Hyadaphis parva, Nieto Nafría, Juan M., Hidalgo, Nicolas Pérez & Brown, Paul A., 2016

Nieto Nafría, Juan M., Hidalgo, Nicolas Pérez & Brown, Paul A., 2016, Three new Asiatic species of Hyadaphis (Hemiptera, Aphididae), Zootaxa 4109 (3), pp. 332-344 : 340-341

Hyadaphis parva sp. n.

Description. Apterous viviparous females ( Figure 5), from 8 specimens, which have been measured. Colour when alive unknown. When mounted pale in general with very light brown head, antennae, legs, siphunculi, anal plate and cauda. Metric and meristic features in Table 1 . Head smooth. Triommatidium quite well integrated in the eye. Frons softly undulate. Dorsal and ventral cephalic setae similar in length and shape, delicate and pointed. Antennal segments I and II with scarce and little marked lines and segments III–VI more or less imbricated. Antennal setae pointed and thicker than the cephalic setae. Rostrum reaches the middle legs coxae. Ultimate rostral segment triangular in shape. Setae on femora and tibiae pointed and thicker than the cephalic ones. Sternum of thoracic segments without pigmented sclerites (in two specimens a small and very pale prosternal sclerotisation is present). Thoracic and most of abdominal segments smooth; eight abdominal tergite with irregular lines of spinules. Marginal tubercles frequently present on prothorax and on one or two side of abdominal segments 2–6, rounded in appearance, being the biggest one the tubercle on 6. Dorsoabdominal setae scarce (8 on each anterior segment), pointed and thicker than cephalic setae. Siphunculi tapered in general with a small swelling on the third quarter of length, with lineal ornamentation and poor defined flange. Cauda broad triangular with setae restricted to the sides.

Biology. From the collector’s annotations, the identification of the species of the host plant of Hyadaphis parva sp. n., Andrachne (?) cordifolia (Malpigiales: Phyllanthaceae , previously Euphorbiaceae ), is doubtful, but it is evident that the host plant is not an umbeliferous species, because its vegetative aspect is very different to them. It is the first record of a Hyadaphis species on a species of plant belong to the order Malpigiales. There is no data about the life cycle of the species. The species is not frequent, as it has not been cited by Naumann-Etienne & Remaudière (1994), and no samples on this plant are in the register of Remaudière’s collection that is preserved in the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, which has been consulted for this purpose by one of the authors (JMNN).

Distribution. The type specimens of the new species were collected at Rawalakot (Azad Jammu and Kashmir province, Pakistan); approximately 1680 m a.s.l., 35° 51’ N, 71° 48’ E (from Gladstonefamily.net, 2015c). No conjecture over its geographic distribution can be made, beyond its presence in the mountains of Pakistan and perhaps neighbouring countries.

Types. Holotype: viviparous apterous female, PAKISTAN: Rawalakot, 9.VI.1967, on Andrachne (?) cordifolia; Ghani leg. [896]; collection of the Natural History Museum (London, United Kingdom), specimen number ‘8’ (in the same slide that specimen ‘7’). Paratypes: 7 apterous viviparous, same data that the holotype; collection of the Natural History Museum (London, United Kingdom).

Etymology. The specific epithet of the new species, parva , is a Latin adjective, in nominative feminine (as Hydaphis ) and singular, which means small, in reference to the short body length of this aphid. This name already was handwritten on the slide labels by D. Hille Ris Lambers, who never formally described the species.