Orthosaldula Gapud, 1986

Zettel, Herbert & Gapud, Victor P., 2008, Notes on the endemic Philippine genus Orthosaldula (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Saldidae), with descriptions of two new species, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 48 (2), pp. 319-329 : 320-321

Orthosaldula Gapud, 1986

Orthosaldula Gapud, 1986: 7 (key), 16-17 (description) (originally quoted as Gapud, 1977 [sic!], see Taxonomic notes below).

Orthosalda [sic!]: DUDGEON (1999): 356 (mentioned as a Philippine endemic genus).

Type species. Orthosaldula rubroalata Gapud, 1986 (by monotypy).

Diagnosis. Body small, slender. Colour ( Figs. 1-6 ) unique. Black, thorax and some areas on head with more or less metallic, bluish or violet traces. Head with yellow, orange, or reddish patches near anterodorsal eye margin and on mandibular plates; maxillary plates, anteclypeus, gular lobes, and labrum totally yellow, orange, or reddish. Metapleura pale. Forewing with ground colour red or yellow and with prominent black mark in centre, lateral areas pale. Antenna and legs chiefly pale, or with reddish traces, but procoxa always black; fourth antennomere infuscated in some specimens. Sternites 2-6 in both sexes with reddish hind margins, at least narrow and laterally; sternite 7 of female pale, almost transparent, except black stripe at base. Pilosity reduced, without long standing setae; short decumbent whitish pilosity present on some parts of head and thorax, most dominant on sides; hemelytron with short dark, appressed or decumbent setae. Vertex narrow. Ocelli located on distinct tubercle that is laterally delimited by deep, posteriad prolonged anteocellar furrows. Rostrum very long, reaching apex of hind coxa, third segment ca. 2.2 times as long as fourth. Antenna: antennomere 2 longest, relative lengths of antennomeres approximately as 5: 10: 9: 9, antennomeres 1 and 2 cylindrical in both sexes. Pronotum coarsely sculptured, with sides slightly concave and strongly converging anteriad, with posterior margin almost straight (slightly convex laterally, slightly concave medially); collar very narrow; callus narrow (median length less than two thirds of posterior lobe length) and domed, with impressed median line; transverse furrow separating callus from posterior lobe deeply punctured and reaching lateral margins; posterior lobe more or less domed, laterally with sharply impressed longitudinal furrows separating humeri from disk. Mesoscutum domed. Scutellum anteriorly strongly raised, posterior flattened. Hemelytron ( Fig. 7 ) with short embolar fracture (ef), not reaching level of apex of radius (R); membrane with four cells, innermost cell (relative to wing the posterior one) shorter and narrower than the following cell; hypocostal ridge simple, secondary costal ridge absent. Genital capsule of male with horn-shaped parandria ( Fig. 8 ); proctiger ( Fig. 9 ) subtrapezoidal, with moderately convex hind margin; paramere ( Fig. 10 ) strongly curved, with weakly developed processus sensualis. Phallus complex, containing numerous minute sclerites. Subgenital plate of female ( Fig. 11 ) caudally produced, in middle of hind margin with very small, indistinct lobe.

Comparative notes. Orthosaldula belongs to the subfamily Saldinae ( GAPUD 1986) . The modifications of the pronotum and the vivid colour pattern are unique. Especially noteworthy are the coarse sculpture of the pronotum, and the narrow collar and callus as compared with the long, domed, posterior lobe with almost straight hind margin, which distinguish Orthosaldula from all other Saldidae in the Oriental Region. The relationships with other saldine genera are not resolved.

Distribution and species diversity. Endemic to the Philippines. Hitherto known from three islands, Luzon, Leyte and Cebu, each home of one species.A fourth species has been collected in northern Luzon (J. T. Polhemus, pers. comm.), but was not made available for our study. Taxonomic notes. GAPUD (1986) introduced the new genus Orthosaldula and four new species names, Orthosaldula rubroalata , Saldula mimica Gapud, 1986 , and Chartoscirta mayona Gapud, 1986 in Saldidae , Corallocoris cinereus Gapud, 1986 in Omaniidae . By a lapsus calami, these taxa were referred to ‘Gapud, 1977’, a publication that does not exist. However, the study by GAPUD (1986) provides descriptions of all new taxa and therefore all names are fully available according to the requirements by the ICZN, Third Edition ( ICZN 1985).

Figures

Fig. 1. Orthosaldula rubroalata Gapud, 1986, female, body length 3.3 mm. (© NHMW Hemiptera Image Collection, published with permission).

Fig. 2. Orthosaldula stysi sp. nov., female, body length 3.2 mm. (© NHMW Hemiptera Image Collection, published with permission).

Fig. 3. Orthosaldula flavonigra sp. nov., male, body length 2.8 mm. (© NHMW Hemiptera Image Collection, published with permission).

Figs. 4-6. Head, frontal aspect: 4 – Orthosaldula rubroalata Gapud, 1986; 5 – O. stysi sp. nov.; 6 – O.

Figs. 7-14. 7-11 – Orthosaldula rubroalata Gapud, 1986: 7 – right forewing (ef = embolar fracture, R = radius); 8 – parandria, caudal view; 9 – proctiger, dorsal view; 10 – left paramere, lateral view; 11 – subgenital plate of female, ventral view. 12-14 – dorsal outline of pronotum, lateral view (co = collar, ca = callus, pl = posterior lobe). 12 – O. rubroalata; 13 – O. stysi sp. nov.; 14 – O. flavonigra sp. nov. Pilosity omitted, except in Fig. 10.