Penottus minicystus, Guilbert, Eric, 2007

Guilbert, Eric, 2007, Tingidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from Laos: new species and new records, Zootaxa 1442, pp. 1-18 : 9-10

Penottus minicystus sp. n.

(figs. 9, 10, 11)

Material examined: 1 ɗ, Laos, Vientiane prov., Ban Van Eue, 29.IV.1966, light trap, native coll., Rondonishop; 1 Ψ, Laos, Phong Sali prov., Namak, 8.X.2004, Guilbert coll. MNHN; 1 fifth instar, Laos, Phong Sali prov., Namak, 9.X.2004, Guilbert coll. MNHN.

Adult description: body wide, male clear brown with spots and reticulations darker; paranota and body beneath dark brown; female darker than male and body beneath black. Body length: M, 4.03; F, 4.33; width: M, 1.80; F, 1.90.

Head bicolored, armed with five spines, frontal and median spines stout, short, occipital spines longer, slender; bucculae long, narrow, mostly uniseriate and narrower anteriorly, open, not joined in front; antennal segment measurements: M, I, 0.23; II, 0.12; III, 1.6, fourth missing; F, I, 0.27; II, 0.13; III, 1.77; IV, 0.37; rostral sulcus straight, narrow, widely open behind; rostrum extending beyond metasternum.

Pronotum long, tricarinate; median carina raised along pronotum; lateral carinae short, concealed anteriorly by paranota; paranota inflated, cystlike, not spherical but flattened on its inner part, longer than high (l/h: 1.16) but higher than wide (w/h: 0.83), reaching median carina but not meeting dorsally, covering most of pronotum except posterior process, median carina, hood and collar, areolae large, polygonal; collar raised as a hood, longer than wide, six areolae long; posterior pronotal process somewhat rooflike or elevated medially where median carina.

Hemelytra wide, costal area sinuate, anteriorly bent upwards, irregularly bi- to triseriate, areolae varying in size; subcostal area as wide as costal area, divided into two areas by a boundary vein, outer part uniseriate, areolae small, inner part triseriate; discoidal area longer than half length of hemelytra, seven areoalae wide at widest part, boundary veins raised; sutural area large, eight areolae wide at widest part.

Fifth instar description: body clear brown, covered with tiny starlike processes, center of abdomen, tips of hemelytral pads, body beneath, antennae, base of legs dark brown. Body length, 2.67; width, 1.67 (without spines); max. spines length, 0.65.

Head short, round, armed with five long, slender, erect spines, spines with small ramifications all along; antenniferous processes short; antennae slender, with small setae all along; antennal segment measurements:, I, 0.23; II, 0.10; III, 1.17; IV, 0.50; clypeus with small setae; bucculae very narrow, not meeting in front; rostrum not seen on carded specimen, however at least reaching mid coxae.

Pronotum wider than long, angulate on lateroposterior margin, armed there with long slender spine, this however shorter than cephalic ones, spines with ramifications all along; lateral margins with two main slender spines shorter than one on posterior tip and also with two to four ramifications, with six-seven additional minor simple spines (without ramifications); posterior margin somewhat angulate medially, with small short spines on areas extending laterally from hemelytral pads; a median pair of simple, short spines near anterior margin.

Meso- and metanota without median spine; hemelytral pads with long, slender spine on posterior part of outer margins, spine same size as cephalic ones, with small ramifications all along; lateral margins with two spines, each half the size of the major one, with one or two ramifications, six to seven additional short spines along margins.

Fourth to ninth abdominal terga each with long, slender spines on posterior angle of lateral margins, directed upwards, with small ramification all along; first tergum without median spine; second, fifth to eighth terga with median simple spine (without ramifications), shorter than spines on lateral margins, fifth and sixth longer than others, half the length of lateral ones, second, seventh, eighth each a quarter the length of lateral ones; fifth stouter than others, and dark brown.

Etymology: The name refers to the smaller hood of this species than those of its congeners.

Comments: The two adult specimens were caught in different places, and the female is darker than the male. This species has a small hood, unlike the other Penottus Distant species. This is the first fifth instar of a Penottus species described. The fifth instar was collected in the same place as the female (allotype) but a day after.