Ulonemia concava Drake 1942b

Shofner, Ryan & Cassis, Gerasimos, 2024, Phylogenetics and taxonomy of the Indo-Australian genus Ulonemia sensu Drake (Hemiptera: Tingidae), with the recognition of new genera and species collected from Proteaceae in Australia, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 200 (2), pp. 360-425 : 422-423

Ulonemia concava Drake 1942b incertae sedis

( Figs 23C, D , 25 , 26 )

Ulonemia concava Drake 1942b: 359 [original description]; Drake and Ruhoff (1965a: 420) [world catalogue]; Cassis and Gross (1995: 437) [Australian catalogue]; Dang et al. (2014: 49) [taxonomy].

Type material

Holotype: AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Cedar Creek , 25 Jan 1931, (H. Hacker Collection (C.J. Drake Collection 1956)), ♂ ( USNM 00866830 ). Photograph of holotype examined.

Other material examined

AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Maleny, 26.767°S 152.85°E, 13 Oct 1967, D. A. I., Macadamia tetraphylla L.A.S. Johnson ( Proteaceae ), 4 mixed sexes ( UNSW _ENT 00046437, UNSW _ ENT 00046438) ( QDPI).

Diagnosis: Ulonemia concava can be recognized by the following combination of characters: occipital spines exceeding midpoint of eye; paranota carina-like across pronotal disc; paranota areolae anterior to pronotal disc of uniform or near-uniform size; pronotal carinae ridge-like, lacking areolae; collum flattened, lacking hood; costal area biseriate anteriorly, uniseriate posteriorly, distinct constriction of hemelytra at posterior edge of discoidal area.

Male: Macropterous; 3.46 mm (N = 1) ( Table 3 ). COLORATION. Golden-brown to straw-coloured ( Fig. 23C, D ). Head: reddish brown; frontal and occipital spines straw-coloured, medial spine reddish brown to straw-coloured; bucculae straw-coloured; eyes black. Antennae: AI-AIII golden-brown, AIV golden-brown proximally, darkening to dark brown distally. Rostrum: golden-brown with dark brown to black apex. Pronotum: disc golden-brown; calli dark reddish brown; collum and paranota straw-coloured to golden-brown; lateral and medial carinae straw-coloured. Thoracic pleura and sterna: proepisternum straw-coloured anteriorly, mostly reddish brown to brown posteriorly, proepimeron reddish brown to brown, supracoxal lobes golden-brown; mesepisternum mostly reddish brown to brown, mesepimeron and supracoxal lobes reddish brown to golden-brown; metepisternum reddish brown ventrally, golden-brown dorsally; peritreme of metathoracic gland golden-brown; prosternum and mesosternum golden-brown to brown, metasternum golden-brown; pro-, meso-, and metasternal carinae straw-coloured. Hemelytra: discoidal area reddish brown to straw-coloured; subcostal, costal, and sutural areas straw-coloured to golden-brown; R + M and cubitus veins each with brown bar distally. Legs: mostly golden-brown; coxae reddish brown. Abdominal venter: reddish brown to golden-brown. VESTITURE. Head: distribution of golden-brown aciculate setae from base of medial spine anteriorly to posterior margin of head; frons and gena with straw-coloured aciculate setae; medial spine with straw-coloured short aciculate setae; vertex with globules of wax; bucculae with minute setae and ciliate punctures. Antennae: AI–AII with straw-coloured aciculate arcuate setae; AIII with straw-coloured aciculate decumbent setae, AIV with dense straw-coloured aciculate setae; distal ends of AII and AIII with dense ring of microtrichia. Pronotum: anterior and paranotal margins with sparse distribution of minute setae; medial and lateral carinae with sparse distribution of minute setae; disc with minute scale-like setae and numerous punctures with six to eight cilia distributed evenly around internal rim of punctures; calli with straw-coloured setae, globules of wax often covering calli. Thoracic pleura and sterna: proepisternum with minute setae and ciliate punctures anteriorly as on pronotal disc, lacking ciliate punctures posteriorly, proepimeron and supracoxal lobes with minute setae and ciliate punctures; mesepisternum with minute setae, mesepimeron and supracoxal lobes with minute setae and ciliate punctures posteriorly; metepisternum with minute setae and ciliate punctures; propluron covered with small wax globules. Legs: coxae to femur with minute setae, tibia with minute setae proximally to aciculate setae distally. Hemelytra: sparse distribution of short aciculate setae on R + M and cubitus veins; discoidal area with sparse distribution of minute setae on veins; sutural and subcostal areas glabrous; costal margin with sparse distribution of minute setae. Abdominal venter: minute setae and wax distributed throughout. STRUCTURE. Head: frontal spines conical, strongly convergent, approximately 1/5 length of AI; medial spine stout, subglobose to conical, height equal to frontal spines; occipital spines straight, mostly cylindrical, length 2× medial spine, strongly protruding from anterior edge of collum. Antennae: AI and AII short, AII one-third length of AI; AIII usually longer than distance between humeral angles; AIV linear to weakly clavate. Labium: moderate length, extending beyond anterior margin of metasternum. Pronotum: strongly convex; collum flattened, lacking hood, anterior margin straight to slightly projecting anteriorly; medial and lateral carinae decumbent on disc, becoming uniseriate posteriorly, areolae very small; medial and lateral carinae equal thickness, lateral carinae divaricating slightly anterior to apex of disc; paranota curved, following disc, biseriate, becoming carina-like posteriorly, areolae rectangular. Thoracic sterna: pro-, meso-, and metasternal carinae elevated, uniseriate, areolae small, rectangular; prosternal and mesosternal carinae straight, parallel, metasternal carinae truncate-obovate. Hemelytra: areolae small, irregular, and nearly uniformly sized in discoidal, subcostal, and costal areas; sutural area areolae similar to discoidal area proximally, increasing in size to 8-10 × distally; costal area areolae rectangular; costal area uniseriate, subcostal area biseriate, discoidal area increasing from one to eight areolae wide, sutural area increasing from two to eleven areolae wide. Male genitalia: pygophore boxlike, with lateral margins only slightly curved, with pair of basal spurs near posterior margin of genital margin ( Fig. 26A, B ); parameres C-shaped with apophysis tapered distally ( Fig. 26C–E ); aedeagus with Y-shaped dorsal plate ( Fig. 26F ); endosomal membrane spinulate ( Fig. 26F–H ); pair of sclerotized, endosomal lobal sclerites present ( Fig. 26F–H ).

