Aphelonotus schuhi, Kment & Rédei, 2020

Kment, Petr & Rédei, Dávid, 2020, Aphelonotus schuhi sp. nov., the first species of the family Pachynomidae from Puerto Rico (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), Zootaxa 4748 (2), pp. 382-388 : 383-384

Aphelonotus schuhi sp. nov.

( Figs 1–9 )

Type material. Holotype: ♂ (macropterous), ‘ PUERTO RICO: Naguabo / El Yunque Nat. Forest, S part / La Sabana recr. area 5.6km N of / Río Blanco at rd.PR191, 18°16.1‘N, / 65°47.6‘W, 510 m, 21.vi.-2.vii.2016; / Deler, Fikáček & Seidel lgt. PR03 ’ [printed] // ‘ flight intercept trap in / a sparse rainforest at the river / bank’ [printed] // ‘ ♂ ’ [printed] // ‘ APHELONOTUS / SCHUHI / sp. nov. / det. KMENT & RÉDEI 2018 ’ [printed, red label] (coll. National Museum, Praha, Czech Republic). The holotype is mounted on card, the detached pygophore and left paramere are placed in a plastic microvial with glycerol, attached to the same pin.

Description. Colour ( Figs 1–2 ). Head (except apex), pedicellites, thorax and hemelytra dark brown; mandibular plates, clypeus, rostrum, scape, legs and abdomen of paler shades of brown; basi- and distiflagella whitish; spines of ventral surface of protibia black.

Structure. Morphological characters as in generic description provided by Schuh et al. (2015). Exoskeleton highly similar to that of A. taino Schuh, Weirauch & Grillo, 2015 ( Cuba) and A. xenos Schuh, Weirauch & Grillo, 2015 ( Costa Rica) (see Diagnosis of A. xenos species-group above); only the characters diagnostic for the new species are listed here:

Only macropterous morph known ( Figs 1 , 3 ). Protibia with two long and stout subapical spines, one shorter and blunt ( Fig. 6 : sas), second longer and tapering. Parameres bisinuous in dorsal view ( Figs 7, 9 ), shaft ( Figs 7–9 : s) bent, outer face with prominent protuberance between shaft and blade ( Fig. 8 : p), blade with prominent inner angle ( Fig. 8 : ia) subproximally, without subapical tooth ( Figs 7–9 ), apex laterally flattened ( Figs 8, 9 ), widely rounded in anterior view ( Fig. 8 ); blades of parameres divergent in rest, apices not crossing each other ( Fig. 7 ).

Measurements. Total body length (from apex of clypeus to apex of membrane, in mm)—3.31; body length from the pronotal collar to the apex of the membrane—2.75; head: width across eyes—0.48, interocular distance—0.30, ocellus diameter—0.04, interocellar distance—0.14, width across neck (behind compound eyes)—0.34; antenna: length of basipedicellite (= proximal secondary segment of pedicel)—0.46; pronotum: length (from anterior margin of pronotal collar to posterior margin of pronotum along midline)—0.55, width (between humeral angles)—1.03.

Differential diagnosis. Aphelonotus schuhi sp. nov. is morphologically highly similar to A. taino and A. xenos . The new species shares the presence of the long and stout, apically blunt subapical spine on protibia ( Fig. 6 : sas) with A. xenos (see Schuh et al. 2015: figs 3, 19B), while this spine is missing in A. taino . As in other species of Aphelonotus (cf. Schuh et al. 2015), the identification of these three species is heavily based on the highly characteristic shape of their parameres: in A. schuhi the parameres articulated on the genital capsule in resting position are bisinuate in dorsal view ( Figs 7, 9 ) (simply arcuate in both A. taino and A. xenos , cf. Schuh et al. 2015: fig. 3), its blade lacks preapical tooth ( Fig. 8 ) (shared with A. taino ; A. xenos has a preapical tooth on blade, cf. Schuh et al. 2015: fig. 4), and the apex of the paramere is laterally flattened ( Figs 8, 9 ) and widely rounded in anterior view ( Fig. 8 ) (pointed in both A. taino and A. xenos , cf. Schuh et al. 2015: fig. 4).

The length of the holotype of A. schuhi sp. nov., measuring from the anterior margin of the pronotal collar to the apex of the membrane, is 2.75 mm, smaller than the known specimens of A. taino (2.93–3.24 mm) or A. xenos (3.15–3.46 mm) (cf. Schuh et al. 2015).

Etymology. The new species is dedicated to Randall T. Schuh (American Museum of Natural History), the guru of contemporary heteropteran systematics and the first author of the excellent monograph of the genus Aphelonotus ( Schuh et al. 2015) .

Habitat. The holotype was collected using a flight interception trap in a sparse rainforest at the river bank (M. Fikáček, pers. comm.) (see Fig. 10 ).

Distribution. Puerto Rico (this paper).

Figures

FIGURES 10. Habitat of Aphelonotus schuhi sp. nov. at Naguabo, El Yunque National Forest, Puerto Rico. (Photograph: M. Fikáček).

FIGURES 1–2. Habitus of Aphelonotus schuhi sp. nov., male holotype. 1—dorsal view, 2—ventral view. (Photographs: P. Kment).

FIGURES 3–9. Morphology of Aphelonotus schuhi sp. nov., male holotype. 3—body in dorsal view (magnification 37×); 4—head and thorax, dorsal view (70×); 5—clavus and base of corium (150×); 6—protibia, inner view (180×); 7—genital capsule with parameres in rest position, dorsal view (200×); 8—detached left paramere, anterior view (500×); 9—right paramere articulated to genital capsule in rest position, dorsal view (500×). Abbreviations: ia—inner angle, p—protuberance between shaft and blade, s—paramere shaft, sas—subapical spine. Scale bars: 3–4—0.5 mm, 5–7—0.2 mm, 8–9—0.05 mm. (ESEM micrographs: P. Kment).