Proceedings of 

 the United States 

 National Museum 



SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION • WASHINGTON, D.C. 



Volume 117 1965 Number 3510 



HERMATOBATES, A NEW GENERIC RECORD 



FOR THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, 



WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES 



(HEMIPTERA: GERRIDAE) 



By Jon L. Herring ^ 



The genus Hermatobates is certainly the rarest and least known 

 genus of marine Hemiptera. It was founded by Carpenter in 1892 for 

 the reception of a new species, H. haddoni, based on a single specimen 

 from Mabuiag Island in the Torres Straits, northern Australia. 

 Since that time, five other species have been described. The de- 

 scriptions of the six species were based on a total of nine specimens 

 and several of the species are still known only from the type material. 

 Females for the most part are either unknown or unassociated with 

 the males. In 2}^ years of entomological work in the South Pacific, 

 I was able to collect only three specimens; so it is not surprising that 

 very few museums have representatives of this remarkable genus. 



The genus has a widespread distribution. One species, haddoni, 

 the best known of the group, occurs from New Caledonia in the East 

 to Australia, the Philippines, and the Ryukyus in the West. Two 

 species, weddi China and walkeri China, are known from the Aus- 

 tralian region: Monte Bello Island and the Arafura Sea, respectively. 

 H. marchei (Coutiere and Martin) is known from the Philippines only. 



' Entomology Research Division, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



7.'8~705— 65 123 



