Calliphara GERMAR 1839
Creators: name: Gerry Cassis
name: Loren Vanags
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2006
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Scutelleridae
Calliphara

description: Calliphara GERMAR 1839 (Figs 19, 20, 21 a-c, 22, 23)
Calliphara GERMAR 1939: 122 (gen. nov.); HERRICH-SCHAEFFER 1839: 19, 20, 22, 58 (description); STÅL 1865: 33 (key); STÅL 1873: 16 (description); LETHIERRY & SEVERIN 1893: 23 (catalogue); SCHOUTEDEN 1904: 24, 31 (description); KIRKALDY 1909: 297 (catalogue); MCDONALD 1961: 183 (transferred to Sphaerocoraria); LYAL 1979 (revision); MCDONALD & CASSIS 1984: 561 (description); CASSIS & GROSS 2002: 587 (catalogue) Lamprophara STÅL 1865: 34 (gen. nov.); LYAL 1979: 154 (synonymy) Calliphara (Chrysophara) STÅL 1873: 17 (subgen. nov.); LYAL 1979: 154 (synonymy)
Type species: Calliphara: Cimex imperialis FABRICIUS 1775, subsequent designation, KIRKALDY 1909: xxxv; Lamprophara: Calliphara (Scutellera) bifasciata WHITE 1839, monotypy; Calliphara (Chrysophara): Tetyra excellens BURMEISTER 1834, subsequent designation KIRKALDY 1909: xxxv.
Diagnosis: Calliphara is recognised by the following combination of characters: glabrous; lateral margins of jugae deeply excavate (Fig. 20a), rounded in profile (Fig. 20b); AII(a) shortest segment; forewing tip extending beyond scutellum (Figs 19 a-d); proepisternum with short anterior keel (Fig. 20c); broad subreniform, raised peritreme; CAI divided (Figs 22c, d); CAII(L) prominent digitiform lobal sclerite, CAII(M) membraneous with bifid lobal sclerites (Figs 22c, d); vesica often with apical process distal to secondary gonopore (Figs 22c, d); and, spermatheca with short proximal fecundation canal; and, spermathecal reservoir large, oval.
Description: Body elongate to elongate-ovoid (Figs 19 a-d); Large species, males 13.00-19.00 mm, females 14.00-20.00 mm.
Colouration. Body iridescent colouration, either orange-brown, blue, green or black, often with patterned, contrasting markings (Figs 19 a-d).
Texture. Body impunctate to moderately punctate, with shallow punctures (Figs 19 a-d).
Vestiture. Body mostly glabrous.
Structure. Head: large, subtriangular, moderately declivent; strongly produced in front of eyes (Fig. 20a); lateral margins of jugae strongly excavate (Fig. 20a), rounded in profile (Fig. 20b); bucculae parallel-sided (Fig. 20c). Antennae: not greatly elongate; AII(a) often very short (Figs 20a, b); AII(b)-AIV flattened, roughly subequal in length, with AIV longest, and AIII a little longer than AII(b). Labium: reaching poste-rior margin of metasternum, LII longest segment, LIII and LIV roughly subequal. Pronotum: broadly trapezoidal (Figs 19 a-d); anterior margin weakly excavate; anterolateral margins rectilinear, strongly divergent, carinate in profile (Figs 19 a-d); posterolateral margins weakly convex (Figs 19 a-d); posterior margin weakly excavate to rectilinear (Figs 19 a-d). Scutellum: broadly U-shaped, strongly convex (Figs 19 a-d), base of exocorium, membrane tip and abdominal connexiva visible. Thoracic pleura: anterior margin of proepisternum moderately explanate (Fig. 20c); mesepimeron with evaporative areas; external efferent system of metathoracic glands well-developed; peritreme broad, sickle-shaped, shallowly sulcate medially, apex anteriorly directed (Figs 20c, d); evaporative areas extending beyond peritreme (Fig. 20d). Pregenital Abdomen: mostly posterolateral angles of connexiva acuminate. Male Genitalia: pygophore large, suboval, dorsal in orientation (Figs 20e, f, 22a), most often with dorsal and ventral patches of setae (Figs 20f, 22a); parameres with crown hooked, apex blunt (Fig. 22b); aedeagus: ductus seminis proximalis narrow, membraneous, tubelike (Figs 22c, d); ejaculatory apparatus with short, paired ventral conducting canal, weakly convoluted (Figs 22c, d); ejaculatory reservoir small, suboval; dorsal conducting canal not expanded (Figs 22c, d); vesica short, often with distal sclerotized process (Figs 22c, d); CAI divided post-thecal margin, either basally membraneous, CAI(V) with short conical lobal sclerite (Figs 22c, d) or uniformly sclerotised, and CAI(D) greatly enlarged, subrectilinear to arcuate, sclerotised process (Figs 22c, d); CAIII bifid, with outer arcuate, sclerotised process, and medial membraneous lobe, often with bifid lobal sclerite (Figs 22c, d). Female Terminalia: paratergites IX small, suboval; gonocoxae I subtriangular, outer surface flat, posterior margin weakly excavate; interlocking rami present. Spermatheca: proximal fecundation canal short; reservoir oval to barrel-shaped, with ribbed texture; distal fecundation canal with proximal and distal flanges; and, bulb oval.
