Valdasus schoenherri Stal 1860
Creators: name: Wolski, Andrzej
name: Chérot, Frédéric
name: Carpintero, Diego Leonardo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Valdasus
Valdasus schoenherri

description: Valdasus schoenherri Stål, 1860
(Figures 6, 10, 16, 33, 65, 66, 69, 70)
Valdasus schönherri Stål, 1860: 56 (as new species). Valdasus schoenherri: Walker, 1873: 166 (catalog), Atkinson, 1890: 48 (catalog). Cylapus schönherri: Poppius, 1909: 43 (list), Reuter, 1913: 57 (redescription, DV). Cylapus schoenherri: Kirkaldy, 1906: 134 (catalog), Bergroth, 1920: 71 (list), 1922b 1: 20 (list). Valdasus schonerri (sic!): Carvalho, 1952: 50. Cylapus (Cylapus) schoenherri: Carvalho, 1957: 30 (catalog). Valdasus schoenherri: Schuh, 1995: 38 (catalog), Gorczyca, 2006: 20 (catalog).
Examined specimen. 1♀: Corupa, Hansa Humbolt, Santa Catarina, Brazil, xii.1945; Maller A. Coll., Frank Johnson Donor (AMNH).
Additional examined specimen: 1♀, Argentina, Misiones, Victoria (MACN).
Diagnosis. Recognized by the following combination of characters: body relatively large and wide (total length more than 8.0 mm); antennal segment I blackish (Fig. 10, 16); segment II entirely dark brown, except for narrow annulation basally (Figs. 6, 10); mesepimeron punctate (Fig. 33); bursa copulatrix trapezoidal with sclerotized ring very narrow encircling bursa copulatrix, its posterior inner portions connected by broad sclerite (s) (Figs 65, 66).
Redescription [between parentheses, character states observed on female from Argentina we attribute to V. schoenherri, the figs always refer to Brazilian specimen]. Female. Measurements. Body. Total length in dorsal view (vertex apex to membrane apex): 8.3 (8.0), total width hemelytra median: 3.2 (2.8). Head. Vertex width in dorsal view: 0.5 (0.5), head width across eyes in dorsal view: 1.3 (1.3). Antenna. Length segment: I 0.8, II 2.5, III 2.8, IV 3.2 (antennal segments missing). Labium. Length segment: I 0.8, II 1.1, III 1.1, IV 0.4 (labial segments missing). Pronotum. Length (including collar): 1.2 (1.2), posterior width (between humeral angles): 2.9 (2.7). Scutellum. Length (including mesoscutum): 1.3 (1.3), anterior width: 1.7 (1.8). Cuneus. Length: 1.3 (1.2), width: 0.7 (0.8).
1 Gorczyca (2006: 20) incorrectly refers to Bergroth (1922a) rather than Bergroth (1922b) for this list.
COLORATION. Head. Vertex dark brown anteriorly, posteriorly yellow, tinged with brown (to pale yellowish); eye pedicel yellow, tinged with brown (pedicel with a reddish outer line descending from eye to buccula); frons largely dark brown to black, yellow basally (frons with a characteristic dark “u” pattern in front of the anterior line of the eyes); clypeus, mandibular and maxillary plates and buccula dark brown (buccula pale yellowish); gula yellow; first antennal segment blackish; segments II-IV dark brown, second segment with narrow, yellow annulation basally; labium dark brown (Figs 6, 10, 16). Thorax. Pronotum. Uniformly dark brown (blackish). Mesoscutum and scutellum. Dark brown (blackish); scutellum with small, yellow patch apically. Thoracic pleura. Dark brown; metepisternum blackish; upraised part of evaporative area of metepisternum and peritreme dark yellow (pale yellow). Hemelytron. Mostly dark brown; apex of clavus, outer angle of exocorium and base of cuneus narrowly yellow (clavus blackish; corium and embolium dark brown, a little paler towards its base; outer angle of exocorium and embolium and 2/3 basal of cuneus pale yellow). Legs. Coxae dark brown; meso- and metacoxae weakly tinged with yellow apically; remaining segments of fore leg dark brown; middle and hind legs missing (Figs 6, 10, 33).
Abdomen. Dark brown (shiny reddish-brown). TEXTURE, AND VESTITURE. Head. Covered with long, erect white setae (idem); antennal segment I shiny, covered with several fine, erect setae; segment II covered with fine, relatively dense, semi recumbent setae (Figs 6, 10, 16). Thorax. Pronotum. Collar sparsely covered with fine, erect setae; calli impunctate (idem). Thoracic pleura. Mesepisternum weakly rugose dorsally and smooth, shiny on ventral surface (idem); mesepimeron rugopunctate (idem); metepisternum widely rugose, with shiny area posteriorly (idem). Legs. Foreleg shiny, covered with moderately dense, semi recumbent setae; meso- and metacoxae covered with long, erect setae (Figs 6, 10, 16, 33). Abdomen. Covered with dense, recumbent setae (idem). STRUCTURE.
Head. Antennal segment I cylindrical, long, longer than vertex width; segment II cylindrical, only weakly thicker than segment I; labium reaching metacoxae (Figs 6, 16, 33). Thorax. Pronotum. Calli short (idem); posterior margin weakly sinuate (versus not sinuate), its medial portion weakly convex (idem). Scutellum. Flat (relatively prominent in lateral view). Abdomen. Covered with dense, recumbent setae. Genitalia. Bursa copulatrix trapezoidal; sclerotized ring very narrow encircling bursa copulatrix, its posterior portions connected by narrow sclerite (s); lateral oviduct straight, long, protruding beyond lateral margin of bursa copulatrix; sclerotization of ventral wall relatively broad (sv) (Figs 65, 66).
Biology. Unknown.
Distribution. Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina), Argentina (Misiones).
Discussion. The type species V. schoenherri is easily recognized by its relatively large size (total length about 8 mm, total width about 3 mm). The female specimen mentioned from Argentina (Misiones) by Carpintero et al. (2006) seems closer of V. schoenherri redefined in the present work than of the true V. bolivianus even if it differs from V. schoenherri by head coloration. We tentatively classify it in this later species. Additional specimens of V. bolivianus and V. schoenherri would be necessary to clarify the diagnoses of both species and to correctly interpret the minor differences between Argentinian and Brazilian specimens of V. schoenherri (head coloration, shape of pronotal callosities and elevation of scutellum). Presence of the true V. bolivianus in Argentina remains to be confirmed.
description: Published as part of Wolski, Andrzej, Chérot, Frédéric & Carpintero, Diego Leonardo, 2020, Review of the genus Valdasus Stål, 1860 (Heteroptera, Miridae, Cylapinae), with descriptions of four new species from Brazil, Ecuador and French Guiana, pp. 187-206 in Zootaxa 4869 (2) on pages 202-204, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4869.2.2, http://zenodo.org/record/4418535