEG: FEM 0.99, TIB 0.99, TAR I 0.03, TAR II 0.29; MIDLEG: FEM 1.51, TIB 1.41, TAR I 0.69, TAR II 0.66; HINDLEG: FEM 1.22, TIB 1.71, TAR I 0.03, TAR II 0.46.
Etymology. This species is named after the town of Nuquí, where the type series was collected.
Geographic distribution. Known only from Chocó Department, Pacific Region of Colombia (Fig. 4).
Comments. Rhagovelia nuqui sp. nov. differs from other species of the salina group by the following combination of characters: body length about 2.40 mm in the male and 3.20 mm in the female, posterior surface of the male hind femur with a decreasing row of 19 spines (Fig. 2e), and shape of the paramere (Fig. 3a). It may be distinguished from the other salina group species occurring in Colombia using the key presented below. This new species was collected in freshwater with marine influence at high tide and in mangroves with moderate current, abundant surrounding vegetation, sandy bottom and numerous shaded areas (Fig. 5).
description: Published as part of Molano, Fredy, Morales, Irina & Moreira, Felipe Ferraz Figueiredo, 2018, Two new species and key to the salina group of the genus Rhagovelia Mayr, 1865 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Veliidae) from Colombia, pp. 305-314 in Zootaxa 4457 (2) on pages 306-307, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4457.2.6, http://zenodo.org/record/1457778