Apolygopsis nigra ( Poppius, 1915 ) Yasunaga & Schwartz & Chérot, 2018

Yasunaga, Tomohide, Schwartz, Michael D. & Chérot, Frédéric, 2018, Review of the plant bug genus Prolygus and related mirine taxa from eastern Asia (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae (Acta. Ent. Mus. Natl. Pragae) 58 (2), pp. 357-388 : 375-377

Apolygopsis nigra ( Poppius, 1915) comb. nov.

( Figs 71 , 83–84 , 131–135 )

Lygus niger Poppius, 1915: 35 (original description).

Lygus niger: SCHUH (1995) : 818 (catalog).

Prolygus niger: SCHWARTZ & KERZHNER (1997) : 253 (new combination); KERZHNER & JOSIFOV (1999): 173 (catalog); ZHENG et al. (2004): 563 (diagnosis, key).

Type material examined. LECTOTYPE: ♀, TAIWAN: Formosa , Taihorinsho [= currently Dalin of Kagi County], 7 Nov 1909, H. Sauter ( Fig. 71 , without USIs, image examined).

Additional specimens examined. NEPAL: KATHMANDU VALLEY: Samakhusi,Gongabu, 27°43 ′ 59.5 ″ N, 85°18 ′ 49 ″ E, 1,300 m, UV light trap, 15 Jun 2005, T.Yasunaga, 1♁ ( TYCN) ( AMNH _PBI 00380506); Swayambhu, Natural History Museum Garden, 27°42 ′ 52.8 ″ N, 85°17 ′ 13.5 ″ E, 1,350 m, on Lantana flowers, May–July 2005, T. Yasunaga, 3 ♁♁ 3 ♀♀ ( NMTU, TYCN). THAILAND: CHAIYAPHUM: Chulabhom-dam, 16.5346, 101.6421, UV light trap, 16 Apr 2013, T. Yasunaga, 2 ♀♀ ( TYCN). NAKHON RATCHASIMA: Wang Nam Khieo,Sakaerat Environmental Research Station, 14°30 ′ 27 ″ N, 101°55 ′ 39 ″ E, 410 m alt., sweeping inflorescence of broadleaf, 24 Jan 2009, T. Yasunaga, 1 ♁ ( TYCN) ( AMNH _PBI 00380507); same locality, UV light trap, 23 Mar 2014, T. Yasunaga, K. Yamada, 1 ♁ 2 ♀♀ ( TYCN); same data, except for date 12–14 Jun 2009, T. Yasunaga, K. Yamada, 2 ♀♀ ( TYCN).

Redescription. Male. As in female, not sexually dimorphic, but somewhat smaller and narrower. Body small, ovoid, 3.08–3.29 mm. COLOURATION: Generally fuscous; head pale orange-brown; vertex with an obscure, small spot near inner margin of eye.Antenna dark brown, except for segment I and basal half of II pale brown. Pleura fuscous, except for scent efferent system creamy yellow. Hemelytron uniformly black, membrane including veins dark smoky brown. Legs creamy yellow; profemur and protibia pale orange-red; metafemur with two dark, narrow rings at apex; tibial spines dark brown. SURFACE AND VESTITURE: Dorsal surface shiny, with uniformly distributed, silky, semierect setae. Pronotum finely and sparsely punctate. Hemelytron uniformly shiny. Tibial spines prominent. STRUCTURE: Vertex carinate basally. Pronotal collar about as thick as basal transverse carina of vertex; scutellum weakly swollen. Hemelytron declivous at cuneal fracture. GENITALIA ( Figs 131–135 ): Left paramere C-shaped, tumid throughout, with hypophysis weakly produced apically, lacking elongate branch ( Fig. 132 ); right paramere short, tumid, with tiny, hooked hypophysis ( Fig. 131 ). Endosoma with distinct paired spiculi originated from endosomal bottom and broad, spatula-like lobal-sclerite; secondary gonopore thick-rimmed ( Fig. 134 ).

Measurements (in mm). ♁/ ♀: Total length of body 3.08– 3.29 / 3.18–3.43; head width including eyes 0.89–0.91 / 0.88–0.89; vertex width 0.30 / 0.33; lengths of antennal segments I–IV 0.42, 1.29, 0.60, 0.45 / 0.43–0.45, 1.30–1.31, 0.67–0.68, 0.49–0.50; labial length 1.26 / 1.23; mesal length of pronotum including collar 0.75 / 0.75; basal width of pronotum 1.23–1.24 / 1.29; maximum width across hemelytron 1.38 / 1.50; and lengths of metafemur, tibia and tarsus 1.35, 1.75, 0.45 / 1.35, 1.85, 0.44.