Female: Macropterous; 3.87 mm (N = 1) ( Table 3 ). COLORATION. As in male. VESTITURE. As in male. STRUCTURE. Larger body size than males; otherwise as in male.

Plant associations: Recorded from Macadamia tetraphylla , four specimens ( Proteaceae ).

Distribution: Drake (1942b) recorded this species from Cedar Creek, Queensland; also known from the vicinity of Maleny, Queensland ( Fig. 25 ).

Remarks: Collection notes accompanying the QDPI specimens indicate that there were large outbreaks of this species in macadamia orchards when the specimens were collected. However, those specimens represent the last known collections of this species; no specimens or records of this species exist after 1967. Recent efforts by us to locate this species within its known range have failed. The current conservation status of this species is unknown and should be investigated.

Morphological character combinations present in this species place it intermediate to Cercotingis , Proteatingis , and Ulonemia . The paranota are similar to other species of Ulonemia , though in U. concava the areolae are lacking entirely on the posterior portion of the pronotal disc (vs. highly reduced in Ulonemia ). The biseriate costal area is similar to Cercotingis , which excludes U. concava incertae sedis from both Proteatingis and Ulonemia . The male genitalia are most similar to Proteatingis , with the Y-shaped dorsal plate, sclerites on the endosoma, and hook-like lobal sclerites unique to that genus. The placement of U. concava incertae sedis therefore remains unresolved until further specimens and DNA can be obtained and analysed.

Figures

Figure 23. Habitus photos of Ulonemia species: U. leai male dorsal (A), female dorsal (B); U. concava incertae sedis male dorsal (C), female dorsal (D); U. leai male lateral (E), female lateral (F). Scale bar = 1 mm.

Figure 25. Distribution map for Ulonemia leai and U. concava incertae sedis. Locality information taken from the PBI database.

Figure 26. Male genitalia of Ulonemia concava incertae sedis: pygophore, dorsal view (A); pygophore, ventral view (B); left paramere, dorsal view (C); right paramere, lateral view (D); right paramere, dorsal view (E); aedeagus, dorsal view (F); aedeagus, ventral view (G); aedeagus, right lateral view (H). See Methods for abbreviations. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.