A new cavernicolous assassin bug from the Canary Islands (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae: Collartidini)

Abstract

The Canary Archipelago is home to two species of obligately cavernicolous assassin bugs of the genus Collartida Villiers, 1949 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae: Collartidini). These species are highly adapted for cave life, being blind and wingless. In the present study, we describe a new species of the genus, C. phantasma sp. nov. from the Federica mine in Gran Canaria. C. phantasma sp. nov. differs from the other two Collartida species found in the Canary Archipelago in that the male is fully winged, the female is wingless, and both sexes have well-developed eyes. We provide information regarding the new species’ habitat, its taxonomic affinities, and its ability to fly.

A new species of Collartida Villiers from the Solomon Islands (Hemiptera: Reduviidae)

“…The genus Collartida reaches its greatest diversity in the Afrotropical region, with a few species, likely relicts, in the Canary Islands and Israel (Davranoglou et al 2022; Linnavuori 1973). Having this distribution in mind, the record of C. peregrina Rédei and Tsai (2010) from Taiwan was unexpected, and led the authors of that study to have doubts on whether the species was native to the island (Rédei & Tsai 2010).…”

“…Collartida : Wygodzinsky 1966: 83 (redescription, revision, key to species); Villiers 1970: 811 (in key); Linnavuori 1974: 132 (key to selected species); Maldonado 1990: 80 (catalogue); Putshkov and Putshkov 1996: 155 (catalogue, Palaearctic Region); Ribes et al 1998: 99 (new troglobitic species from Canary Islands); Weirauch 2008: 395 (diagnostic characters); Smith et al 2019: 135 (phylogeny); Davranoglou et al 2022: Collartida phantasma (new species from Canary Islands).…”

“…The emesine tribe Collartidini Wygodzinsky, 1966 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae) currently comprises two valid genera with a highly disjunct distribution. Collartida Villiers, 1949 is the most diverse genus of the tribe, comprising 11 species known from the Canary Islands (three strictly troglobiotic species), Israel, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Taiwan (Davranoglou et al 2022;Linnavuori 1973Linnavuori , 1974Ribes et al 1998;Rédei & Tsai 2010;Villiers 1961Villiers , 1970 (Figure 1). The genus Stenorhamphus Elkins, 1962 currently includes six extant species: three of them are known from Sri Lanka, Malaysia and Thailand (Smith et al, 2019;Wygodzinsky 1966), and three species, originally described in the genus Mangabea Villiers, 1970, are endemic to Madagascar (Chłond et al 2018) (Figure 1).…”