Arocatus melanocephalus ( Fabricius, 1798 )

Gao, Cuiqing, Kondorosy, Előd & Bu, Wenjun, 2013, A Review Of The Genus Arocatus From Palaearctic And Oriental Regions (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Lygaeidae), Raffles Bulletin of Zoology 61 (2), pp. 687-704 : 690-691

Arocatus melanocephalus ( Fabricius, 1798)

( Figs. 1B, C , 3A, B, L, M , 5A–D , 6A–B )

Lygaeus melanocephalus Fabricius, 1798: 540 . Lectotype ( Péricart,

1999b: 82) (female): France; ZMUC. Lygaeus pruinosus Eversmann, 1837: 36 . Nomen nudum. For detailed synonymy including infrasubspecific taxa, see Péricart

(2001: 38).

References. — Stichel, 1957: 84 (keyed, redescription, figures, habitat, distribution, interspecific variability); Stichel, 1959: 314 (listed); Slater, 1964a: 22 (catalogue); Putshkov, 1969: 73 (redescription, habitus, egg, larva, distribution, habitat, biology); Çağatay, 1995: 170 (male genitalia); Péricart, 1999a: 164 (redescription, habitus, egg, larva, biology, distribution); Péricart, 2001: 38 (catalogue); Protić, 2001: 22 ( Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro records); Štepanovičová, 2003: 30 ( Slovakia record); Bianchi & Štepanovičová, 2003: 75 (distribution); Reggiani et al., 2005: 119 (mass occurrence, morphology, bio-ecology); Maistrello et al., 2006: 594 (biology); Linnavuori, 2007: 57 ( Iran record); Ferracini & Alma, 2008: 193 (biology); Fent & Aktaç, 2008: 13 (host plant); Pedroni et al., 2008: 173 (morphology, metathoracic scent gland); Barndt, 2008: 187 (mass occurrence); Dutto & Carapezza, 2011: 65 (mass occurrence); Hoffmann & Terme, 2012: 27 (mass occurrence); Aukema et al., 2013: 354 (catalogue).

Diagnosis. — Generally body colour dark red, with very short, decumbent hairs. The following parts black: head; antenna (sometimes segment III and IV partly red); labium; narrow anterior margin of pronotum; large M-shaped spot on posterior lobe of pronotum; scutellum; inner margin of clavus; costal margin and apical half of corium; femora except basal half and apex; base of tibiae; tarsal segments III; majority of thoracic sterna and round sublateral spots on abdominal sterna. Connexivum mostly darker anteriorly. Hemelytral membrane hyaline, pale.

Complementary description. — Posterior margin of pygophore and cuplike sclerite not fused, in the middle of each of them with a process ( Fig. 3A, B ). From lateral view, the blade and shank of paramere forming a right angle ( Figs. 3L, M , 5A–D ). Phallotheca moderately pigmented; gonoporal process twisted about three times; a sclerotized helicoids process present ( Fig. 6A–B ).

