Lepidargyrus fasciatus, Konstantinov, 2008

Konstantinov, Fedor V., 2008, Three new species of Phylini (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Phylinae) from Central Asia, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 48 (2), pp. 403-418 : 411-415

Lepidargyrus fasciatus sp. nov.

( Figs. 5-6 , 32, 38-42 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, UZBEKISTAN: Syrganak, Karzhantau Mt. Ridge, 41.7333 ° N 70.0333 ° E, 12 Jul 1967,Asanova ( AMNH _ PBI 00239792 ) . PARATYPES: UZBEKISTAN: Dudusay, Karzhantau Mt. Ridge, 41.7333 ° N 70.0333 ° E, 13 Jul 1939, Obukhova, Rosa sp.(Rosaceae) , 1J ( AMNH _PBI 00239789), 3♀♀ ( AMNH _PBI 00239786- AMNH _PBI 00239788).Samarkand, 38.56666 ° N 68.03333 ° E, 1947, Fursov, 1♀ ( AMNH _PBI 00239795).Sidzhak, Ugamskiy Mt. Range, 41.68 ° N 70.05 ° E, 22 Jun 1958, Y. Popov, 2 ♀♀ ( AMNH _PBI 00239793, AMNH _PBI 00239794). Syrganak, Karzhantau Mt. Ridge, 41.7333 ° N 70.0333 ° E, 12 Jul 1967, Asanova, 2 ♀♀ ( AMNH _PBI 00239790, AMNH _PBI 00239791).

Description. Male. COLORATION ( Figs. 5-6 ). Dorsum uniformly reddish-brown to dirty brown. Head: Reddish-brown to brown; antennae with dark brown first and basal half of second segments, reminder of lighter coloration, brown to pale brown; labium brown, with darkened apex. Thorax: Uniformly reddish brown to dirty brown, thoracic venter brown to castaneous. Hemelytra: Apical part of hemelytra usually somewhat darker than base, cuneus with contrasting transverse whitish spot at base, membrane uniformly brown, veins of inner cell and small area near apex of cuneus usually paler. Legs: All legs or at least hind ones darker than dorsum, uniformly brown to dark brown, tibial spines dark. Abdomen: Usually dark brown.

SURFACE AND VESTITURE. Dorsum shiny, smooth, pronotum weakly granulate, with mixture of evenly distributed, adpressed, slightly flattened, silver setae and long, robust simple setae; head, apical part of pronotum, and bases of hemelytra at sides with dark, erect to semiadpressed simple setae, basal part of pronotum, scutellum, and hemelytra with pale, semiadpressed to adpressed simple setae; first antennal segment with two spine-like setae on medial surface, fore margin of hind femora subapically with two similar setae; venter with pale adpressed simple setae.

STRUCTURE. Elongate-oval, total length 3.4-3.8, body 3.4-3.7 × as long as width of pronotum. Head: Distinctly projecting anteriorly, with weakly convex frons, prominent clypeus, vertex 1.6-1.7 × as wide as eye; second antennal segment 1.1-1.2 × as long as basal width of pronotum, 1.7 × as long as width of head; labium slightly surpassing hind coxae. Thorax: Pronotum 2.1 × as wide as long; calli not demarcated; metathoracic scent-gland evaporatory area broadly triangular. Legs: Slender, hind femur moderately thickened, second tarsal segment longer than third ( Fig. 42 ), claw long, smoothly bent at middle, pulvillus slightly surpassing midpoint of claw, attached to claw along entire length.

MALE GENITALIA. Genital capsule: About 40 % of abdomen, without distinctive ornamentation. Parameres: Right paramere lanceolate, with comparatively long and thin apical process ( Fig. 39 ); left paramere as in Fig. 40 , with triangular, gradually tapering sensory lobe and straight apical process. Apex of theca: As in Fig. 41 . Vesica: S-shaped, apical blade rather long and flattened, with single subapical denticle ( Figs. 32, 38 ); secondary gonopore subapical, with well-developed sculpture.

Female. COLORATION, SURFACE AND VESTITURE. As in male.

STRUCTURE. Similar to male, but distinctly more ovoid, total length 3.4-3.7, body 3.3- 3.7 × as long as width of pronotum. Head: With somewhat smaller eyes and wider vertex than in male, vertex 2.0-2.3 × as wide as eye; second antennal segment 1.1-1.2 × as long as basal width of pronotum, 1.6-1.7 × as long as width of head. Thorax: Pronotum trapeziform, 2.0-2.1 × as wide as long.

Differential diagnosis. Recognized by the body size and proportions, dark coloration with transverse whitish band at base of cuneus, vestiture with slightly flattened silver setae and contrastingly long simple setae, and vesica with single subapical denticle. Most similar to Lepidargyrus ancorifer (Fieber, 1858) in the color-pattern and the structure of male genitalia. Vesica of the latter species differs from L. fasciatus sp. nov. in having more than one denticle on apical blade; however, the number of denticles shows intraspecific variation ( Figs. 33- 37 ). Lepidargyrus ancorifer is distinguished from the new species in the vestiture with more strongly flattened silver setae located at sides of pronotum in addition to dorsum, uniformly dark coloration without pale band at base of cuneus, robust body with wider head, and pronotum, and shorter antennae (Table 1). In both sexes of L. ancorifer body is only 2.8-3.1 ×, as long as width of pronotum, second antennal segment 0.7-0.8 × as long as basal width of pronotum, and 1.1-1.3 × as long as width of head (proportions of L. fasciatus sp. nov. are given above).

Etymology. The species name is from the Latin fascia (= band, strip), and is given in reference to the color-pattern of hemelytra, with the transverse pale band at the base of cuneus.

Host. Several specimens were collected from Rosa sp. (Rosaceae) . Well sampled species of Lepidargyrus spp. are known to be polyphagous, predominantly feeding on various herbs.

Distribuition. Western Uzbekistan.

Figures

Figs. 1-8. Dorsal habitus photographs.1-4 – Pleuroxonotus stysi sp. nov.1 – male; 2 – female; 3 – head and pronotum, male; 4 – head and pronotum, female,. 5-6 – Lepidargyrus fasciatus sp. nov. 5 – male; 6 – female. 7 – Macrotylus subattenuatus sp. nov., male; 8 – Macrotylus attenuatus Jakovlev, 1882, female, lectotype.

Figs. 32-42. Lepidargyrus spp., genitalia and tarsus. 32-37 – apex of vesica, caudal view. 32 – L. fasciatus sp nov., Uzbekistan; 33-37 – L. ancorifer (Fieber, 1858): 33 – Turkey:Istanbul; 34 –Sardinia:Asuni; 35 – Sardinia:Sorgono; 36 – Greece:Athens; 37 – Greece:Athens,.38-42 – L.fasciatus sp. nov.38 – vesica, lateral view; 39 – right paramere; 40 – left paramere; 41 – apex of theca; 42 – tarsus. Scale bars = 0.05 mm.