Cletus similis Blote
Creators: name: Brailovsky, Harry
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Coreidae
Cletus
Cletus similis

description: Cletus similis Blöte
(Figs. 9, 13, 14, 20, 24)
Cletus similis Blöte, 1935: 207 –208.
Redescription. Male. Head length 1.00; width across eyes 1.26; interocular space 0.76; interocellar space 0.37; preocular distance 0.64; antennal segment length I, 1.32, II, 1.60, III, 1.46, IV 0.92; pronotum length 1.64; width across humeral angles 2.80; scutellar length 1.00; width 1.12; maximum width of abdomen 2.76; total body length 7.45. Dorsal coloration.— Head including antennal segments I to IV pale yellow with black narrow longitudinal stripe behind eyes; pronotum pale yellow with two black lateral discoidal spots at anterior half; scutellum pale yellow with two pale brown discoidal spots on base; clavus and corium pale yellow with punctures slightly darker; anterior half of costal margin of corium pale yellowish white; apical edge of corium with clearly whitish to ivory discoidal spot; apical angle of corium suffused with pale reddish marks; hemelytral membrane translucent, veins, and basal angle dark yellow; connexival segment III pale yellow, IV to VII pale yellow suffused with pale brown marks; dorsal abdominal segments pale yellow, laterally yellowish orange. Ventral coloration.— Venter, rostral segments, legs, genital capsule pale yellow, scattered with pink marks, following areas black to dark brown; apex of rostral segment IV, small discoidal spot on meso— and metapleura, large black discoidal spot on abdominal sternite II, six rows of small to tiny discoidal spots on abdominal sterna III to VII. Structure.— Head.— Antennal segment I uniformly robust, wider, granulate, segments II and III slender, cylindrical, IV subclavate; segment II>III>I>IV; antenniferous tubercles widely separate, unarmed; rostrum reaching posterior border of metasternum (Figs. 13–14). Thorax.— Pronotum.— Humeral angle tapering into short subacute spine, directed outward; anterolateral borders crenate; outer third of posteroletaral borders crenate, inner third smooth (Fig. 9). Legs.— Femora and tibiae not coarsely punctate. Genital capsule.— Posteroventral edge with lateral angles straight, without expansions, mesial lobe wider, large, occupying almost entire space of capsule, apically rounded (Fig. 20).
Female. Head length 1.04; width across eyes 1.28; interocular space 0.76; interocellar space 0.33; preocular distance 0.64; antennal segment length I, 1.20, II, 1.44, III, 1.32, IV 0.92; pronotum length 1.64; width across humeral angles 2.80; scutellar length 0.96; width 1.16; maximum width of abdomen 2.92; total body length 7.05. Coloration similar to male. Connexival segments III to VI pale brown, anterior margin pale yellow, VII pale yellow with pale brown punctures, VIII and IX pale yellow; dorsal abdominal segments VIII and IX yellow, suffused with pale brown marks; genital plates yellow. Structure.— Genital plates: abdominal sternite VII with plica and fissura; plica reduced, occupying anterior border of sternite, concave; fissura covering 2/3 or more of total length of sternite; gonocoxae I wide, enlarged anteroposteriorly, in caudal view closed, in lateral view convex, entire; paratergite VIII triangular, spiracle visible; paratergite IX broad, squarish, shorter than gonocoxae I.
Variation. 1. Head dorsally pale yellow with two black longitudinal stripes lateral to middle line. 2. Ocellar tubercle black. 3. Antennal segments I to III pale yellow, IV dark hazel brown. 4. Pronotal disk pale yellow with two black longitudinal stripes lateral to middle line and reaching humeral third. 5. Propleuron with small black discoidal spot. 6. Metapleuron with or without a black discoidal spot. 7. Femora with reddish brown granules. 8. Claval and corial veins suffused with pink marks. 9. Apical margin of corium reddish. 10. Connexivum yellow with reddish brown punctures. 11. Dorsal abdominal segments II to V yellowish orange, laterally dark brown. 12. Ventral surface heavy suffused with pink marks.13. Coxae with one or two black discoidal spots.
Type locality. AUSTRALIA: New South Wales. (RMNH, examined).
Distribution. AUSTRALIA: New South Wales, Murray-Darling basin, Barraba, Deniliquin, and Mullaley; Northern Territory, N coastal, W Plateau, Alice Springs, Darwin, and Yuendumu; Queensland, Murray- Darling basin, N Gulf, NE coastal, Cairns, Cunnamulla, Mitchell, Normanton, and Rockhampton; Southern Australia, Murray-Darling basin, S. Gulfs, W Plateau, Arden Vale, and Coongie Lakes; Victoria, SE coastal; Western Australia, N coastal, W Plateau, Gill Pinnacle; Victoria, SE coastal, Bamawn. INDONESIA. (Blőte 1935, and Cassis and Gross 2002).
Material examined. New records. AUSTRALIA: 1 male, S Queensland, Bunya Mt., 40 km E Dalby, 12-VIII-1972, M. Baehr (ZSMC); 2 males, 3 females, Queensland, Vandyke, 23-XI-1971, O. G. Roche (BMNH); 2 males, 1 female, Queensland, Townsville, June 1903, F. O. Dodd (CAS), 9-I-1945, B. Malkin (USNM); 1 male, Queensland, Malanda, Mjoberg (without date) (NHRM); 2 females, Queensland, N Pine Dam, 20 km NW Brisbane, 8-XI-1989, L. B. and C. W. O’Brien (UNAM); 2 males, 1 female, Northern Territory, Alice Springs, 16–21-IX-1972, M. Baehr (ZSMC); 1 male, Northern Territory, 4 km W Katherine, 15- VIII-1996, R. Fricke (ZSMC); 3 males, 2 females, Northern Territory, Maggie Springs at Uluru National Park, 4-IV-1980, G. F. Hevel and J. A. Fortin (USNM); 2 males, Northern Territory, 4 m W of Coolibah, 15°34’S 130°54’E, 1–4-VII-1968, M. Mendum (ANIC); 2 males, Northern Territory, Cooper Ck, 19 km by S of Mt., Borradaile, 12°06’S 133°04’S, 10-XI-1972, 5 June 1973, R. L. Kitching, and D. H. Colless (ANIC); 1 female, NW New South Wales, Narrabri, 15-III-1960, M. Nikitir (ZSMC); 1 female,New South Wales, Casula, 19-I-1958, N. Nikitin (USNM); 1 male, Western Australia, Broome, 13-X-1962, E. S. Ross and D. Q. Cavagnaro (CAS); 1 female, Western Australia, Kimberley Res. Station, Wyndham, 4-XII1953, A. Szito DAWA); 1 female, Western Australia, Kununurra, 21-XII-1988, B. Wykstra (DAWA).
Comments. Cletus similis Blöte (1935) resembles C. minutus Blöte in its total body length being less than 8.25 mm, the antenniferous tubercles unarmed, the apical edge of corium with an ivory to whitish discoidal spot, and the anterior half of pronotal disk, as well as the mesopleuron, with a small black discoidal spot. C. similis differs in that each antennal segment is conspicuously shorter (see measurements) and in having black to reddish brown spots on the head, the pronotal disk forming a wide stripe that usually reaches the base of the scutellum, and the humeral angles tapering into short subacute spines, directed outward (Fig. 9). In C. minutus the humeral angles are larger, acute, and also directed outward (Figs. 7, 9).
description: Published as part of Brailovsky, Harry, 2007, A revision of the tribe Gonocerini from Australia (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Coreidae: Coreinae), pp. 1-18 in Zootaxa 1530 on pages 10-13, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.177705