Material examined. — CHINA: Xinjiang: cca . 300 males, 300 females, Yining city, 43°56'N 81°19'E, coll. C. Q. Gao, Y. H. Wang & Q. Xie, 26–28 Jul.2011, alt. 570 m ( NKUM) ; 1 female, Sailimu lake, 44°29'N 81°9'E, Huocheng county , coll. Q. Xie, 22–24 Jul.2011, alt. 2100 m ( NKUM) ; 1 female, Urumchi , 43°24'N 87°9'E, coll. Q. Xie, 16 Aug.2011, alt. 2000 m ( NKUM) ; 3 males, 3 females, Yemenle township, Tacheng , coll. Y. L. Ke, 24 Jul.2002 ( NKUM) ; AUSTRIA: 4 males, 4 females, Wien, Prater, 27 Mar. [18]84 ( HNHM) ; FRANCE: 1 female, Broût-Vernet, 10 Jan. [19]08, coll. H. du Buysson ( HNHM) ; 1 male, Montpellier , 11 Dec.1891 ( HNHM) ; GEORGIA: 1 female, Caucas, Meskiseh , coll. Leder / Reitter ( HNHM) ; GREECE: 1 male, 1 female, Corfu , coll. J. Sahlberg ( HNHM) ; HUNGARY: 1 female, Budapest, coll. Szigligeti, 1893 ( HNHM) ; 1 female, Com. Baranya, Máriagyűd , coll. L. Ábrahám, 4 Jun.1999 ( EKCK) ; 1 female, Com Fejér, Csór , coll. E. Kondorosy, 13 May 2002, on Tilia (EKCK) ; 1 male, 1 female, Simontornya , on Ulmus glabra , coll. F. Pillich, 11 Aug.1930 ( HNHM) ; ITALY: 1 male, Firenze , 20 Oct. [18]86 ( HNHM) ; SERBIA: 1 male, Magyarkanizsa (= Kanjiža), coll. Kuthy, 1908 ( HNHM) .

Host plants and bionomics. — Recorded on Ulmus spp. , Platanus orientalis ( Protić, 2001) , in bark crevices of Pappeln and the empty puparium of Schmetterlingen (Fent & Aktaç, 2008).

Massive number of this species was found in bark crevices and on leaves of elm trees ( Ulmus sp. , Ulmaceae ) in a park of Yining city, Xinjiang, China. Meanwhile, many specimens intrude inside the buildings near the park. In addition, the sudden outbreaks and intrusions of this species inside urban building have been reported in Italy since 1999 and Germany since 2010 during summertime ( Reggiani et al., 2005; Maistrello et al., 2006; Dutto & Carapezza, 2011; Hoffmann & Terme, 2012). There are recent biological and even morphological literatures on the species in connection with the mass occurrences ( Reggiani et al., 2005; Maistrello et al., 2006; Ferracini & Alma, 2008; Pedroni et al., 2008).

Distribution. — Asia: * China (* Xinjiang), Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Turkey; Europe: Andorra, Austria, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Moldavia,

Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia (Central European Territory, South European Territory), Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Ukraine ( Péricart, 2001; Protić, 2001; Štepanovičová, 2003; Linnavuori, 2007; Aukema et al., 2013). It is reported for the first time from China.

Figures

Fig. 1. Arocatus spp., dorsal, ventral or lateral view. A, A. longiceps; B, C, A. melanocephalus; D, E, A. melanostoma; F, G, A. nanus; H, I, A. nicobarensis, one of the syntypes. Scale bars = 5.0 mm.

Fig. 3. A–G, J, K, Pygophores in posterodorsal or posterior view. A, B, A. melanocephalus; C, D, A. melanostoma; E, F, A. pseudosericans, new species; G, A. rufipes; J, K, A. sericans. H, I, L–T: Left parameres in different aspects. H, I, A. rufipes; L, M, A. melanocephalus; N–P, A. melanostoma; Q, R, A. pseudosericans, new species; S, T, A. sericans. Scale bars = 0.5 mm (A–G, J, K), 0.1 mm (H, I, L–T).

Fig. 5. Right parameres in four different aspects. A–D, A. melanocephalus; E–H, A. pseudosericans, new species; I–L, A. sericans. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

Fig. 6. A–B, A. melanocephalus. A, phallus, dorsal view; B, enlarged ejaculatory reservoir, lateral view; C–E, A. pseudosericans, new species. C, phallus, dorsal view; D, enlarged ejaculatory reservoir, dorsal view; E, enlarged ejaculatory reservoir, lateral view. Lettering: ba: basal apparatus; co: conjunctiva; er: ejaculatory reservoir; gp: gonoporal process; hp: helicoid process; ph: phallotheca; sbp: support bridge prolongation; sg: secondary gonopore; ve: vesica. Scale bars = 0.5 mm.