Rhagovelia madli Zettel & Laciny 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zettel, Herbert
name: Laciny, Alice
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Veliidae
Rhagovelia
Rhagovelia madli

description: Rhagovelia madli sp. nov.
(Figs 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13)
Type material. HƟΓƟΤΥΡΕ (apterous ♁) and ΡΑRΑΤΥΡΕඌ (1 apterous ♁, 6 apterous ♀♀): Madagascar,Nosy Boraha:Forêt de Kalalao, 18.XI.1993, leg. M. Madl (all NHMW).
Description. Male (apterous). Measurements (holotype, paratype). Body length 2.66,\ 2.69; maximum body width (at metapleura) 1.06, 1.08. Head length 0.36, 0.38, width 0.75, 0.77; minimum eye distance 0.10, 0.12. Pronotum length 0.75, 0.73, width 0.97, 0.97. Lengths of antennomeres (holotype), I 0.53, II 0.36, III 0.42, IV 0.47. Lengths of leg segments (holotype): profemur 0.78, protibia 0.88, protarsus 0.01 + 0.02 + 0.20, mesofemur 1.44, mesotibia 1.19, mesotarsus 0.07 + 0.41 + 0.66, metafemur 1.09, metatibia 1.20, metatarsus 0.03 + 0.04 + 0.23.
Colour (Fig. 1). Trunk chiefly black. Pronotum anteriorly with transverse yellow stripe, medially interrupted by narrow blackish line. Tergite 6 with small yellowish brown spot, tergite 7 with large yellow spot. Sternites 3–6 with narrow brownish or yellowish brown lateral margins. Propleuron, mesopleuron, and all acetabula yellow. Venter bicoloured: mesosternum to sternite 6 black, other parts yellow (segment 8 slightly darker). Antenna black, basal third of antennomere 1 yellow. Legs chiefly black; all coxae, pro- and metatrochanter, basal third of profemur, and base of metafemur yellow; mesotrochanter black, with small yellow patch at base.
Pilosity. Body dorsally with short, grey, appressed pubescence; abdomen additionally with inconspicuous, dispersed, dark grey, subdecumbent, short setae; only head, sides of pronotum, and posterior margin of segment 8 with some long black setae. Protrochanter without conspicuous pilosity. Profemur (Fig. 5) on posterior face with basal row of three short spiny setae; posterior row of flexor side with short stout setae. Other black setae on legs normal, slender, of varying length.
Structures. Jugum not flattened, narrow, with few black spicula posteriorly. Proepisternum anteriorly without black spicula. Pronotum more than twice as long as head, covering mesonotum. Protrochanter (Fig. 5) without tubercle. Profemur (Fig. 5) with distinct concavity on extensor side. Metafemur (Fig. 7) moderately incrassate, ca. 3.5–3.6 times as long as wide, on flexor side with rich dentition: basal row consisting of 12–15 densely set short spines only weakly increasing in length distally, their distances mostly smaller than their length; posterodistal row consisting of 12–14 teeth strongly decreasing in size distally, the first one considerably longer than the second; anterodistal row consisting of 10–12 minute spines. Metatibia (Fig. 7) straight, on flexor side with fine tooth-like structures all over length, with very short apical spine. Pregenital segments of abdomen moderately slender. Tergites relatively narrow; tergites 1–5 matt, 6 with a medial shiny spot, 7 almost entirely shiny (except margins). In the holotype, fifth tergite 2.8 times as wide as long; seventh tergite 1.8 times as long as sixth and 1.0 times as long as wide. Sternites almost unmodified; sternite 7 posteriorly with very shallow semicircular depressed area; hind margin slightly concave in middle.
Genital segments small and weakly modified. Pygophore slender, subovate. Proctiger (Fig. 9) slender, basolateral lobes moderately protruding and posteriorly angled. Paramere (Fig. 11) small, curved, but almost parallel-sided over its length; apex hardly widened and evenly rounded.
Female (apterous). Measurements (n = 6). Body length 2.63–2.94; maximum body width (at metapleura) 1.13–1.20. Head length 0.36–0.42, width 0.75–0.81; minimum eye distance 0.10–0.13. Pronotum length 0.75–0.83, width 1.03–1.14.
Colour (Fig. 2) of head, thorax and appendages as in male. Tergite 6 more often without, rarely with, very small yellowish dot; spot on tergite 7 very large, almost filling its entire surface. Laterotergites (2)3–6 with a continuous, posteriorly narrowed, yellow stripe over middle parts. Sternites with broad yellow submarginal stripe near connexiva 3–7; on sternite 7 strongly narrowed and absent from connexival corner.