Diversity and distribution: Calliphara comprises 15 species, five (dimidiata, excellens, placida, praslinia and regia) of which are divid-ed into subspecies. The genus occurs primarily east of Wallace’s Line in southeast Asia, with most species occurring in Indonesia, New Guinea and Australia. The genus occurs as far north as China (C. munda and C. nobilis) and extends through the east Melanesian Islands, and reaches most eastward to Samoa, with inclusions in Vanuatu, New Caledonia and Fiji. The genus is represented in Australia by six species, with only C. imperialis and the subspecies C. dimidiata cruenta, endemic. Calliphara nobilis is re-established as an Australian species, based on a collection from the Northern Territory. The remaining Australian species are widespread in the Australian zoogeographic region, known in both Indonesia and New Guinea, and in some instances also in the east Melanesian Is-lands and New Caledonia. Within Australia, most species of Calliphara are found in northern Queensland, with a few species extending as far south as northern New South Wales, and west to the Northern Territory. LIS & SKÓRKA (1996) transferred C. bipunctata to Notocalliphara LYAL.
Included species: C. bifasciata WHITE 1839 Fiji, Samoa C. billardierii (FABRICIUS 1803) Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands C. caesar (VOLLENHOVEN 1863) Indonesia, New Guinea C. dimidiata dimidiata (DALLAS 1851 New Guinea C. dimidiata cruenta STÅL 1873 Australia C. dimidiata fasciata (WALKER 1867) New Guinea C. excellens excellens (BURMEISTER 1834) Philippines, Indonesia C. excellens coelestis TAEUBER 1929 Philippines C. excellens speciosa (WHITE 1842) Philippines C. imperialis (FABRICIUS 1775) Australia C. lanceolata DISTANT 1903 Indonesia (Timor) C. munda STÅL 1866 China C. nobilis (LINNAEUS 1763) Australia, Burma, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan C. placida placida BREDDIN 1905 New Guinea C. placida scintillans BREDDIN 1905 New Guinea C. praslinia praslinia (GUÉRIN-MÉNEVILLE 1838) Australia, Indonesia, New Ireland, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu C. praslinia admiraltyensis KIRKALDY 1909 Admiralty Islands C. regalis (FABRICIUS 1775) Australia, Indonesia, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Solomon Islands C. regia regia (WESTWOOD 1837) Indonesia (Timor) C. regia allorensis LEHMANN 1920 Indonesia (Timor) C. regia timorensis LEHMANN 1920 Indonesia (Timor) C. solomonensis LYAL 1979 Solomon Islands C. vollenhoveni LYAL 1979 Bismarck Archipelago Species excluded from the Australian fauna: CASSIS & GROSS (2002) included two species of Calliphara, C. billardierrii and C. praslinia, in the Australian fauna. These are now considered to be erroneous records. The Australian records of Calliphara praslinia were based on misidentification of museum collections. In CASSIS & GROSS (2002) this species was recorded from the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. On re-examination of these collections, we have not found any specimens that belong to this species. A specimen identified as C. praslinia from the South Australian Museum has ‘N.T.’ as the label data; this however cannot confidently be regarded as a contraction for the ‘Northern Territory’. In addition, this specimen is more likely to be C. excellens. In addition, there are various collections of Calliphara from the Melanesian zoogeographic subregion, which have been identified as C. praslinia. These specimens superficially resemble C. praslinia in terms of the colouration patterns. However, an examination of the male genitalia, indicate that they are very similar to C. regalis.
CASSIS & GROSS (2002) recorded Calliphara billardierii as an Australian species, based on KIRKALDY’ s (1909) distributional descriptor of ‘Tropical Queensland’ for this species, but without reference to a precise locality. We have investigated all known collections of this species, and not found any specimens of C. billardierri, and therefore exclude it from the Australian biota.
Remarks: LYAL (1979) reviewed Calliphara, describing new taxa, establishing new synonymies, and detailing the male genitalia. He subdivided the genus into four informal species groups (C. excellens, C. praslinia, C. caesar and C. dimidiata) based on characters of the male genitalia, particularly the development of the conjunctival appendages, and length and shape of the vesica.
LYAL (1979) proposed that Calliphara was most closely related to Chrysocoris HAHN and Lampromicra, but without explicit morphological hypotheses. On external characters, Calliphara and Lampromicra closely resemble each other on the basis of the following characters: sinuate lateral margins of the jugae (cf. Figs 20a & 39a), explanate anterior margin of the proepisternum (cf. Figs 20c & 39c), mesepimeron with evaporative bodies (cf. Figs 20d & 39d), large metathoracic gland ostiole (cf. Figs 20d & 39d), subreniform peritreme (cf. Figs 20d & 39d), suboval male pygophore (cf. Figs 20f & 39f), dorsal margin of genital opening of male pygophore with broad setose patch (cf. Figs 20f & 39f), small suboval female paratergites IX, and angulate posteri-or margin of gonocoxae I.
Calliphara differs externally from Lampromicra by the larger body and very short second antennal segment (Figs 20a, b). The most significant differences between the two genera exist in the morphology of the ejaculatory apparatus and conjunctival appendages. Calliphara has the following attributes: simple male ejaculatory apparatus with simple and short ventral conducting canal (Fig. 22d), vesica with distal process (Fig. 22d), CAI with enlarged digitiform lobal sclerites (Figs 22c, d), CAII distally with bifid lobal sclerite, lateral branch of CAIII with long sclerotized, digitiform process (Figs 22c, d), and medial branch of CAIII with bifid lobal sclerite (Fig. 22c). We have not examined any specimens of Chrysocoris, but published descriptions of the male aedeagus (TSAI et al. 2004), indicate a closer relationship of this genus with Lampromicra than Calliphara, in that the ejaculatory apparatus has an elongate and highly convoluted ventral conducting canal.
description: Published as part of Gerry Cassis & Loren Vanags, 2006, Jewel Bugs of Australia (Insecta, Heteroptera, Scutelleridae), pp. 275-398 in Denisia 19 on pages 334-339, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12996779