Rhagovelia papuensis Lundblad 1936
Creators: name: Polhemus, Dan A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Veliidae
Rhagovelia
Rhagovelia papuensis

description: Rhagovelia papuensis group   
 The R. papuensis group was originally proposed by J. Polhemus & D. Polhemus (1988) to hold R. papuensis from New Guinea, as well as an additional 20 species from Australia, the Philippines, the Moluccas, Celebes, Borneo, Formosa, Japan, India and Ceylon. Many additional species were subsequently added from the Philippines (Zettel 1994, 1995, 1996, 2003, 2007), Celebes (Nieser & Chen 1993; Nieser et al. 1997), Vietnam (Zettel & Tran 2004) and the Raja Ampat Islands (D. Polhemus & J. Polhemus 2011). Perhaps ironically, the R. papuensis group, although widespread and diverse in the central Malay Archipelago, is one of the less speciose groups in the New Guinea region, consisting of a limited suite of lowland species that often exhibit rather broad geographic ranges.   
 The R.papuensis group is characterized by relatively small size compared to the members of the R.novacaledonica group; the long pronotum in wingless forms that covers nearly all of the mesonotum, generally leaving only a narrow portion visible posteromedially (Figs. 202, 220, 221, 227, 228, 234, 235, 241, 242, 247, 248, 253, 254, 260, 261, 267, 268, 274, 275, 281, 282, 283, 290, 291); the small, often bean-shaped male paramere with setiferation on the distal half (Figs. 224, 231, 237, 245, 251, 257, 264, 271, 278, 287, 293); the male proctiger with angular basolateral lobes of moderate size, and a distal cone also of moderate size with a rounded apex, and bearing large, rounded distolateral lobes that are often more prominent than the basolateral lobes (Figs. 225, 232, 238, 246, 252, 258, 265, 272, 279, 288, 294); paired dorsal abdominal carinae in winged forms that are relatively long, reaching to the posterior margin of abdominal tergite III; and the forewing bearing 3 or 4 closed cells, with 1 or 2 posterior cells of variable size and extending into the distal half of the wing (Figs. 12, 108).   
 In the EPCT the members of this group are generally inhabitats of the lower midreaches of rocky streams at elevations below 500 m (Figs. 40, 47, 187, 226, 233, 239, 259, 273, 280, 289). Some of these taxa, such as R. loriae, have broad distributions in the lowlands of New Guinea. This is also the only Rhagovelia species group present in the Solomon Islands.   
 The male paramere shape does not show a large degree of interspecific variation in the R. papuensis group, and is of only moderate utility for species recognition. By contrast, the structure of the proctiger, in particular the shape and degree of development of the distolateral lobes, often provides good characters for species discrimination.   
 Within the species of the R. papuensis group occurring on the EPCT, four distinct subgroups can be recognized. The species included in each of these subgroups are as follows:   
 Rhagovelia yela subgroup: R. yela n. sp., R. tagula n. sp. and R. bwagabwaga n. sp.   
 Rhagovelia priori subgroup: R. priori Lansbury, R. suloga n. sp. and R. dinga n. sp.   
 Rhagovelia transbintuni subgroup: R. ivimkana n. sp., and the extralimital R. transbintuni D. Polhemus & J.   
Polhemus from the Vogelkop Peninsula and the Raja Ampat Islands.
description: Published as part of Polhemus, Dan A., 2024, Thirty-four new species of Rhagovelia (Heteroptera: Veliidae) from the East Papua Composite Terrane, far eastern New Guinea, pp. 1-214 in Zootaxa 5400 (1) on page 127, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5400.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/10659703