Pilosity of head and thorax similar to that of male, but strongly reduced on tergites 1–3, completely absent from tergites 4–6; tergite 7 with sparse pubescence and some longer black setae at hind margin; tergite 8 with sparse pubescence medially, but with stripes of comparatively long, black setae at sides. Laterotergites 2–6 with stripes of short, inconspicuous pilosity at lateral margins; laterotergite 7 with long, black, posteriorly directed pilosity all over surface. Proctiger with short pilosity; gonocoxa 1 dorsally with black pilosity, other areas only inconspicuously hirsute. Profemur with 3 setae at base of posterior face and the posterior row of flexor side longer and more slender when compared to male.
Structural characteristics. Head and thorax as in male. Mesofemur flattened. Metafemur more slender than that of male, ca. 4.1–4.4 times as long as wide, on flexor side with distal row consisting of 7–10 teeth. Metatibia without dentition on flexor side. Abdomen (Fig. 2) strongly modified. Connexiva convergent on segment 2–3, strongly convergent on segments 4–5, and subparallel on segments 6–7; sternites 3–7 narrowly visible in dorsal aspect of specimen. Connexiva on segments 4–7 slightly thicker than on segments 2–3, but without distinct swellings. Tergites 1–3 convex, 4–8 flat. Fifth tergite 1.9 times as wide as long; seventh tergite 1.6 times as long as sixth and 1.2 times as long as wide; tergite 6 without or with small shiny spot at middle; tergite 7 almost entirely shiny. Tergite 8 either directed posteriorly or ventroposteriorly. In lateral view (Fig. 13) posterior corner of sternite 7 blunt; ventral outline of gonocoxa 1 straight.
Macropterous morphs. Unknown.
Comparative notes. Rhagovelia madli sp. nov. is a member of the R. tesari group. Within this group it belongs to an assemblage of species (the R. ambra subgroup) characterized by spiny setae on the profemora of males (Fig. 5) and the flattened mesofemora of females (PƟΓΗΕΜUඌ & AΝĐΕRඌΕΝ 2015: key couplet 4). An approximate identification of the new species by the key of PƟΓΗΕΜUඌ & AΝĐΕRඌΕΝ 2015) already fails in couplet 5, because the characters are contradictory (yellow pronotal spots separated by a narrow black line, but ventral parts of thorax and abdomen partly yellow). Moreover, R. madli sp. nov. is distinctly smaller than any previously described species of the R. ambra subgroup.
Based on the structure of the female’s abdomen, R. madli sp. nov. appears closely related to R. ambra Polhemus & Andersen, 2015, a species endemic to the northernmost region of Madagascar. However, there are several characters separating these two species. For comparison, we used an apterous female of R. ambra from the type area, and the original description for the differences in males. In colouration R. madli sp. nov. (Figs 1, 2) differs from R. ambra by having the yellow pronotal spots separated by a black line (vs. confluent), and by sternites 2–6 being black except for the connexival margins (vs. yellow except for a black lateral stripe). Differences in apterous females are conspicuous: in R. madli sp. nov. the connexiva are almost parallel-sided over segments 6 and 7 in dorsal view (Fig. 7; vs. distinctly convex in R. ambra), the laterotergites 7 bear long pilosity all over their surface (vs. long pilosity only posteriorly present in R. ambra), the posterolateral connexival angle is bluntly angular in lateral aspect (vs. broadly rounded in R. ambra; comp. Figs 13 and 15), and the apex of gonocoxa 1 is lacking long black setae (present in R. ambra; comp. Figs 13 and 15). Males differ by the absence of a hairy tubercle on the protrochanter that is present in R. ambra, but not in R. madli sp. nov., and by the shape of the paramere, which is much shorter in R. ambra than in R. madli sp. nov. (comp. PƟΓΗΕΜUඌ & AΝĐΕRඌΕΝ 2015: Figs 61, 62).
Etymology. Dedicated to our colleague Michael Madl.
description: Published as part of Zettel, Herbert & Laciny, Alice, 2020, Rhagovelia species from Nosy Boraha east of Madagascar (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Veliidae), pp. 419-425 in Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 60 (2) on pages 420-422, DOI: 10.37520/aemnp.2020.26, http://zenodo.org/record/4489332