Paraphysoderes Villiers 1962
Creators: name: Hwang, Wei Song
name: Weirauch, Christiane
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2017
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Reduviidae
Paraphysoderes

description: Paraphysoderes Villiers, 1962
Figs 3, 8–9, 13–14; Appendix
Diagnosis
This genus is recognized among other genera of Physoderinae by its small size (6.30–7.09 mm), brown to dark brown coloration, the scape surpassing the apex of the clypeus and being thicker than the remaining antennal segments, the obsolete antero-lateral pronotal projection, the rounded lateral margins of the anterior pronotal lobe, the anterior pronotal lobe being level with the posterior lobe, the acute scutellar spine, and the fore tibia bearing a few prominent processes with sharp, stout, setae. It is most similar to Physoderoides Miller (1955a), but is distinguished by the body size, head shape, the maxillary plate not being raised and the lack of antero-lateral pronotal projections.
Type species
Paraphysoderes crassa Villiers, 1962, by original designation.
Redescription
Male
BODY LENGTH. Small, total length 6.30–7.09 mm.
COLORATION (Fig. 13; Paraphysoderes popeye sp. nov.). Yellow-brown to dark brown. Head, pronotum, legs, corium of similar coloration, legs with uniform color, no annulation pattern, connexivum sometimes uniformly colored.
VESTITURE. Sparsely setose with tuberculated, curved, short, setae. Surface of anterior pronotal lobe smooth or tuberculated.
HEAD. Short conical; maxillary plate rounded apically; scape surpassing apex of clypeus; eye relatively large, hemispherical or projecting in dorsal view, not reaching ventral margin of head in lateral view; ocelli present; height of anteocular lobe level or shorter than postocular lobe.
THORAX. Antero-lateral paired projections obsolete; ridges of anterior pronotal lobe almost obsolete; median pronotal depression contiguous with transverse sulcus; paramedian carina weakly defined; length of anterior pronotal lobe variable, narrower than posterior lobe in both sexes, level with posterior lobe in lateral view; parascutellar lobe semicircular or quadrant-shaped, skewed towards median; scutellum triangular, scutellar process long, apex variable; mesosternite with median, irregular, tuberculated protrusion between fore and mid coxae.
HEMELYTRON. Macropterous, not attaining tip of abdomen.
LEGS. Fore femur distinctly incrassate, fore tibia bearing a few prominent processes with sharp, stout setae; tarsi three-segmented.
ABDOMEN. Ovoid or elongate ovoid, with straight or rounded terminal margin; connexival margin smooth, posterior margin not elevated.
GENITALIA. Only examined for Pa. popeye sp. nov. (see species description below).
Female
Similar to males, but larger and with wider abdomen.
Ecology
No information is available for the Madagascan species, while Pa. popeye sp. nov. has been recorded on Pandanus (Pandanaceae).
Distribution
This genus has a disjunct distribution, with two species occurring in northeastern Madagascar and one species on the eastern edge of Papua New Guinea, on the Huon Peninsula.
Remarks
Based on the phylogenetic analysis, the new species Paraphysoderes popeye sp. nov. forms a monophyletic clade with Pa. peyrierasi and Pa. crassa. It shares the synapomorphies of the small body size and the fore tibia bearing a few prominent setigerous tubercles. Closer examination also revealed similarities in the shape of the head and pronotum, a similar acute scutellar process and the hemelytron not reaching the tip of the abdomen. This evidence led to classifying this new species as Paraphysoderes, even though this significantly expands the distribution range of this genus, which was previously restricted to Madagascar.
Key to species of Paraphysoderes
1. Fore femur longer than mid femur, surpassing apex of clypeus, scutellar process acute and tapered, Cu and M veins not parallel, converging basally (Fig. 14, black arrow), Pacific distribution ........................................................................................................... Pa. popeye sp. nov.
– Fore femur as long as or shorter than mid femur, not surpassing apex of clypeus, scutellar process subacute, Cu and M veins parallel, not converging (Fig. 3, grey arrow), restricted to Madagascar ........................................................................................................................................2
2. Body reddish-brown, scutellum apex and scutellar process straw-colored, connexivum uniformly reddish-brown ....................................................................................... Pa. peyrierasi Villiers, 1968
– Body brown, scutellum and scutellar process brown, anterior half of connexivum dark brown, posterior half light brown ............................................................................ Pa. crassa Villiers, 1962
description: Published as part of Hwang, Wei Song & Weirauch, Christiane, 2017, Uncovering hidden diversity: phylogeny and taxonomy of Physoderinae (Reduviidae, Heteroptera), with emphasis on Physoderes Westwood in the Oriental and Australasian regions, pp. 1-118 in European Journal of Taxonomy 341 on pages 61-64, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2017.341, http://zenodo.org/record/3832798