Casuarinicola mucronalatus Taylor

Taylor, Gary S., Austin, Andy D., Jennings, John T., Purcell, Matthew F. & Wheeler, Gregory S., 2010, Casuarinicola, a new genus of jumping plant lice (Hemiptera: Triozidae) from Casuarina (Casuarinaceae), Zootaxa 2601, pp. 1-27 : 16-18

Casuarinicola mucronalatus Taylor , sp. nov.

Figs 19–23 , 27–29 , Tables 1–5, 8

Types. AUSTRALIA, New South Wales: Holotype: 1 ɗ (slide) 18 km E Nyngan, 31°38.59’S, 147°20.99’E, GST, 6.x.2004, swept from Casuarina cristata , ABCL 2004 948 (ASCU). Paratypes: 6 Ψ (slide) same data as holotype (ASCU, WINC); 1 Ψ (spirit), 25 km W Wilcannia (175 km E Broken Hill), 31º34.91’S, 143º09.19’E, GST, 6.x.2004, C. pauper , ABCL 2004 945 (WINC); 1 ɗ, 1 Ψ (spirit) Springs Creek, 75 km W Wilcannia, 31º43.403’S, 142º41.204'E, GST, 27.ix.2008, C. pauper , ABCL 2008 569 (WINC).

Description. Adult. Colour ( Figs 19–22 ): Male: general colour ochraceous to brown with dark brown to black markings. Vertex dark brown to black; genal processes pale ochraceous; antennal segments 1–2 dark brown; segment 3 ochraceous-brown, segments 4–10 dark brown to black; pronotum dark brown with a pale ochraceous medial marking and a pair of pale ochraceous lateral markings; mesopraescutum brown with a pair of dark brown longitudinal submedial stripes; mesoscutum brown with 2 pairs dark brown longitudinal submedial stripes; mesoscutellum dark brown; fore wing clear; legs brown to dark brown; femora dark brown, fore and hind tibia brown, hind tibia ochraceous brown; tarsi dark brown to black; meracanthus pale; abdominal tergites, proctiger, subgenital plate and parameres dark brown to black; abdominal sternites dark brown to black with pale medial stripe. Female: as for male, except distinctly paler; vertex ochraceous with a pair of longitudinal submedial stripes, darker in vicinity of fovea, and with thin dark longitudinal stripe along median suture; pronotum ochraceous brown, darker laterally; mesopraescutum with a pair of orange-brown submedial longitudinal stripes; mesoscutum with 2 pairs orange-brown to brown longitudinal submedial stripes; mesoscutellum light ochraceous; fore wing with dark brown to black markings ( Fig. 21 ): a single marking confluent with costa at termination of Rs, a single marking confluent with hind margin anterior of termination of vein Cu1b, and a broad dark longitudinal stripe posterior to vein M and M1+2 meeting hind margin of wing posterior to termination of vein Cu1a, posterior to termination of vein M3+4 and posterior to termination of vein M1+2 at wing apex; legs pale ochraceous with dorsal dark brown longitudinal infuscation; abdominal tergites dark brown to black; abdominal sternites pale with a pair of submedial brown patches each centred with pale brown; proctiger dark brown to black with pale edge around circum-anal pore ring, subgenital plate pale with dark brown markings anterolaterally and a distinctly pale triangular medial marking anteriorly.

Structure: measurements and ratios as in Tables 1–5. Antenna ( Fig. 23 ) short, 1.24–1.36 times width of head; genal processes short, conical, 0.36–0.44 times length of vertex; length of vertex 0.40–0.43 times width of head; anterior margin of vertex delineated by moderate ridge, vertex with prominent medial suture and prominent fovea; pronotum with moderate anterior medial node; fore wing elongate-oval with subangular apex; Rs short, smoothly curved upward to costa, terminating well short of wing apex; vein M1+2 terminating little anterior or on wing apex; cell m1 distinctly elongate, acute triangular, m1 cell value 1.9–2.2; cell cu1 short, broad, triangular, cu1 cell value 1.3–2.2; male terminalia as in Figs 27–28 ; proctiger short with broad lateral expansions; parameres thin elongate, curved inward towards apex; female terminalia as in Fig. 29 ; proctiger short, with dorsal profile rounded from lateral aspect, with broadly rounded flange-shaped lateral lobes.

Etymology. From mucron, sharp point + alatus (Latin), wing; refers to the subangular apex of the fore wing.

Distribution. Recorded from inland western to ‘mid-western’ New South Wales ( Fig. 51 ).

Host plants. Recorded from C. cristata and C. pauper . Casuarina pauper (black oak) occurs as a 5–15 m tree in inland southern Australia, from far south-western Queensland, far western New South Wales, northwestern Victoria, inland South Australia and inland southern Western Australia ( Wilson & Johnson 1989). For C. cristata , refer to C. warrigalensis Taylor sp. nov.

Comments. This species can be distinguished from all other species in the genus by the female having black pigmentation mostly in the dorso-apical quadrant, confluent with wing margins at termination of veins Rs, M1+2, M3+4, Cu1a, and Cu1b, of the fore wing. The male has clear wings. Casuarina mucronalatus sp. nov. has short conical genal processes (shared with C. australis sp. nov., C. nigrimaculatus sp. nov. and C. novacaledonica sp. nov., but differs from C. warrigalensis sp. nov. in which they are considerably shorter); the pronotum has a moderate median lobe (shared with C. nigrimaculatus sp. nov. and C. novacaledonica sp. nov., but is more prominent in C. australis sp. nov. and reduced in C. warrigalensis sp. nov); the fore wing is elongate oval with a subangular apex, cell m1 is long and narrow and cell cu1 is short and broad, each with a high cell value (differs from C. australis sp. nov., C. nigrimaculatus sp. nov., C. novacaledonica sp. nov. and C. warrigalensis sp. nov., in which the fore wing has a rounded apex, cell m1 is short and broad and cell cu1 is narrow and high, each with a low cell value); and, the hind tibia is moderate in length with a moderate tibia length to head width ratio (shared with C. australis sp. nov. and C. nigrimaculatus sp. nov., but differs from C. novacaledonica sp. nov. with a short hind tibia and low length to head width ratio, and C. warrigalensis sp. nov. with a long hind tibia and high length to head width ratio). Casuarinicola mucronalatus sp. nov. occurs on C. cristata and C. pauper , which are also hosts for C. australis sp. nov. and C. warrigalensis sp. nov.

Figures

FIGURES 19 – 23. Casuarinicola mucronalatus sp. nov. (19), habitus, female (dorsal aspect); (20), habitus female (lateral aspect); (21), fore wing, female; (22), fore wing, male; (23), head (dorsal aspect). Scale = 0.5 mm.

FIGURES 24 – 29. Casuarinicola nigrimaculatus sp. nov. and C. mucronalatus, sp. nov. Casuarinicola nigrimaculatus, sp. nov. (24), male terminalia (lateral aspect); (25), paramere (inner face, lateral aspect); (26), female terminalia, (lateral aspect); Casuarinicola mucronalatus sp. nov. (27), male terminalia (lateral aspect); (28), paramere (inner face, lateral aspect); (29), female terminalia, (lateral aspect: note alignment of circumanal pore ring is an artefact). Scale = 0.2 mm.

FIGURES 50 – 51. Distribution for Australian species of Casuarinicola gen. nov.: (50),, Casuarinicola australis sp. nov.; (51),, C. nigrimaculatus sp. nov.;, C. mucronalatus sp. nov.;, C. warrigalensis sp. nov.