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Giant assassin in the cave: A new species of the genus Myiophanes from Sri Lanka (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae)
Abstract
A new thread-legged assassin bug species, Myiophanes (Myiophanes) wygodzinskyi sp. nov. (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae: Emesini), collected from Ravana Cave in Uva Province of Sri Lanka, is described. It is the largest species of the genus described so far.
... As these two species are different in many aspects, it is hereby rejected. Examination of the specimen from Sri Lanka considered to be the male of I. alatus, dissection of its genitalia, and comparison with O. susainathani from India (based on the adequate original description and illustrations by Wygodzinsky (1966) and the thorough redescription and photos of Ghate et al. (2018)) showed no morphological differences between these two species. Therefore, we resurrect I. alatus as a valid species, transfer it to the genus Onychomesa, and propose O. susainathani as a new subjective synonym of this species, resulting in the following taxonomic changes: Onychomesa alata (Distant 1903), stat. ...
... New discoveries made in the past five years greatly improved our understanding of the diversity of the South and Southeast Asian fauna of Emesini (e.g., Ghate et al. 2018Ghate et al. , 2021Truong 2019;Chen et al. 2020aChen et al. , b, 2021. The four Onychomesa species are widely distributed in South and Southeast Asia (Fig. 13), three of them are island-endemic species and, whilst O. alata stat. ...
The thread-legged bug genus Onychomesa Wygodzinsky 1966 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae: Emesini, formerly Metapterini) and its three described species are reviewed. The Sri Lankan species Ischnonyctes alatus Distant 1903 is resurrected from the synonymy with Schidium marcidum (Uhler, 1896) and transferred to Onychomesa, and O. susainathani Wygodzinsky, 1966 is considered a junior synonym of this species, resulting in the following taxonomic changes: O. alata (Distant 1903), stat. rev. et comb. nov. = O. susainathani Wygodzinsky 1966, syn. nov. The lectotype of I. alatus is designated. A new species, O. schuhi Chen et Cai, sp. nov., is described from Hainan Island, southern China. An updated key to the species of Onychomesa is provided.
... Abbreviations for depositories: BMNH = Natural History Museum, London; NCHU = National Chung Hsing University, Taichung; USNM = Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.; ZMHB = Naturkundemuseum Berlin (former Zoologisches Museum der Humboldt-Universität). Villiers (1948: 16, 35, 37, 39, 430, 440) (in key, redescription, fauna of tropical Africa), Villiers (1949: 277, 295) (in key, redescription, fauna of Africa), Wygodzinsky (1956: 197, 204) (in key, fauna of Australia), Wygodzinsky (1966: 12, 21, 23, 26, 29, 39, 43, 55, 75, 220, 221, 269) Habitat and bionomics -Several species of the genus have been reported exclusively from caves, others are apparently occasional visitors of caves but also occur outside of caves (Wygodzinsky 1966, Ghate et al. 2018. ...
... Diversity and distribution -The genus currently includes 21 species (Wygodzinsky 1966, Maldonado 1990, Rédei 2005, Ghate et al. 2018. Most of them occur in the Afrotropical Region or the Indomalaya, but one species, Myiophanes tipulina, is distributed in the East Palaearctic, extending to neighbouring areas of the Indomalaya, and this species has also been reported from Australia. ...
The genus Myiophanes Reuter, 1881 and the species Myiophanes tipulina Reuter, 1881 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae: Emesini) are recorded for the first time from Taiwan.
Emesine bug Ademula contaminata (Distant, 1903) is recorded from India for the first time and rediscovered from Sri Lanka.
Details of its morphology, including the male genitalia, are presented along with images of the habitat. Images of living bugs in natural
habitat are presented along with some comments on natural history of these bugs.
Bagauda aelleni Villiers, 1970 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae: Leistarchini), described from Sri Lanka, is reported from India for the first time. Based on specimens collected at Sirumalai, Tamil Nadu, the species is redescribed and various aspects of its morphology and life history are highlighted and illustrated.
Background:
While surveying bugs and spiders in the caves of Satara District, Maharashtra, one of us (SK) collected a thread-legged bug associated with a spider web.
New information:
A Sri Lankan Emesinae bug, Myiophanes greeni Distant (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae) is reported for the first time from India. The species is redescribed with several illustrations including male genitalia.
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