Maurodactylus kukuensis V. G. Putshkov, 1978

Çerçi, Barış, Koçak, Özgür & Tezcan, Serdar, 2019, Two new species and ten new records of Heteroptera from Turkey, including the first record of the potential alien Campylomma miyamotoi in the Western Palaearctic, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 59 (1), pp. 295-306 : 301

Maurodactylus kukuensis V. G. Putshkov, 1978

( Fig. 4 A–B)

Material examined. TURKEY: BITLIS: 233 4♀♀, 12.vi.1976, on Umbellifera sp., F. Önder leg., B. Çerçi det. ( LEMT).

Comment. Maurodactylus Reuter, 1878 is a small genus with six species described so far ( KERZHNER & JOSIFOV 1999). Among them Maurodactylus kukuensis V. G. Putshkov, 1978 and Maurodactylus acanthophylli V. G. Putshkov, 1980 are the only two species with dark dorsal vestiture (V. G. PUTSHKOV 1978a, 1980). These two species can be easily distinguished from each other by the coloration of antennae which is uniformly black in both sexes of M. kukuensis and uniformly pale in both sexes of M. acanthophylli . The specimens we examined perfectly fit the description and illustrations of M. kukuensis morphologically but there is an important point to be noted about the male genitalia of our specimens. The apex of vesica of the specimens we examined is bifid unlike the illustration of the vesica of M. kukuensis in the original publication which has a long and sharp single tip (V. G. PUTSHKOV1978a). This difference in the vesica either indicates that the apical part of the vesica is variable in different populations or that the illustrations of V. G. Putshkov are incorrect. Maurodactylus kukuensis was originally described to be associated with the plant Grammosciadium platycarpum (Apiaceae) (V. G. PUTSHKOV1978a). Specimens we examined were collected from an undetermined plant species belonging to the family Apiaceae . Maurodactylus kukuensis was described from Shakhbuz District of Nakhchivan Republic, Azerbaijan, and was only known from its type locality until now.

Distribution in Turkey. Bitlis (this work).

Subfamily Mirinae

Figures

Fig. 4. A‒B ‒ Maurodactylus kukuensis V. G. Putshkov, 1978: A ‒ male; B ‒ female. C ‒ Pinalitus viscicola (Puton, 1888), male. D ‒ Platycranus (Genistocapsus) alkestis Linnavuori, 1999, male. Scale bars: 1 mm.