Mesoveliidae Douglas & Scott 1867
Creators: name: Watanabe, Kohei
name: Nakajima, Jun
name: Hayashi, Masakazu
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Mesoveliidae

description: Key to the species of Mesoveliidae from Japan
The key is applicable to the apterous form and is based on the studies conducted by Esaki (1929), Kanyukova (1988), Polhemus & Polhemus (2000), Damgaard et al. (2012), and Hayashi & Miyamoto (2018). As the following comments indicate, Japanese populations of some species require further study:
Previous Speovelia maritima records should be re-examined because some cases, such as Hayashi (2007) and Wada & Yoshimatsu (2023), N. hikarui sp. nov. may have been confused with S. maritima. Japanese Mesovelia vittigera and M. egorovi records also need to be reviewed taxonomically (Hayashi et al. 2016): Japanese specimens of M. vittigera differ slightly from those from Europe (see Berchi et al. 2016: figs. 30−31) in the female sternum VIII, with two tubercles at the posterior margin (see Hayashi & Miyamoto 2018: fig. 24D).
Molecular studies suggest the taxonomic status of M. horvathi and M. vittigera in Japan is uncertain (Damgaard et al. 2012). The synonymy of Mesovelia japonica Miyamoto, 1964 and M. horvathi by Polhemus & Polhemus (2000) is indicated to be doubtful (Damgaard et al. 2012). DNA sequence data deposited by Muraji & Tachikawa (2000) in GenBank indicated that M. vittigera has a strong affinity with M. furcata Mulsant and Rey, 1852 (Damgaard et al. 2012).
1. Head very long, length more than 1.8 times longer than width; color royal-orange; eyes small, with dense hairs; labium reached middle of abdomen, antennae and femur without spines...... Nagisavelia hikarui Watanabe, Nakajima et Hayashi, sp. nov.
- Head moderate to long, length less than 1.5 times longer than width; color sordid-brown or yellow-brown to green; eyes reduce or normal, with only two ocular setae; labium reached meso- or metacoxal; antennae and femur with spines............. 2
2. Head long, length about 1.5 times as long as width; color sordid brown; posterior margin of pronotum arched to posterior; mesonotum shorter than pronotum; male abdominal tergum VIII middle of posterior margin slightly depressed (Figs. 25–30)........................................................................... Speovelia maritima Esaki, 1929
- Head moderate to long, length subequal or shorter than width; color yellow-brown to green; posterior margin of pronotum nearly straight; mesonotum longer than pronotum; male abdominal tergum VIII middle of posterior margin not depressed.. 3
3. Middle femur without row of spines on posterior margin.......................... Mesovelia horvathi Lundblad, 1933
- Middle femur with row of spines on posterior margin......................................................... 4
4. Posterior margin of hind femur with 1−7 spines; male sternum VIII with two groups of spines........................ 5
- Posterior margin of hind femur without spines; male sternum VIII middle with one group of spines.................... 6
5. Posterior margin of hind femur with 1−4 spines; female sternum VIII with two slender long spines at posterior margin................................................................................... M. thermalis Horváth, 1915
- Posterior margin of hind femur with 3−7 spines; female sternum VIII without spine at posterior margin.............................................................................................. M. miyamotoi Kerzhner, 1977
6. Female sternum VIII without processes (Japanese specimens with two tubercles)............... M. vittigera Horváth, 1895
- Female sternum VIII with two spines at posterior margin.............................. M. egorovi Kanyukova, 1981
description: Published as part of Watanabe, Kohei, Nakajima, Jun & Hayashi, Masakazu, 2023, Nagisavelia hikarui, a new genus and species of Mesoveliinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Mesoveliidae) inhabiting shingle beaches in Japan, pp. 468-478 in Zootaxa 5353 (5) on page 477, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5353.5.5, http://zenodo.org/record/10010393