Psallops schmitzi, Herczek, Aleksander & Popov, Yuri A., 2014

Herczek, Aleksander & Popov, Yuri A., 2014, New psallopinous plant bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera, Miridae, Psallopinae) from the New Hebrides and Nigeria, Zootaxa 3878 (4), pp. 366-378 : 368

Psallops schmitzi sp. nov.

( Figs. 1 –8)

Diagnosis. Characters that define Psallops schmitzi include: the unique color pattern (collar, corium and terminal part of cuneus pale yellowish-brown), pronotum length to head length ratio (1,26), the structure of the left paramere, and the characteristic, hook-shaped sclerotized appendage on the aedeagus.

Description. Male. General coloration brown. Body rugulose, dorsal surface weakly smooth, covered with adpressed light-colored setae distributed densely over the pronotum. Bases of setae on corium visible (especially where setae had fallen out). Head, pronotum, prosternum, scutellum, mesosternum and metasternum dark brown ( Fig. 2 ). Lateral edges of the corium, and cuneus dark brown; collar, corium and terminal part of cuneus pale yellowish-brown. Anterior of head, coxae, pro and meta-femora, rostral segments 2–4 pale yellow; metafemur and basal 1/4 of the tibia reddish-brown. Labial segment 1 brown. Eyes reddish-brown, posterior edge pale reddishbrown. Antennae missing. Membrane grey to smoke-colored, covered with very fine setae.

Body elongated, 2.53x longer than wide. Head 2.17x wider than long, eyes discoid in shape, posterior margin partially extending over anterolateral angles of pronotum ( Fig. 1 ). Vertex and frons wide; at the narrowest point vertex 1.12x wider at narrowest point than eye width. Clypeus short, wide, smoothly fusing with frons, clypeal base is situated slightly above the fovea antennalis. Mandibular plate short, reaching to approximate median of clypeal length ( Fig. 3 ). Maxillary plate and buccula wide. Fovea antennalis situated adjacent to ventral edge of eye, apex adjacent to 2/3 of basal length of clypeus. Pronotum short, 2.72x wider at basal margin than long. Calli weakly marked, collar visible broad at middle ( Fig. 1 ). Length of scutellum nearly equidistant to length of pronotum. Combined length of mesoscutum and scutellum longer than length of claval commissure. Clavus with marked postcubital vein. Cubital vein on hemelytral membrane forms large cell; smaller cell reduced and poorly visible. Corium 3.23x longer than cuneal length. Cells on membrane visible, smaller cell strongly reduced ( Fig. 1, 2 ). Metafemora thickened, approximately 3.15x longer than maximum width. Rostrum long, reaching to midlength of abdomen. Aedeagus membranous; apical portion has visible, scythe-shaped, sclerotized appendage in dorsal view (Fig. 5, 6). Paramere structure represent Lygus-type ( Konstantinov, 2003). Left paramere scytheshaped, sensory lobe inverted bowl-shaped; apical process of paramere narrow and elongated (Fig. 7, 8). Right paramere missing.

Female: unknown

Material examined. Holotype. New Hebridae : Santo; L.E. Cheesman. B.M. 1929-537. Psallops hebridens det. G. Schmitz, 1976. 1 male.

Measurements. Male: body length—2.30; width—0.91; length of head—0.23; width—0.50; height—0.40; dorsal width of eye—0.16; width of vertex—0.18; antennal segments—missing; rostral segments: I—0.31; II—0.36; III—0,31, IV—0,28; length of pronotum—0.29; anterior width—0.42; posterior width—0.79; length of mesoscutum—0.10; length of scutellum—0.30; length of claval commissure—0.36; length of hind femur—0.82; width—0.26; hind tibia—broken; length of corium—1.10; length of cuneus—0.34

Etymology. Dedicated to Guy Schmitz, scientific researcher, and the long-standing curator of the heteropteran collection in the Musée Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, Tervuren, Belgium.

Remarks. Some characters of Psallops schmitzi sp. nov. resemble Psallops leeae described from Taiwan by Lin (2004). These characters include: a similar eye width to vertex width ratio, head width to vertex width ratio and pronotum length to head length ratio. Apart from the above similarities, there are also crucial differences between the two species. The structure of the left paramere (differently shaped hypophyses and sensory areas) (Fig. 7, 8), and the structure of the aedeagus (Fig. 5, 6) differ. A single, scythe-shaped spicule in the aedeagus is characteristic for P. schmitzi , while a number of straight, sclerotized spicules are characteristic for P. leeae (Lee, 2004) . Another difference between the discussed species is the body size: P. l e ea e is larger (1.38x larger than P. schmitzi ). The body of P. leeae is covered with silky setae, whereas in P. schmitzi the setae are inflexible, bristle-like. The color of the scutellum and the corium (scutellum fuscous, ½ yellowish white, corium mesial with large triangular fuscous marking continuing to mesial embolium in P. leeae ) also differs between the two species.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Psallops schmitzi sp. nov. — holotype, lateral view.

FIGURES 1, 2. Psallops schmitzi sp. nov., holotype—dorsal view.