Leptosaldinea, Popov, Yuri A. & Heiss, Ernst, 2016

Popov, Yuri A. & Heiss, Ernst, 2016, A remarkable fossil leptosaldine bug from Mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Leptopodomorpha: Leptopodidae), Zootaxa 4137 (2), pp. 233-238 : 234-236

Leptosaldinea gen. nov.

Type species: Leptosaldinea cobbeni sp.nov., present designation.

Diagnosis. Distinguished from both of the similar appearing Cretaceous genera Palaeoleptus Poinar & Buckley, 2009 (Burmese amber) and Cretaceomira McKellar & Engel, 2014 (Canadian amber) by antennal segments I–II being short and thick, III–IV long and flagellate (proportions I:II:III:IV = 6:10:31:31); by reniform compound eyes adjacent to pronotal collar; a very short and robust rostrum almost reaching fore coxae; and a concave posterior pronotal margin.

Description. Adult macropterous female of about 3 mm size; general colouration of dorsal and ventral side (as far as recognizeable) uniformly brown.

Head. About 1.5 times wider than long (total width measured by doubling width of undamaged right half), with 3 pairs of erect cephalic trichobothria; vertex nearly flat, lower than adjacent eyes; ocelli obscured by detritus; clypeus triangular with adherent genae; antennae about 2.8 times as long as width of head, segment I cylindrical, thickest and shortest, II longer and apically enlarged, III+IV thinner, longest and of nearly equal length, beset with long setae, IV slightly fusiform at apex; large reniform compound eyes in dorsal view, laterally protruding; collar narrow; rostrum short, nearly reaching fore coxae, segments II–IV with few long spines on ventral side, segment I obscured by labrum, III and IV of subequal length.

Pronotum. Trapezoidal, distinctly wider than long, anterior margin nearly straight, posterior margin concave at middle, not overlapping scutellum; lateral margins slightly sinuate, anterolateral angles rounded, paranota narrow with a long apical seta; surface of disk damaged.

Scutellum. Triangular, about as long as wide and about as long as pronotum, depressed damaged median part depressed, but outline recognizeable.

Hemelytra. Lateral margins widely rounded, laterally and posteriorly surpassing the body outline beneath; medial fracture long and distinct, veins on corium and membrane and clavus not discernible.

Abdominal venter. The constricted and posteriorly produced sternite VII with two spine-like projections (ovipositor) indicates that the specimen is a female.

Legs. Coxae large, trochanters fused to femora, these with 3–5 spines on apical quarter, tibiae long and straight, beset with long spines and shorter setae, the fore tibiae with 2 additional very long spines on ventral side, tarsi 3-segmented, with long, gently curved, simple claws.

Etymology. The name refers to Leptosalda , the type genus of the subfamily Leptosaldinae ; gender is feminine.

Differential diagnosis. Of all fossil leptosaldine genera described so far, Leptosaldinea gen.nov. resembles most closely Palaeoleptus from Burmese amber and Cretaceomira from Canadian amber, sharing the following characters: reniform compound eyes, three pairs of cephalic trichobothria ( Palaeoleptus ), spined rostrum ( Palaeoleptus ), thinner antennal segments III–IV, general structure of pronotum ( Cretaceomira ), corial venation not distinct, femora slender and tibiae bearing long spines ( Palaeoleptus ).

However, Leptosaldinea differs from Palaeoleptus by a shorter rostrum nearly reaching fore coxae, by antennal segment II much shorter than III, by one pair of cephalic trichobothria placed on the clypeus, and the compound eyes adjacent to pronotal collar narrowing toward lateral margins of pronotum. Moreover, the type species, Leptosaldinea cobbeni sp. nov., is about half of the size of Palaeoleptus burmanicus ( Poinar & Buckley 2009) . In addition, Leptosaldinea differs from Cretaceomira by the presence of spines on rostral segments II–IV.