Saica recurvata
Creators: name: María, Valentina Castro-Huertas
name: Melo, María Cecilia
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Reduviidae
Saica
Saica recurvata

description: Saica recurvata (Fabricius, 1803)
(Figs 3 I-L; 5F, N; 6D, K; 8)
Zelus recurvatus Fabricius, 1803: 286.
Saica rubella – Amyot & Serville 1843: 372 [taxonomy]. — Champion 1898: 177 [key and remarks].
Saica recurvata antillarum – McAtee & Malloch 1923: 251 [key, n. subspecies]. — Fracker & Bruner 1924: 163 [cit.]. — Villiers 1943b: 323 [syn.]. n. syn.
Saica recurvata – Stål 1868: 129 [taxonomy]. — Wygodzinsky 1947: 424 [dist.]. — Maldonado Capriles 1990: 479 [cat.]. — Gil-Santana & Marques 2005: 406 [cit.]
MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Lectotype (here designated). America Meridionali • 1 ♀; [no country given]; Dom. Smidt; NHMD; ZMUC00103076 (high-resolution images).
Paralectotype • 1 ♂; [no locality label]; NHMD; ZMUC00103077 (high-resolution images).
OTHER MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Panama • 1 ♀; Panama Province: Barro Colorado Is; 9°9’17”N, 79°50’53”W; 25-26.V.2017; Arizala, Bobadilla, Lopez, Ramirez; light trap; STRI; BCI154428 • 1 ♂; 17.VI.2015; M. Lucas; beating; STRI; BCI112651 • 1♂; Bobadilla, González, Osorio, Perez; light trap; 31.VIII.2011; STRI; BCI43621 • 1 ♀; 1.III.2011; Bobadilla, González, Osorio, Perez, light trap; STRI; BCI37066 • 1 ♂; Bobadilla, González, Osorio, Perez; light trap; 3.V.2011; STRI; BCI40792. Colombia • 1♀; Risaralda: Pueblo Rico; Montezuma Ecolodge; 5.9 km WbN de Pueblo Rico Bosque húmedo; 5.23016°N, 76.0836°E; 1336 m; 12-15.IX.2017; D. Forero; MPUJ _ENT; MPUJ _ ENT 0057282. French Guiana [Guyane] • 1 ♀; Mt des chevaux; 16.XII.2009; SEAG leg.; vitre; JMB • 1♂; Nourague; 19.II.2010; SEAG leg.; vitre; coll. JMB • 1 ♀; Patawa: PK 36; 26.II.1996; G. F.; coll. JMB • 1 ♀; Saul; 14.III.2011; SEAG rec; piège vire V1; coll. JMB. Bolivia • 1♂; Nigrillani: NOR-Yungas; 1.I.1950; Suilar; MACN • 1 ♀; Santa Cruz: Pcia. Ichilo; Buenavista; Tacú; 1.III.1951; Martínez; MLP.
DIAGNOSIS. — Body coloration pale reddish, with apex of pronotal spines usually reddish or brownish, veins of the forewing yellowish, and femora uniformly brownish (Fig. 3 I-L). Posterior margin of pygophore with a pair of blunt processes; posteromedial process deeply concaved medially, ramus longitudinally curved and projecting laterally, apically wide (Fig. 5F), and nearly vertical in lateral view with the apex slightly curved (Fig. 5N).
DISTRIBUTION. — Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, St. Vincent, Grenada, Colombia, Suriname, Brazil (Amazonas, Mato Grosso), and Bolivia (Champion 1898; McAtee & Malloch 1923; Villiers 1943b; Wygodzinsky 1947, 1949; Maldonado Capriles 1990; Gil-Santana & Marques 2005). French Guiana (first record)(Fig. 8).
REDESCRIPTION
Male
Macropterous. Measurements in Table 2.
Coloration (Fig. 3I-J). Head: Reddish to orange. Antenna brown. First and second labial segments reddish, third labial segment yellowish. Thorax: Reddish to orange, spines yellowish with apex pale reddish. Procoxal cavity reddish; procoxa and protrochanter reddish, profemur dark brown; protibia brown; protarsus pale brown; meso- and metalegs similar to proleg. Forewing yellowish, veins concolorous to orange. Abdomen: Reddish.
Structure. Thorax (Fig. 3J): Humeral angle spines three times longer than their base. Mesonotal spine straight, three times longer than its base. Protuberance of scutellum with the apex entire, slightly concave posteriorly, lateral margins not expanded in caudal view. Metanotal spine sinuous, nearly 0.5 times the length of mesonotal spine. Forewing with two closed cells, apex of outer discal cell extending as far as apex of pterostigma. Abdomen: Abdominal tergite 2 not conspicuously narrower than other abdominal tergites. Genitalia: Anterior region of genital opening (go) wide in dorsal view, posterior margin with a pair of blunt processes (Fig. 5F). Posteromedial process of pygophore (mpp) not elevated basally, but deeply concave medially. Ramus curved and projecting laterally, nearly three times longer than their base, apically wide and with a rounded and slightly projected apical process, nearly vertical in lateral view with apex slightly curved (Fig. 5N). Dorsal phallothecal sclerite (dps) nearly triangular, apex truncated, subapical lateral margin slightly projected laterally, lateral projection shorter than dps apex (Fig. 6D).
Female
Macropterous (Fig. 3 K-L). Similar to male in most respects.
Structure. Abdomen: Posterolateral angles of tergite 7 flat. Genitalia: Tergite 9 nearly quadrangular. Apex of the gonoplac entire, with the external margins angulated (Fig. 6K).
REMARKS
Champion (1898) suggested that S. recurvata is similar to S. fuscipes, but both species can be easily separated by their color patterns, unfortunately the genital morphology of S. fuscipes could not be studied.
McAtee & Malloch (1923) described the subspecies S. recurvata antillarum based on specimens from the West Indies; and only considering the variation of the length of thoracic spines (shorter in S. recurvata antillarum) for separating the subspecies. However, we observe that the length of thoracic spines is a variable character within the specific level in Saica, and without additional characters supporting this difference, it is unnecessary to keep the subspecies.
Fabricius (1803) described the species based on specimens from “America meridionalis”. Two specimens are considered as the syntype material, but only one is labeled as the “type”.Here, the designate the female bearing the “type” label as lectotype.
description: Published as part of María, Valentina Castro-Huertas & Melo, María Cecilia, 2024, Saica Amyot & Serville, 1843 (Reduviidae, Emesinae, Saicini): taxonomic revision and phylogenetic analysis with morphological characters, pp. 813-845 in Zoosystema 46 (32) on pages 829-830, DOI: 10.5252/zoosystema2024v46a32, http://zenodo.org/record/14532160