HERAEUS SPLENDENS SP. NOV.

(FIGS 15 I, 21C, 23A–D, 24)

Diagnosis

Basiflagellomere clavate. Labium extending to mesocoxae. Anterior pronotal lobe with long erect setae; posterior pronotal lobe and hemelytra with short setae. Posterior pronotal lobe with a pale inverted V-shaped mark. Outer margin of clavus pale. Profemur brown, paler dorsally.

Heraeus splendens sp. nov. and H. antennalis sp. nov. are the only two species in the genus with the basiflagellomere clavate; whereas H. antennalis sp. nov. is strongly setose, with the profemora mottled, and the posterior pronotal lobe and clavus are uniformly pale brown.

Description (Fig. 15 I)

Total length 6.65.

Head: Reddish brown, shiny, coriaceous, with short and erect setae. Head length 1.42, width 1.01. Postocular length 0.65. Eyes not surpassing the dorsal margin of head in lateral view. Ocelli placed at level of an imaginary line passing the posterior border of eyes. Interocular width 0.53, interocellar width 0.24. Labium pale brown with short erect setae, extending to mesocoxae. Labial segment lengths: I 0.88, II 0.96, III 0.69, IV 0.35. Antennae reddish brown, distiflagellomere with a pale reddish-brown band. Basiflagellomere clavate. Antennal lengths: scape 0.53, pedicel 1.39, basiflagellomere 1.23, and distiflagellomere 1.28. Length of pale band on distiflagellomere 0.38.

Thorax: Pronotum pruinose, punctate; dark brown, posterior pronotal lobe brown with a pale inverted V-shaped mark and a pale submarginal line along lateral margin. Anterior pronotal lobe with long erect setae, posterior pronotal lobe with shorter setae. Collar length 0.10, anterior lobe length 0.69, posterior lobe length 0.60; anterior lobe width 1.01, posterior lobe width 1.60. Pleurae brown. Evaporative area extended. Scutellum brown with erect setae. Hemelytra: costal margin pale on proximal three-quarters, with a subapical corial spot. Membrane dark brown, with veins paler and a slender, pale apical spot. Legs: coxae, protrochanter, and profemur reddish brown, profemur paler dorsally; meso- and metafemur with a subapical dark band; meso- and metatibia with a sub-basal dark band, tibiae darkened apically (Fig. 21 C). Legs with semi-erect and erect setae, longest on profemora.

Abdomen: Brown, with abundant, short, recumbent setae. Male genitalia: Pygophore (Fig. 23 A, B) rounded, anterior margin of dorsal aperture rounded. Parameres: Figure 23 (C, D). Aedeagus: vesical lobes sclerotized posteriorly, with spines distally; processus gonopori long and slender.

Distribution

Panama (Fig. 24).

Etymology

The specific epithet ‘ splendens ’, Latin for beauty, refers to the attractive dorsal markings and colouration.

Type material

Holotype: ♂, PANAMA: Cerro Campana, 800 m a.s.l., Dist. Chame, 2-V-1976, D. Engleman (AMNH).

Paratypes: PANAMA: Panama: 1♀, Cerro Campana, 850 m a.s.l., 8°40 ′ N, 79°56 ′ W, 24-XII-[19]73, Stockwell (USNM); Chiriqui: 1♀, Res. For. La Fortuna, cont. divide Tr., 20-VII-1995, C.W. & L.B. O’Brien (USNM).