Scalponotatus Kelton

Schwartz, Michael D., 2011, Revision And Phylogenetic Analysis Of The North American Genus Slaterocoris Wagner With New Synonymy, The Description Of Five New Species And A New Genus From Mexico, And A Review Of The Genus Scalponotatus Kelton (Heteroptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (354), pp. 1-290 : 46-50

Scalponotatus Kelton

Scalponotatus Kelton, 1969: 16 (orig. desc.); Henry and Wheeler, 1988: 448 (catalog); Schuh, 1995: 194 (catalog); Asquith, 1994: 1, 6, 8–9, 13 (disc.); Schaffner and Schwartz, 2008:3, 5, 20, 21, 83 (disc.).

TYPE SPECIES: Scalponotatus maturus Kelton, 1969 (orig. design.).

DIAGNOSIS: Distinguished from Slaterocoris and Josephinus , both of which share almost entirely black body coloration, by the usually pale basal carina of the vertex (sometimes pale laterally but not on the adjacent frons). The carina in Slaterocoris is black, but rarely, if the head has pale patches on the frons adjacent to the eye (not on the carina), then the body length is greater than 4.60; in Scalponotatus , if the carina is black, then the male is rarely as long as 4.55. In Josephinus , the vertex and frons are entirely pale or the lateral portions of the frons and adjacent basal carina are pale near the eye. The dorsal sculpturation of the hemelytron in Scalponotatus is formed by very small discrete punctures underlying a smoothly undulating rugosity, regardless of the vestiture density. In Slaterocoris , the punctures are larger and obscurely confluent and the underlying rugosity or broken reticulation is of a larger scale. The dorsal sculpturation in Josephinus has rows of overlapping shinglelike plates, or plates underlying small discrete punctures, and with small discrete punctures only.

The most consistent diagnostic characters for Scalponotatus are in the male genitalia. The tergal processes in Scalponotatus , Slaterocoris , and Josephinus usually project from right of midline on the dorsal edge of the pygophore aperture. The tergal process in Scalponotatus is usually stout, entire, strongly curved medially, and with an oval cross section. In Slaterocoris , the tergal process is smaller, usually truncate with a slightly bifurcate apex, and a flat cross section (sometimes projecting from the aperture slightly more to midline). The tergal process in Josephinus projects from the midline or just right of it, but is usually absent or small, moundlike, and flat in cross section.

The parameres unambiguously distinguish the genera. In Scalponotatus the left paramere has a mittenlike apex with obvious medial and lateral lobes and the right paramere has an undeveloped sensory lobe and dorsally directed, variously attenuate apical region. The distal portion of the left paramere in Slaterocoris and Josephinus is entire and narrowed; S. ambrosiae has a subapical process (fig. 16C, D); nevertheless, the structure is not mittenlike as in Scalponotatus . Sometimes the basal area or sensory lobe of the left paramere area in Josephinus has a small spine (fig. 7C, D). The right paramere in Slaterocoris has ventrally directed spines, including the sensory lobe area; in Josephinus , the sensory lobe projects dorsally.

The endosomal spicule in Scalponotatus is attached to the membrane by a basal keel and has a small, spinelike dorsal lobe (rarely large and bifurcate) emanating subbasally from the edge of the left side; the distal region is usually slightly and simply recurved. In Slaterocoris , the endosomal spicule is attached basally without a keel, the dorsal lobe is large and variously modified and emanates subbasally medial of the left side, and the distal region is strongly recurved. The endosomal spicule in Josephinus is usually attached to the membrane without a keel, has a narrow or spinelike subbasal dorsal lobe on the left side edge, and the distal region is strongly bifurcate subapically before the recurved apex.

