Journal of Threatened Taxa |
www.threatenedtaxa.org | 26 June 2022 | 14(6): 21318–21320
ISSN 0974-7907 (Online) | ISSN 0974-7893
(Print)
https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8052.14.6.21318-21320
#8052 | Received 19 May 2022 | Finally
accepted 14 June 2022
Rediscovery of Gardena melinarthrum Dohrn from Sri
Lanka
Tharindu Ranasinghe 1 & Hemant V. Ghate
2
1 Butterfly Conservation Society of
Sri Lanka, 762/A, Yatihena, Malwana
11670, Sri Lanka.
2 Post Graduate Research Centre,
Department of Zoology, Modern College of Arts, Science & Commerce
(Autonomous), Shivajinagar, Pune, Maharashtra 411005, India.
1 tharindu2010ac@gmail.com, 2 hemantghate@gmail.com
(corresponding author)
Editor: Anonymity
requested. Date of publication:
26 June 2022 (online & print)
Citation: Ranasinghe, T. & H.V. Ghate (2022). Rediscovery
of Gardena melinarthrum Dohrn
from Sri Lanka. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(6): 21318–21320. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.8052.14.6.21318-21320
Copyright: © Ranasinghe & Ghate 2022. Creative
Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
JoTT allows unrestricted use, reproduction,
and distribution of this article in any medium by providing adequate credit to
the author(s) and the source of publication.
Funding: Self-funded.
Competing interests: The authors
declare no competing interests.
Acknowledgements: TR would like to thank Amila Sumanapala and Nuwan Chathuranga for their help
in the field and Ruvinda de Mel for his help with
preparation of the map. We are indebted to Dr. Sanjay
Molur, Founder & Chief Editor, Journal of
Threatened Taxa, and the reviewers, for including this note.
The foregoing paper by Hiremath et al. (2022) points out that even though Gardena
melinarthrum Dohrn,
1860 was first described on the basis of an apterous
specimen collected from Sri Lanka (= Ceylon), there were no details of the
location; more important fact is that there is no subsequent record of this
species from Sri Lanka since 1860.
We are now confirming the
presence of G. melinarthrum from Sri Lanka,
after a gap of over 150 years, from three different localities shown in the map
(Image 2). We are only providing photographic evidence, as the specimen
collection was not permitted. All
observed individuals were macropterous.
All the individuals were photographed using
Canon EOS 7D or Canon EOS 7D Mark ii camera, with a Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 L IS
USM macro Lens. The map was prepared
using Las Palmas version of QGIS.
All the specimens observed were
about 25 mm long and showed specific proportion of the various regions of the
fore leg which are diagnostic: especially important key character showed by the
specimens was that the basal spineless area of the fore femur was about
one-third of the total length of the femur. Wygodzinsky
(1966) additionally mentioned in the key that the basal spineless area is at
least 10 times in length of the first femoral spine (including its basal
tubercle). These characters are evident in the close up images provided here
(Image 1c).
The first observation of G. melinarthrum on 28 January 2016, was in Puleliya, Anuradhapura District of Sri Lanka. It was
photographed on outside wall of a village house, at around 1910 h, most
probably attracted to the electric lights on the wall. The area surrounding the
house was a typical home garden with some crops and wild vegetation (Image 1a).
Another individual was
photographed when it was attracted to the lights, in a guest house situated in
front of a man-made lake, on 02 October 2021, in Mahaoya,
Ampara District of Sri Lanka, at around 2030 h. It was actively flying towards the light
(Image 1b).
Most recent sighting of this
species was during a biodiversity assessment survey in Mannar
District of Sri Lanka. Two individuals of G. melinarthrum
were observed on 10 March 2022 in Andankulam at 1220
h. One individual was observed resting on a web of the spider Parawixia dehaani (Doleschall, 1859) and the other one was resting on a twig,
few meters away, in nearby forest habitat.
Since most Emesinae
tend to be nocturnal (Wygodzinsky 1966), the same can
be assumed for G. melinarthrum as well, since
both these observed individuals in Andankulam did not
move and appeared to be resting during day time, in a shaded area. The insect
was actually observed flying towards light at night on two separate occasions.
A map showing three recorded
locations is presented here (Image 2). All the recorded locations are from the
dry zone of Sri Lanka. Based on that, we can assume that this species mostly
inhabits dry mix evergreen forests, but we can’t say with conviction that this
species is restricted to the dry zone. More targeted surveys are needed to
confirm its range of distribution within Sri Lanka.
It is indeed heartening that such
a delicate predatory bug is still present and is quite widely distributed in
Sri Lanka. We did not observe any apterous form, may
be because we did not look closely at the various undisturbed places that
harbor spider webs. A search for such areas will be surely fruitful. This note
is a kind of rediscovery of this interesting bug.
For images - -
click here for full PDF
References
Hiremath, S.R., S. Saikia
& H.V. Ghate (2022). Authentic report of the emesine bug Gardena melinarthrum
Dohrn, 1860 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera:
Reduviidae) from India. Journal of Threatened Taxa 14(6):
21296–21301. https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.7902.14.6.21296-21301
Wygodzinsky, P.W. (1966). A monograph of the Emesinae (Reduviidae, Hemiptera).
Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 133: 1–614.