Picromerus elevatus, Zhao & Liu & Bu, 2013

Zhao, Qing, Liu, Guoqing & Bu, Wenjun, 2013, A review of the Chinese species of the genus Picromerus Amyot and Serville, with description of a new species (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Pentatomidae: Asopinae), Zootaxa 3613 (2), pp. 146-164 : 153-154

Picromerus elevatus sp. nov.

Figs. 11, 12 , 18 , 26 , 31, 36, 41 , 46, 51, 56 , 61, 66, 67

Description. Color. Dorsum ochraceous, with black or brown punctures; eyes brown; antenna yellow-brown except the apical segment III, IV and V; rostrum brown, darken towards apex, especially the last segment dark brown; pronotum yellow-brown, anterolateral margin and posterior margins of calli metallic-blue, reaching the inner margin of eyes; scutellum and corium concolorous, black or brown punctured; venter of head and throax yellow, except the outer side of the coxae of legs and the venter of pronotal humeral angle with some metallic-blue punctures; legs concolorous, with some small shallow black or brown punctures, the apical 1/4 of tibiae a little dark. Setae on tibia and tarsus golden; a small black spot situated at the outer side of coxa; abdominal venter darker than dorsum, sternites IV–VII each with a central black spot, getting larger backwards.

Head. Surface of head flat, as long as width. Paraclypei slightly longer than clypeus, but not convergent apically. Buccula narrow, with 2 or 3 rows blackish punctures, outer margin slightly curved. Antennae 5- segmented, length of segment I: II: III: IV: V = 0.5: 1.7: 1.6: 1.7: 1.8. Rostrum robust, segment I shortest, segment II shorter than segment III and IV combined, the last segment surpassing metacoxa.

Pronotum more than two times as broad as long; disk rather flat. Anterior half of pronutum oblique and posterior half flat, shallowly punctured. Pronotal anterior margin obviously concaved. Anterolateral margins yellowish, with plump obtuse teeth or with weak teeth. Pronotal humeral angles elevated, obtuse, the length of the stretched out of body greater than the diameter of eyes, apex smooth. Scutellum triangular, a little longer than its basal width; surface weakly convexed in lateral view; basal angle with a deep pit. Apex of scutellum rounded. Corium surpassing the apex of scutellum posteriorly, broadly leaving connexivum exposed. Membrane slightly surpassing apex of abdomen.

Thoracic pleura, sterna and legs. Proepisternum simple; metathoracic scent gland ostiole associated with an elongate, curved peritreme; evaporatorium obvious, surround the scent gland peritrime. Profemora armed subapically; protibiae not dilated, prismatic, with a sharp spine subapically. Pregenital abdomen. Oval, sterum III with an obtuse median tubercle basally, not reaching metacoxae. The center of abdomenal segments IV to VII with black spots, larger towards the apex, posterolateral angles of connexival segments slightly produced; male without sternal glandular patches.

Female genitalia (Fig. 67). First gonocoxites triangular, inner margins straight and posterior margins curved. Apices of ninth paratergites with sparse long setae, longer than apices of eighth paratergites and sternite ten.

Male terminalia. Pygophore ( Figs. 31, 36 , 46, 51 ) cup-like, broader than long, its lateroposterior angle round and short, situated a little higher than notch of ventroposterior rim; dorsoposterior rim concave, with two oblong parandria and sparse setae; ventroposterior rim sinuate, with a narrow, shallow medial notch and long dense setae, lateral sides sinuate, with two convexes. Paramere ( Figs. 41 , 56 ) wide in basal part, with an inner branch; outer margin arched; inner surface with a transverse ridge; apex of paramere obtuse and a little hooked; inner branch short and obtuse, directed lateroposteriorly, outer margin slightly convex. Aedeagus (Figs. 61, 66) with one pair of basolateral conjunctival lobes, which divided into two branches: proximal one and distal one. Proximal branch short, semicircular; distal branch long and narrow relatively, with sclerotized apex. Apical conjunctival lobe short and bifurcate, not stretch out from apical part of theca. Median penial plates strongly sclerotized, united in base. Vesica distinctly stretched from the venter of median penial plates.

Measurements (in mm). Body length 11.0–15; length of head 2.4–2.5, width across eyes 2.3–2.6, interocular distance 1.4–1.7; length of antennomeres (I) 0.3–0.4: (II) 1.3–1.5: (III) 1.3–1.5: (IV) 1.6–1.8: (V) 1.6–1.9; median length of pronotum 3.0–3.7, humeral width 7.2–9.3; length of scutellum 3.9–5.1, width of scutellum 3.3–4.6.

