Lelena, Mingheti & Montemayor & Dellapé, 2025

Mingheti, Eugenia, Montemayor, Sara Itzel & Dellapé, Pablo Matías, 2025, Phylogenetic revision of the Neella-Neoneella complex (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Bryocorinae), with description of five new genera, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 204 (2) : -

Lelena gen. nov.

( Figs 2D, 9)

Tope species: Neella guiana Costa et al., 2008. By present designation.

Included species: htp://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:pub:908E82A1-7838-45C1-810B-C1E18DD13264 L. cinnamomea ( Carvalho and Gomes, 1971) , comb. nov.

L. guiana ( Costa et al., 2008), comb. nov.

L. unicolor ( Hsiao, 1946) , comb. nov.

Diagnosis: Yellow to orange; eyes sessile or slightly stylate; frons globose in lateral view; antennal segment I with recumbent and sparce erect setae, wider than II; calli not evident, separated; posterior pronotal margin straight; embolium not passing apex of abdomen; tibiae with only semierect setae; inner margin of cell convex and posterior margin straight; lef paramere curved and with apical process bifurcate with an expansion.

Description: Female. TBL 3.49–4.90; PBL 3.20–4.40; BW 1.44–2.08. Coloration: Head: yellow to orange; eyes silver, black or black with silver areas; antennal segment I yellow, orange, or brown; II, brown, dark brown, or yellow and brown; III, yellow basally, brownish distally; IV, brownish. Torax: pronotum, mesoscutum, and scutellum yellow to orange or orange with brown areas; pleura yellow to orange, in one species propleura bicoloured. Hemelytron: yellow to orange, or brown with basal area orange; membrane yellow to brown; veins yellow to brown. Legs: yellow to orange; tarsi pale yellow to orange; claws orange to brown. Abdomen: yellow to orange, in one species genital capsule brownish. Surface: Shiny; posterior pronotal lobe evenly punctate; head, pronotum, scutellum and hemelytra with abundant recumbent setae; labium with semierect setae; antennal segments I–II with short and recumbent setae, and sparce erect setae; III–IV, with semierect setae; veins with tiny and recumbent setae; pleura and abdomen with semierect setae, longer and more disperse setae than dorsum; legs with abundant semierect setae. Structure: Head: more than 2× as long as wide; clypeus not prominent, rounded in lateral view; frons globose in lateral view; vertex flat or convex; eyes sessile to slightly stylate, covering collar in lateral view, inner margin at level with or inside lateral margins of collar; gula not visible to short; labium extending to metacoxae or beyond; antennal segment II, straight, thinner and at least 2.5× as long as I. Torax: posterior margin of collar straight; calli not evident, separated and not ataining lateral margins of pronotum; posterior pronotal margin straight; mesoscutum exposed. Hemelytron lateral margins parallel to slightly convex; embolium flat, bent upwards, not passing apex of abdomen; claval commissure longer or shorter than scutellum and half of pronotum length combined; anterior half of medial fracture adjacent to R + M vein, posterior half separated from R + M vein; cuneus longer than wide, inner margin straight or slightly concave; veins angled in medial area of membrane and before apex of cuneus; inner margin of cell convex and posterior margin straight. Legs: profemora widened basally. Male genitalia: Lef paramere falciform; curved; apical process bifurcate with an expansion. Right paramere small, tapering towards apex.

Distribution: Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, French Guiana, and Peru ( Fig. 9).

Etomologo: Te generic name is an anagram of Neella , a genus in which the included species were originally described. Te gender is feminine.

Discussion: Lelena gen. nov. includes three species transferred from Neella ( N. cinnamomea , N. guiana , and N. unicolor ) that share sessile or slightly stylate eyes, globose frons, first antennal segment with recumbent and sparce erect setae, calli not evident and separated, posterior margin of pronotum straight, and lef paramere curved and with a bifurcate apical process. In our analysis, this genus is supported by three synapomorphies: the continuous character relation: pronotum posterior margin width/ anterior margin width (11:0.179), and two discrete contradictory synapomorphies: embolium not extending posteriorly to the abdomen (65:1), and tibiae with one type of setae (89:0). Te GC frequencies indicate a low support due to high contradictory information ( Fig. 7).

Lelena gen. nov. runs to the couplet 23 in the key to the Neotropical eccritotarsine genera ( Carvalho and Ferreira 1995), where the genera Pachopoda Carvalho and China, 1951 and Stictolophus Bergroth, 1922 are identified. Pachopoda has a smooth pronotum with large calli and thick tibiae, incrassated toward apex, and Stictolophus is characterized by a large collar, sinuate anteriorly, and large calli separated by a deep median depression over posterior two-thirds, and thick profemora. In contrast, Lelena gen. nov. has a narrow collar, indistinct calli, and legs with only the profemora thickened basally.

Additional nine Neotropical genera are absent in Carvalho and Ferreira (1995) ´s key (see discussion under Globicephalomiris gen. nov.). Te combination of characters given in the diagnosis distinguishes Lelena gen. nov. from all other eccritotarsines.