Enithares megalops Lansbury 1968
Creators: name: Polhemus, Dan A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Notonectidae
Enithares
Enithares megalops

description: Enithares megalops Lansbury
(Figs. 41, 42, 49, 66)
Enithares megalops Lansbury 1968: 405.
Material examined. INDONESIA, Irian Jaya Prov. [Papua Prov.], New Guinea: 1 male, NW New Guinea, Vogelkop, Fak Fak [Fakfak], 100–700 m., 3 June 1959, J. L. Gressitt (holotype, BPBM); 15 males, 14 females, swamp forest pond S. of Walio oil field, nr. Kasim, 7 m., 1°25′18′′S, 131°05′22′′E, water temp. 30° C., 29 Sep- tember 1991 CL 2620, D. A. Polhemus & J. T. Polhemus (BPBM); 1 male, pools in muddy lowland rain forest streambed, 28 km. NE of Kasim on pipeline road, 15 m., 1°15′17′′S, 131°14′11′′E, 2 October 1991, CL 2630, D. A. Polhemus & J. T. Polhemus (BPBM); 3 males, 4 females, Batuputih River nr. Krooy, 3 km. NW of Kaimana, 30 m., 3°38′32′′S, 133°44′55′′E, water temp. 26° C., 12 October 1991, CL 2639, D. A. Polhemus & J. T. Polhemus (USNM, BPBM).
Discussion. Enithares megalops is a relatively small-sized species within the genus, and adults are bichromatic, with both dark and pale forms present in both sexes (Figs. 41, 42). The specimens listed above were compared to the holotype of E. megalops from Fakfak, New Guinea, housed in the Bishop Museum. The genital capsule of the holotype, along with certain leg segments, is stored dry in a vial below the specimen, sealed with a deteriorating cork stopper. The capsule was carefully removed and examined under glycerin immersion. The shapes of the proctiger and the posterior lobe of the pygophore are still easily ascertained, but the LABP and aedeagus are not evident. These latter structures were evaluated by comparison to a specimen of E. megalops taken by the author at the Kopi oil camp, near the head of the Kikori River delta in southern Papua New Guinea, the genitalia of which are a close match for those of the holotype. Enithares megalops may be separated from E. paramegalops by its short, nearly globular male paramere, versus the longer, finger-like paramere present in the latter species (compare Figs. 49, 50). This difference is very evident once a sufficient number of specimens have been examined.
Ecological notes. The holotype of this species came from Fakfak, on the Bomberai Peninsula, with paratypes from “Bomberi′′ (the Bomberai Peninsula once again) and Ambon. New records herein extend the distribution into the adjacent southern Vogelkop Peninsula, the Lengguru Fold Belt of the “Bird’s Neck” in far western New Guinea, and to the island of Obi, in the northern Moluccas (Fig. 66). On New Guinea, this species has a distributional pattern similar to that of E. bakeri, being confined to the Vogelkop Peninsula, and occupying the Vogelkop Lowlands and Vogelkop Anticlines areas of freshwater endemism (Areas 4 and 6) as defined by D. Polhemus & Allen (2007).
description: Published as part of Polhemus, Dan A., 2020, Nine new species of Enithares (Heteroptera: Notonectidae) from New Guinea, with distributional notes on other species and an updated world checklist, pp. 132-182 in Zootaxa 4772 (1) on page 156, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4772.1.5, http://zenodo.org/record/3814079