REDESCRIPTION: Male: Small, total length 2.85–4.55, width 1.43–1.83, costal margin arcuate. COLORATION: Body and appendages predominantly black, vertex near dorsal margin of eye and femur narrowly at apex pale; carina sometimes black. VESTITURE: Variable, either sparsely distributed short, reclining, brown simple setae or moderately dense, longer, reclining silvery simple setae. DORSAL SCULPTURATION: Surface of minute, discrete punctures, forming smooth reticulations, most easily observed on corium; pronotum smoothly punctate; frons smooth. STRUCTURE: Head hypognathous, posterolateral margin straight; clypeus produced dorsal to mandibular plate; frons flattened; vertex sunken anterior of transverse basal carina, vertex/eye contour angled in anterior view; metepisternal spiracle slitlike, roughly teardrop shaped ventrally, with elongate evaporative area on tergum; external metepisternal scent gland area with ostiole flattened and elevated and evaporative area wide, triangular, and spanning width of metepisternum, peritreme and evaporative surface with evaporative bodies (fig. 3C); pretarsus with claw strongly curved; pulvillus moderately large, not extending beyond medial curve of claw; parempodium fleshy, apically convergent (fig. 3D). GENITALIA: Pygophore: Deep dorsoventrally; tergal process situated on right side of aperture, apex hooked toward medial line, sometimes apex bifurcate or with small, separate, more medial spine; ventral margin of aperture entire (not cleft); subgenital plate separated dorsally from ventral margin of aperture; right paramere inserted slightly dorsal to left. Phallotheca: Cone shaped, aperture open and extending to apex on right side, distal margin not convoluted, left lateral surface not compressed. Endosomal spicule: Membrane attached to flat, recurved, basal keel; usually with small spinelike dorsal lobe projecting subbasally from curved left side of spicule (dorsal to basal keel), dorsal lobe sometimes bifurcate; spicule recurved distally, or bifurcate apically; endosomal spicule may extend beyond phallotheca apex in repose and be easily observed without dissection. Right paramere: Apex attenuate, directed dorsally, usually pointed, although sometimes truncate and serrate; dorsomedial region sometimes with small spines. Left paramere: Apex mittenlike, lateral lobe as wide as paramere body, medial lobe of variable width, usually narrower than lateral lobe; basal region not developed ventrally.

Female: Total length 2.95–3.85, width 1.58–2.06; as in male except vertex wider, eye smaller, and costal margin more strongly convex. ABDOMEN: Subgenital plate: Broadly triangular. GENITALIA: First gonapophyses: Right overlapping left, in ventral view; left side larger than right at overlap, short, composed of two sections with mediodistal area not produced, dorsal surface protuberant, with apex narrow. Vestibulum: Anteroventral margin of anterior wall sclerotized medially, spanning width of first gonapophyses. Ventral labiate plate: Ventral surface broadly produced into vulva. Dorsal labiate plate: Paired medial sclerites small with intersclerite length greater than sclerite width; dorsal region mostly membranous. Second gonapophyses: Anterior medial surface weakly convex. Posterior wall: Interramal sclerite with dorsomedial region flat, not produced anteriorly; medial region narrow, platelike; posteromedial portion with narrow process abutting ovipositor bulb; ventromedial region not greatly overlapping second gonapophyses basally; interramal lobe with sclerotized basal (dorsal) attachment; dorsomedial margin not produced as lobe; ventral projection long with convex anterior surface.

DISCUSSION: When Kelton (1968) revised Slaterocoris , Strongylocoris albibasis Knight was excluded from the expanded genus. Subsequently Scalponotatus ( Kelton, 1969) was erected with S. maturus , the type species, and nine other species, including albibasis , were placed in the genus. Two species, S. lagunensis Carvalho and Costa, 1992 , and S. sinaloensis Carvalho and Costa, 1992 , were subsequently added to the genus. Scalponotatus was founded on the ‘‘finely sculptured and shallowly punctate’’ hemelytron, the usually pale transverse basal carina of the head, and the general pattern of the male genitalia. As discussed in Schaffner and Schwartz (2008) and previously herein, two species initially included in Scalponotatus do not have the defining characters of the genus as presented by Kelton (1969). These will be discussed below under Josephinus , new genus. The revised diagnosis of Scalponotatus requires new combinations for Jornandes dissimulans Distant, 1893 , and S. sinaloensis . The taxonomic justification for the former species follows the checklist of species placed in Scalponotatus , while the taxonomic consideration for the latter species, under a separate heading, precedes the treatment of Josephinus , new genus.