Differential diagnosis. Readily recognized by its largely fuscous body, small size, and contrastingly creamy yellow femora (except for pale red-orange profemur and pale orange-brown head) ( Figs 83–84 ). No other known congener exhibits such distinct colouration; but final instar nymph (possibly fitting this taxon) is almost entirely whitish yellowgreen, as in that of A. mikioi Yasunaga & Schwartz, 2005 . Further descriptions were provided by POPPIUS (1915) for external morphology and by SCHWARTZ & KERZHNER (1997) for female genitalia.

Biology. Most of specimens were collected using UV light traps. Several specimens were taken on inflorescence of Lantana sp. ( Verbenaceae ) and some unidentified broadleaf angiosperms.

Distribution. Laos (Bolikhamsai) (new record), Malaysia (Perak) (new record), Nepal (Kathmandu Valley) (new record), Philippines ( POPPIUS 1915), Taiwan ( POPPIUS 1915), Thailand (Chaiyaphum, Nakhon Ratchasima) (new records).

Comments. SCHWARTZ & KERZHNER (1997) provisionally placed this species in Prolygus , based on the female genitalia; no male specimen was available and the genus Apolygopsis had not yet been established. The present examination on the male genitalia suggests that it is evidently a member of Apolygopsis , and a new combination is accordingly proposed. The male is also documented for the first time. This species is easily distinguished from other known congeners by the entirely fuscous, shiny body with contrastingly creamy yellow meso- and metafemora. Apolygus furvus (Kerzhner, 1972) and high-summer variant of Apolygopsis nigritula (Linnavuori, 1963) sometimes exhibit similar (almost uniformly fuscous) color pattern, but these taxa have much larger body (more than 4.5 mm), always pale median part of cuneus and pale brown metafemur with a few obscure rings apically.

Figures

Figs 66–72. Asian species of Prolygus and related genera, type specimens. 66 – Lygus bakeri Poppius, 1915 [now in Anthophilolygus], paralectotypes; 67 – Lygus tainanensis Poppius, 1915 [synonym of A. bakeri]; 68 – Lygus nigriclavus Poppius, 1915 [now in Prolygus]; 69 – Lygus kirkaldyi Poppius, 1915 [synonym of Poppiolygus bengalicus]; 70 – Lygus bengalicus Reuter, 1885 [now in Poppiolygus], lectotype (herein designated) and paralectotype; 71 – Lygus niger Poppius, 1915 [now in Apolygopsis]; 72 – Lygus eous Poppius, 1915 [now in Apolygopsis]. Scale bars ca. 1 mm (based on original description of each taxon, except for Fig. 70 recently re-measured by courtesy of Prof. Enghoff of ZMUC).

Figs 83–93. Habitus images of Asian species of the Lygus complex. 83–84 – Apolygopsis nigra sp. nov. (Poppius, 1915): 83 – ♁ (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand), 84 – ♀ (Kathmandu, Nepal). 85 – Apolygopsis nigritula (Linnavuori, 1961), ♀ (Nagasaki, Japan). 86 – Apolygopsis furvocarinata Yasunaga, Schwartz & Chérot, 2002, adults aggregated on Fraxinus griffitii (Iriomote Island, Japan). 87–89 – Miyamotolygus rufilorum (Lu & Zheng, 1998) (Kathmandu, Nepal): 87–88 – ♁, 89 – ♀. 90–93 – Poppiolygus bengalicus (Reuter, 1885): 90 –♀ (Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand), 91 – ♀ (Ayeyawady, Myanmar), 92 – ♁ (Kaski, Nepal), 93 – final instar nymph (Kasuki).

Figs 118–135. Male (118–123, 126–128, 131–135) and female (125–126, 129–130) genitalia of Anthophilolygus spp. (118–130) and Apolygopsis nigra (Poppius, 1915) (131–135: 131 – right paramere; 132 – left paramere; 133 – phallotheca; 134–135 – endosoma). 118–125 – A. alaneylesi sp. nov.: 118–119 – apex of pygophore with right paramere, dorsal (118) and left lateral (119) view; 120 – left paramere; 121 – aedeagus; 122 – phallotheca; 123 – endosoma; 124 – bursa copulatrix, dorsal view; 125 – posterior wall; 126–130 – A. bakeri (Poppius, 1915): 126 – apex of pygophore with left paramere, 127 – right paramere; 128 – aedeagus; 129 – bursa copulatrix, dorsal view; 130 – posterior wall. Scale bars 0.2 mm (0.1 mm for 118–125).