Type specimens: Holotype: CHINA, Yunnan: 1 male, Gongshan County (27.77N, 98.67E), alt. 1560m, 15. V. 1983, collector unknown . Paratypes: CHINA, Yunnan: 1female, 1 male, Kunming City (25.05N, 102.72E), alt. 2100m, 20. IV. 1987, Yujian Lin leg. ( JXAU) ; 1 female, Cangshan County (25.59N, 100.22E), Dali City, 18. VIII. 2006, Cuiqing Gao leg. ; 1 female, Heqing Village North Street (26.57N, 104.46E), alt. 2400m, Qujing City, 15. V. 1980 ; 1 male, Weixi County (27.20N, 99.30E), alt. 2175m, 23–25. XII. 2008, Jishan Xu and Zhenhua Gao leg. ( HBUM) ; 1 male, Yongshan County (28.25N, 103.64E), 21. VII. 2004, Ji Ling and Caixia Yuan leg. ( HBUM) ; 1 female, Gongshan County (27.77N, 98.66E), 2–4. V. 2004, Xiujuan Yang and Yushuang Liu leg. ( HBUM) .

Etymology. The Latin word ‘elevatus’ refers to elevated pronotal humeral angles of the new species.

Remarks. This new species very similar to P. fasciaticeps , but can be distinguished by the following characters: the pronotal humeral angle longer, elevated and yellowish ( Fig. 18 , 26 ), but the character in the latter species is short, porrect and black ( Fig. 17 , 25 ); the body dorsum of P. elevatus sp. nov. flat and relatively smooth ( Fig. 18 ), while in P. fasciaticeps intumescent and rough ( Fig. 17 ). Besides, the head of P. elevatus sp. nov. yellowish uniformly except a fine black line located at the inner margin of eyes, however, the head of P. fasciaticeps entirely black, except a white-yellow belt medially.

P. elevatus sp. nov. is also similar to P. bidens and P. lewisi , but distinctly differs from them by its body shape and brownish color ( Figs. 11, 12 ) (in the latter two, body somber, with several yellow spots on pronotum ( Figs. 1–4 )), its elevated and obtuse humeral angle ( Fig. 26 ) (in the latter two, humeral angle sharp and bifurcate or with a prominence in the humeral angle base ( Figs. 19–22 )), and by its longer rostrum (in the latter two, rostrum not reaching metacoxae). P. elevatus sp. nov. is separated from P. griseus by its body brownish color (in P. griseus , body dark brown, nearly blackish), by its longer membrane (in P.griseus , membrane only slightly surpassing or not surpassing the end of abdomen) and by its obtuse humeral angle (in P.griseus , humeral angle with an obvious tooth ( Fig. 23 )). P. elevatus sp. nov. differs from P. viridipunctatus by its smaller body shape, elevated and obtuse humeral angle, anterior lateral margin of pronotum concolor with most part of pronotum (in P. viridipunctatus , humeral angle porrect and a little bifurcate, anterior half of lateral margin of pronotum yellowish, different from most part of pronotum ( Fig. 24 )).

Figures

FIGURES 9–12. Habitus photographs of Picromerus species. 9–10 P. fasciaticeps, paratype (9 dorsal view; 10 ventral view). 11–12 P. elevatus sp. nov. (11 dorsal view; 12 ventral view). Bar = 5 mm.

FIGURES 13–18. 13–14 Lateral side of buccula (arrows noted) (13 P. bidens; 14 P. lewisi); 15– 16 Ventral abdomen (15 P. bidens; 16 P.lewisi); 17–18 Lateral view (17 P. fasciaticeps; 18 P. elevatus sp. nov.)

FIGURES 19–26. Pronotal humeral angle of Picromerus. (19 P. bidens; 20–22 P.lewisi; 23 P.griseus; 24 P. viridipunctatus; 25 P. fasciaticeps; 26 P. elevatus sp. nov.)

FIGURES 27–41. 27–31 Photos of pygophoral dorsal view (27 P. bidens; 28 P.lewisi; 29 P.griseus; 30 P. viridipunctatus; 31 P. elevatus sp. nov.); 32–36 Photos of pygophoral ventral view (32 P. bidens; 33 P.lewisi; 34 P.griseus; 35 P. viridipunctatus; 36 P. elevatus sp. nov.); 37–41 Photos of paramere (37 P. bidens; 38 P. lewisi; 39 P. griseus; 40 P. viridipunctatus; 41 P. elevatus sp. nov.). Bars = 0.2mm.

FIGURES 42–56. 42–46 Outline of pygophoral dorsal view (42 P. bidens; 43 P.lewisi; 44 P.griseus; 45 P. viridipunctatus; 46 P. elevatus sp. nov.); 47–51 Outline of pygophoral ventral view (47 P. bidens; 48 P.lewisi; 49 P.griseus; 50 P. viridipunctatus; 51 P. elevatus sp. nov.); 52–56 Outline of paramere (52 P. bidens; 53 P. lewisi; 54 P. griseus; 55 P. viridipunctatus; 56 P. elevatus sp. nov.). (dp. r. = dorsoposterior rim; lp. a. = lateroposterior angle; m. n. = medial notch; o. m. = outer margin; p. = parandria; i. b. = inner branch; vp. r. = ventroposterior rim). Bars = 0.2mm.

FIGURES 1–4. Habitus photographs of Picromerus species. 1–2 P. bidens (1 dorsal view; 2 ventral view). 3–4 P. lewisi (3 dorsal view; 4 ventral view). Bar = 5 mm.