Cervinotaptera tomhenryi, Baňar, Petr & Heiss, Ernst, 2018

Baňar, Petr & Heiss, Ernst, 2018, A new Cervinotaptera species from northern Madagascar (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Aradidae), ZooKeys 796, pp. 307-318 : 309-311

Cervinotaptera tomhenryi sp. n. Figures 1 A–C; 2; 3; 4 A–B, D–E, G

Material examined.

Type material. Holotype male, 'MDA/Jan.2015/11 N MADAGASCAR / MONTAGNE D‘AMBRE ~945m, circuit / „Sommet“, S12°31 ’28‘‘E49°09’52‘‘ / sifting litter+rotten wood, Winkler app. extr. / 14.1.2015, P. Baňař & E.M. Rabotoson lgt.' [printed] // 'HOLOTYPE / Cervinotaptera / tomhenryi sp. nov. / Baňař & Heiss des. 2018' [printed red label] (MMBC). Paratypes: 2 ♂♂, 3 ♀♀, same locality label as holotype [one male gold-coated for SEM] (1 ♂, 1 ♀ MMBC; 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀ CEHI); 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀: 'MDA/Jan.2015/12 N MADAGASCAR / MONTAGNE D‘AMBRE ~1100m / sifting litter close to camp, 16.1.2015 / Winkler apparatus extraction / P. Baňař & E.M. Rabotoson lgt.' (1 ♀ MMBC; 1 ♂, 1 ♀ CEHI), 3 ♂♂: 'MDA/Jan.2016/02 N MADAGASCAR / MONTAGNE D‘AMBRE 1165m, circuit / „Sommet“, S12°31 ’50‘‘E49°10’16‘‘ / sifting Pandanus litter, Winkler app. extr. / 13.1.2016, P. Baňař & E.M. Rabotoson lgt.' [all three males permanently stored in absolute ethanol available for DNA study] (MMBC). All paratypes are provided with a label: 'PARATYPE / Cervinotaptera / tomhenryi sp. nov. / Baňař & Heiss des. 2018' [printed red label].

Description.

Apterous, body short, broadly oval (Figures 1 A–C, 2A). Coloration dark brown to blackish, tarsi and apex of antennal segment IV somewhat paler. Thorax and abdominal laterotergites with tubercle-like processes.

Measurements

(in mm). Male holotype (one female paratype in brackets). Total body length: 3.62 (4.04); head length (without collar): 0.67 (0.71); head width across eyes: 0.84 (0.86); minimum interocular distance: 0.59 (0.60); length of antennal segments: I: 0.37 (0.39), II: 0.22 (0.23), III: 0.67 (0.69), IV: 0.37 (0.38); pronotum length [including tubercles]: 0.60 (0.60), pronotum width [including tubercles]: 1.42(1.42); maximum width of abdomen: 1.98 (2.33), tergal plate length: 0.93 (0.93); tergal plate width: 1.22 (1.33).

Head (Figures 2 C–D, 4 A–B) with longitudinal furrows and ridges and few globular tubercles on dorsal and lateral faces, numerous and more conspicuous on ventral face; wider than long, width: length ratio 1.25 in male, 1.21 in female; clypeus reaching nearly middle of antennal segment I, antenniferous lobes short, slightly shorter than clypeus; antennae long, 1.92 times as long as width of head in male, 1.95 times in female, segment I slightly bent at base, thickest, segment II thinner and shortest, segment III thinnest and longest, segment IV fusiform, antennal formula (longest segment first): III:I=IV:II. Eyes very small, globular, slightly stalked, ocular index 4.72 in male, 4.60 in female. Labium very short, hardly reaching two thirds of head length.

Pronotum 2.37 times as long as wide across lateral tubercles in both sexes; anterior lobe with two pairs of lateral tubercles (Figures 2E, 4G), posterior lobe smooth at middle, lateral lobes each with four finger-like processes, posterior margin convex with two small tubercles directed posteriorly. Pronotum separated from mesonotum by deep and wide furrow.

Mesonotum fused to metanotum, fusion lines only partly visible, posteriorly with conspicuous median elevation bearing two semicircular tubercles. Posterior margin with two deep pits connected with very deep and broad median depression on metanotum.

Metanotum (Figure 3B). Fused to mesonotum and mtg I+II, with rectangular median depression on anterior margin. Fused mtg I+II with deep median pit anteriorly, posteriorly with prominent median elevation, lateral parts with two (1+1) round elevations. Posterior margin of mtg I+II almost straight, clearly delimited from tergal plate by conspicuous furrow.

Abdomen. Tergal plate (Figure 3A) shorter than wide, ratio width to length 1.31 in male, 1.43 in female. Scent gland scars visible on posterior margins of mtg III and IV only. Deltg II+III fused to elongate triangular sclerite (Figure 3C), bearing two pairs of finger-like processes, inner process directed upwards, outer process strictly lateral. Deltg III-VII well separated from each other, bearing pair of processes similar to those on deltg II+III, shorter on deltg VI and VII. Vltg VII of male with posteriorly directed glabrous finger-like projections. Spiracles on ventral laterally produced tubercles decreasing in size from vltg II–VII, visible from above, those of paratergites VIII terminal. Metathoracic scent gland with long curved evaporatorium and additional ovate evaporatorium laterally of anterior coxae.

Legs unarmed, slender, sparsely covered with short, semi-erect setae. Femora widening distally, tibiae slightly curved.

Male genitalia (Figures 3 E–F). Visible part of pygophore convex, short, and wide, surface with rugosities; parameres hook-like; paratergites VIII rounded, shorter than pygophore.

Female. General body structures similar in both sexes, female larger and wider.

Etymology.

Dedicated to our dear colleague and friend Thomas J. Henry, eminent student of the Heteroptera.

Collecting circumstances.

All known specimens were collected by sifting mountain evergreen rain forest leaf litter in Montagne d’Ambre National Park (Figure 6 A–B) in northern Madagascar. Sifted samples were extracted in a Winkler apparatus during two or three days and were mixed several times daily. Cervinotaptera tomhenryi sp. n. shared the microhabitat with the recently described carventine aradid Comorocoris estherineae Baňař & Heiss, 2018; the largest parts of the type series of both species were extracted from the same samples during the expedition of 2015.

Distribution.

Known only from Montagne d’Ambre National Park in northern Madagascar.

Differential diagnosis.

Cervinotaptera tomhenryi sp. n. differs from Cervinotaptera guilberti Heiss & Marchal, 2012 by wider head; longer and thinner antennae; less curved antennal segment I; shorter antennal tubercles (Figures 4 A–C); different proportions of deltg II+III sclerite (longer and narrower in C. tomhenryi sp. n.); larger and more prominent tubercles on deltg II+III (smaller in C. guilberti ) (Figure 4 D–F); and shape and size of finger-like processes on pronotum (Figure 4 G–H).