The single endosomal spicule is dorsal of the ductus and tilted to the right side in all of the black orthotylines or Slaterocoris -group genera discussed in this paper. In the terminology of Cassis (2008), these are dorsal endosomal spicules. Herein, I refer to two portions of the dorsal endosomal spicule—the ventral lobe or the main body of the spicule arising from the basal attachment to the membrane and the dorsal lobe emanating from the subbasal area of the main body of the spicule (figs. 4A, 10A, 16A, 18A, 29A, 39D, 42A, 52A, 57A, 61A, 64A, 65D, 73A). The ventral lobe of the spicule in Jornandinus , Josephinus , and Scalponotatus are recurved distally regardless of the structure of the basal attachment to the membrane or the dorsal lobe. The dorsal lobes of Scalponotatus and Slaterocoris have a slightly different form.

In Scalponotatus , an endosomal spine (not the flattened keel attached to the endosomal membrane) is absent just left of the sinuate basal portion of the spicule on the left subbasal margin (fig. 4A). I interpret this region to be homologous to the area in Slaterocoris (fig. 39A), where the dorsal lobe projects, even though in the majority of Slaterocoris species the dorsal lobe clearly emanates from the dorsal surface at the midline of the spicule. However, in S. simplex , the base of the dorsal lobe is shifted to the left and twisted on its axis, so that the medial and lateral rami of the dorsal lobe are perpendicular to the body of the spicule (fig. 65C–F, arrow). In S. clavatus (fig. 57A, B), the dorsal lobe is most similar in arrangement to those in Josephinus and Scalponotatus . A small dorsal lobe projecting from the left side is also present in Jornandinus and Josephinus . The curvature of the endosomal base in Scalponotatus is also more sinuate basally than in either Josephinus and Slaterocoris .

The tergal process of Scalponotatus is curved and solitary in S. maturus (fig. 4H), but sometimes, even in this species, it has a little mound medial to the curving right lateral process. Other species (cf. S. mimosus ) have a more prominent medial spine at the same position as the mound in S. maturus . There is a concordant structure in the ventral margin of the pygophore and the mittenshaped apex of the left paramere. The posterior margin of the subgenital plate or cup-shaped sclerite in Scalponotatus is either separated dorsally from the ventral margin of the aperture ( S. maturus ), or additionally projects posteriorly beyond the aperture ( S. mimosus ). In either case, there is a triangular or U-shaped depression ventral to the raised subgenital plate; in repose, the apex and lateral surface of the left paramere covers this space. In Jornandinus , Josephinus , and Slaterocoris , all with the apical portion of the left parameres narrow, the subgenital plate merges with the ventral margin roughly at the level of the aperture, closing the space ventral to the subgenital plate.

The structure of the right paramere in Scalponotatus is rather simple; the variable regions are generally confined to the length of the roughly rectangular body and the length and angle of the distal region. The body of the right paramere is here defined as the region between the attenuated distal section and the wider basal area region of the paramere, situated before the internal sinuate insertion and flat apodeme. The distal region is variably attenuate, usually terminating in a single point, although the type species, S. maturus , has a truncate, serrate apex (fig. 4E–G). The basal area is not produced dorsally into a ‘‘sensory lobe’’ as in Jornandinus , Josephinus , and Slaterocoris . In the left paramere, the medial lobe of the apex can be long and narrower than (cf. S. maturus , especially in S. insignis ) or as wide as (cf. S. mexicanus ) the lateral lobe. Variation in the apical region of the left paramere is greater than in any portion of the right paramere.