Hesperocorixa parallela (Fieber, 1860)

Cianferoni, Fabio & Dia, Aref, 2025, Annotated catalogue and checklist of Gerromorpha, Nepomorpha, and Leptopodomorpha (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of Lebanon, with new records, Zootaxa 5725 (1), pp. 1-54 : 25

Hesperocorixa parallela (Fieber, 1860)

Corisa carinata (Sahlberg) : Giglio-Tos (1894: 11), “Ain Haur a 1800 m. sul Libano presso Merdsch-Ahin”; “ Beirut ”. Misidentification (verified).

Hesperocorixa parallela (Fieber) : Nieser & Moubayed (1986: 249), “ Liban […] Yammouné”; Fent et al. (2011: 18) , quotation of Nieser & Moubayed (1986, as “1985”); Aukema et al. (2013: 14), “ Lebanon ”, quotation of Nieser & Moubayed (1986); Ghahari et al. (2023c: 8), “ Lebanon ”, quotation of previous unspecified records.

Material examined. Published records: “Ain | Haur”, [1893], [E. Festa leg.], [E. Giglio-Tos det.] as Corisa carinata (Sahlb.) , (the first specimen of the series has an old handwritten label “ Corisa | parallela | Fieb.”), F. Cianferoni revid., 5 ♀♀, MRSN; “ Beirut ”, [ 11.VII.1893], [E. Festa leg.], [E. Giglio-Tos det.] as Corisa carinata (Sahlb.) , F. Cianferoni revid., 1 ♀, MRSN.

Survey material: Basin of Abou Aali : Qornet Es Saouda, 12.IX.2005, 1 ♂, MLUB . Basin of El Bared : Es Sirwane, 2.VIII.1998, 2 ♀♀, MLUB ; Mare El Bared, 17.VII.2003, 1 ♀, MLUB ; idem, 1 ♀, CFC . Basin of Orontes : Aayoun Orghouche, 13.VI.1996, 1 ♀, MLUB ; El Haour at Marjhine, 20.V.2001, 1 ♂, MLUB ; El Jamiaa at Marjhine, 20.V.2001, 2 ♂, 1 ♀, MLUB ; idem, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, CFC ; idem, 19.X.2001, 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀, MLUB ; idem, 13.VIII.2003, 3 ♀♀, MLUB ; idem, 21.X.2004, 1 ♂, 1 ♀, MLUB ; El Jammâssia at Marjhine, 20.V.2001, 1 ♂, CFC .

Extra-survey material: Mt. of Ainata , 2200 m a.s.l. ( Coll. Am. Un. Beirut), 1.VII.1953, K. Christiansen leg., L. Hoberlandt det., 1 ♂ (dissected) ( NMPC) .

General distribution. This species shows a Turano-European distribution (see Jansson 1995).

Remarks. It is a predominantly montane species ( Cianferoni 2019). In Lebanon it has been collected so far in mountains (from 1375 to over 3000 m a.s.l.), with single specimen localized lowland (from “ Beirut ”) by E. Festa ( Giglio-Tos 1894; Nieser & Moubayed 1986; these new records; see Fig. 7 ). The latter record seems apparently out of context but, although it is a single female for which a certain attribution is not possible, it actually seems to belong to this species. The only other similar species occurring in Middle East could be H. occulta (Lundbald, 1929) , but the yellow lines of pronotum coalescent at the lateral corners and the body length over 9 mm ( cf. Brown 1953, Jansson 1986) of the specimen from Beirut lead us to discard this possibility. As for the elevation an uncertainty remains, since it is not clear whether E. Festa ( cf. Festa 1894) collected it right in Beirut city (the one from the end of the 19 th century, however almost at sea level) or in a surrounding area (in any case very probably at altitudes below mountain level). These records, published as Corisa carinata (Sahlberg) by Giglio-Tos (1894), are misidentifications with this species.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Altitudinal distribution of Hesperocorixa parallela (Fieber, 1860) in Lebanon. The question mark underlines the altitudinal uncertainty of the Festa’s specimen from “Beirut”.