Acantharadus flora Vásárhelyi, 2023

Tang, Jin, Zhang, Gongaote, Guo, Junqi, Luo, Lingxuan, Jiang, Jiamei & Pan, Hongbo, 2023, New Acantharadus And Kema Species (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Aradidae) From Halmahera Island, Indonesia, Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 69 (2), pp. 151-164 : 152-155

Acantharadus flora Vásárhelyi , sp. n.

http://zoobank.org/ FA210E37-3F60-4226-ACCD-D11E85C2A363 (Figs 1–6, 10–11, 12–14)

Description – m. Macropterous. Body oval, with spectacular lateral protuberances, spine- or tooth-like lobes along body margin from head to tip of abdomen. Dorsal side with scarce or in rows, respectively in groups arranged granulation of mostly setigerous tubercles. Colouration darker brown, with yellow colour on protuberances along body margin (head, pronotum, hemelytra, abdomen), on lateral lobes of pronotum, lateral corners of scutellum; deltg V posteriorly, VI entirely, VII anteriorly brownish yellow, as well as tip (last spine) on all segments of abdomen, glabrous areas yellowish.

Head distinctly longer than wide across eyes, slightly wider than long across antenniferous tubercles. Anterior process of head reaching about two thirds of first antennal joint, genae much surpassing clypeus, diverging, their lateral margin serrate.Antenniferous tubercles well developed, divergent, bispinose apically as well as postocular tubercles, latter ones surpassing eyes laterally. Preocular tubercles present, distinct, directed dorso-anterolaterally. Vertex and clypeus with two slightly convex rows of granules. Rostrum almost reaching to neck, folded into a posteriorly open rostral groove. Antennae slender except curved, club-shaped joint I; joint II subcylindrical, bulbous at tip; joint III thickening towards apex; joint IV fusiform. Relative lengths of antennal joints I to IV as 24:18:23.5:14 (m) and 25:17:24:14 (f).

Pronotum with elevated hind disc, fore disc with two distinct callosities surrounded by granules, and two lateral callosities, partly hidden by granulation. Dorsal surface with granules arranged in a wide V behind neck, and in longitudinal rows coarsely forming lateral carinae. Anterolateral angles of pronotum with large lobe, anteriorly reaching beyond eyes. Anterior margin of pronotum not sinuate, but sharply arcuate on both sides, margins almost parallel. Lateral border with large teeth, irregularly with some smaller teeth between them. Posterior margin convex at its corners, distinctly produced posteriad, widely sinuate medially.

Scutellum triangular, apex somewhat protracted, all margins carinate except at apex. Anterior border convex, with some large granules overlapping hind margin of pronotum, with rough granulation at lateral angles. Surface irregular, with rugosity on both sides, scattered granules along a wide median ridge.

Hemelytra almost reaching tergum VII in female, approaching middle of tergum VII in male. Corium with strongly dilated, bluntly spined basal margin. Veins of corium with setigerous tubercles.

Abdomen wide, oval, with glabrous areas surrounded by granulation, depressed lateral margin of each segment with 3–4 (not necessarily symmetric) finger-like, apically rounded spines. Abdomen widest across segment IV (m) or III–IV (f), respectively; narrowing in posterior direction. Pygophore with protruding posterior edge medially, tergum VII strongly elevated until hind margin. Lobes VIII surpassing tip of pygophore. Female tergite VII medially with elevated area surrounded by granulation.

Measurements of adults – Holotype m: length of head 2.0 mm, width of head 1.8 mm, length of pronotum 1.8 mm, width of pronotum across fore lobe 4.0 mm, median width 3.2 mm, across hind lobe 5.0 mm, length of scutellum 2.0 mm, width of scutellum 2.5 mm, maximum width of abdomen 5.8 mm across segment IV, total length of body 11.5 mm. Paratype f: length of head 2.1 mm, width of head 1.8 mm, length of pronotum 1.8 mm, width of pronotum across fore lobe 4.1 mm, median width 3.3 mm, across hind lobe 4.9 mm, length of scutellum 2.1 mm, width of scutellum 2.5 mm, maximum width of abdomen 6.3 mm across segments III–IV, total length of body 12.6 mm.

Figs 1–8. Acantharadus flora sp. n. (1–6) and A. quaternarius ( Bergroth, 1886) (7–8): 1, 7 = anterior part of body of female; 2, 4 = dorsal view of tip of abdomen (2 = female, 4 = male); 3, 8 = ventral view of female abdomen; 5, 6 = open pygophore of male (5 = lateral view, 6 =

dorsal view). Figs 5–6 are out of scale

L 5 larva ( Figs 10–11 ) – Body flat, oval contour broken anteriorly only. Antenniferous tubercles forming characteristically bifurcate lobes. Head distinctly wider than long across antenniferous tubercles, somewhat longer than wide across eyes. Eyes small, preocular tubercle present, postocular tubercle surpassing eye. Rostrum surpassing hind border of head.

Pronotum with a soft median longitudinal ridge, laterally depressed, showing signs of future anterolateral lobes. Apodemal impressions distinct on disc. Lateral border coarsely, irregularly serrate. Mesothoracic wing pads as typical in many last instar Mezirinae , almost reaching or slightly surpassing hind border of metanotum on the two specimens at hand, their lateral border also coarsely, irregularly serrate.

Abdomen with characteristic pattern of glabrous areas. Deltgs sclerotized, darker in colour, with 2–4 lateral projections/protuberances, forshadowing similar structures found in adults.

Structure of the ovipositor as characteristic of the last larval instars in Aradidae ( Fig. 13 ).

Length of the two L 5 larvae at hand 10.9 and 11.3 mm.

Type material – Holotype m, paratype f: “ INDONESIA Halmahera / Isl. Jailolo Dist., / Kampung Pasir Putih / 0°53′N, 127°41′E // 1–14 June 1981 / AC Messer & PM Taylor”; deposited in the USNM (m) and in the HNHM (f). Designated as holotype and paratype and labelled accordingly. There are 2 f L 5 larvae collected together with the adults, which are not designated as type specimens.

from below, with antecedent of ovipositor; 11 = habitus of female L 5

Etymology – This magnificent new species is dedicated to Flora, goddess for the ancient Romans and for the first author, the patron of flowers, thus, indirectly, of all pollinators as well.

Discussion – The genus Acantharadus Bergroth, 1886 was redescribed by USINGER and MATSUDA (1959) and its type species A. quaternarius illustrated. The new species A. flora sp. n. is distinguished from A. quaternarius by the following set of characters (character states of A. quaternarius are provided in brackets): smaller size, at most about 13 mm (15 mm or above), more slender habitus (more robust), anterolateral lobes of pronotum shorter, nearly straight, its margin with smaller teeth (Fig. 1) (more produced laterally and convex, provided with larger teeth, as in Fig. 7); abdomen widest across tergite IV (m) or III–IV (f) and narrowing posteriorly (tergite V widest, less narrowing posteriorly); posterior apex of pygophore more pointed (more rounded), and differences on the ventral side of female terminalia as indicated in Figs 3 and 8. The new species shares the presence of preocular tubercles with A. quaternarius; the posterior margin of the pronotum is convex at its corners, distinctly produced posteriad in both species.

Figures

Figs 9–11. Acantharadus quaternarius (Bergroth, 1886) (9) and A. flora sp. n. (10–11): 9 = Outline of pronotum of the examined female from Sumatra; 10 = tip of female L5 abdomen

Figs 12–14. Acantharadus flora sp. n.: 12 = male, 13 = female, 14 = L 5 larva