Planicapitus Taszakowski, Kim & Herczek, 2020

Taszakowski, Artur, Kim, Junggon, Damken, Claas, Wahab, Rodzay A., Herczek, Aleksander & Jung, Sunghoon, 2020, Two new genera and species of the Gigantometopini (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae, Isometopinae) from Borneo with remarks on the distribution of the tribe, ZooKeys 941, pp. 71-89 : 71

Planicapitus Taszakowski, Kim & Herczek gen. nov.

Type species.

Planicapitus luteus Taszakowski, Kim & Herczek, sp. nov.

Diagnosis.

Distinguished by vertical, flattened head, not punctured but wrinkled and distinctly higher than wide, dorsally extending to level of highest point of pronotum; vertex convex, protruding above eye level; width of vertex slightly larger than eye width; dorsum and pleurites of thorax with deep and dense punctures; calli slightly marked, tarsi two segmented, claw without subapical tooth; labium reaching third abdominal segment; right paramere very small, short, dagger-shaped; left paramere ca. 2.5 times as long as right one.

Description.

Male. Body oval, slightly elongated (Fig. 1A ). Head clearly higher than wide, dorsally extending to highest point of pronotum, flattened, impunctate but wrinkled; Antenna thin (particularly segments III and IV). Labium reaching third abdominal segment (Fig. 1B ). Pronotal collar with row of punctures. Pronotum distinctly punctuate, distinctly carinate at sides, with slightly upturned lateral margins; calli slightly marked, separated by shallow fossa. Scutellum convex, wider than long, baso-medially clearly depressed. Thoracic pleura distinctly punctate (Fig. 1C ). Ostiolar peritreme small, strongly convex and covered with fine spines (Fig. 4A-C ). Mesofemora with five trichobothria (Fig. 3C, D ). Tarsi two segmented, claws without apical tooth (Fig. 3 E-G ). Genitalia: genital capsule trapeziform, with two longitudinal sutures at sides (Fig. 5A, B ); aedeagus delicate, membranous, with weakly sclerotized dorsal wall of phallotheca, endosoma sacciform and membranous, weakly sclerotized (Fig. 5A, B, E ). Left paramere scythe-shaped, sensory lobe with several long setae, apical process elongate (Fig. 5A-C ); right paramere very small, short, dagger-shaped (Fig. 5A, B, D ).

Remarks.

Affiliation of Planicapitus luteus to the Gigantometopini is clearly confirmed by the following features: compound eyes relatively small, significantly separated from each other, pronotum deeply punctate and elongate, calli separated by shallow fossa, pronotal collar demarcated by row of punctures, inflated scutellum, and five mesofemoral trichobothria ( Herczek 1993, Yasunaga et al. 2017).

Set of features mentioned in the diagnosis clearly differ the new genus from other genera belonging to Gigantometopini . Planicapitus luteus belongs to the smallest representatives of tribe. The new genus is similar in size to Isometopidea lieweni which body length of the only known specimen equals to 3.0 mm. It is a female, so probably (like other representatives of tribe) males reach a smaller body size ( Poppius 1913, Yasunaga 2005, Herczek et al. 2018). Isometopidea further differs from newly described genus by the structure of the head, which is not higher than wide, somewhat rounded and not strongly flattened in front. Sulawesimetopus , the second comparatively small-sized genus of the Gigantometopini , is slightly larger and can be distinguished from the new genus by the three segmented tarsi and punctured head. Other representatives of Gigantometopini are a way larger than the new genus in body size.

Etymology.

Combined from Latin adjective: planus, flat and noun: caput, capitis, head; gender masculine.

Figures

Figure 1. Planicapitus luteus: dorsal (A), ventral (B) and lateral (C) views.

Figure 3. Planicapitus luteus: head in dorsal view (A, B), femur of middle leg in ventrolateral view, showing trichobothrial pattern (C, D), pretarsus of foreleg, lateral view (E), tarsus of middle leg, lateral view (F), pretarsus of middle leg, ventral view (G).

Figure 4. Scent gland, evaporatory area (A, B) and peritreme (C) of Planicapitus luteus.

Figure 5. Male genitalia of Planicapitus luteus: genital capsule in dorsal (A) and caudal (B) views, left paramere (C), right paramere (D), aedeagus in dorsal view (E).