Utarametopus linuspitti Taszakowski & Kim, 2025

Taszakowski, Artur, Kim, Junggon & Jindra, Zdeněk, 2025, Further records of the tribe Gigantometopini (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae, Isometopinae) with descriptions of three new genera and five new species, Zootaxa 5725 (4), pp. 451-474 : 462-464

Utarametopus linuspitti Taszakowski & Kim , sp. nov.

( Fig. 6 , 7 )

Diagnosis. Distinguished from U. striatus by the following combination of characters: body medium-sized, 3.4 in length, ocelli medium-sized, diameter 0.25x as vertex width, pronotum length 0.9x as basiflagellomere length; body mostly dark brown; flagellomeres dark, embolium in basal part dark, cuneus with small, dark spot.

Description. Female. Body oval, length 3.37 ( Fig. 6A ). Coloration. Mostly dark brown ( Fig. 6A–C ). Head: vertex reddish brown; compound eyes reddish brown; frons and clypeus dark brown ( Fig. 6C ); maxillary plate greyish brown; gena chestnut brown, posterior margin whitish; scape and pedicel yellowish, flagellomeres brown ( Fig. 6A, B ); labium brown except for yellowish apical part of second segment and basal 2/3 of fourth one ( Fig. 6B ). Thorax: pronotum dark brown, lateral margins pale, semitransparent, posterior margin pale; exposed part of mesoscutum dark brown; scutellum brown, with pale apex; thoracic pleura mostly dark brown; ostiolar peritreme whitish, evaporative area dark brown; hemelytra bicolored, semitransparent ( Fig. 6A ); clavus brown with greyish stripe along claval vein; endocorium brown with large greyish spot and greyish stripe along R+M vein; embolium pale; hypocostal lamina pale with brown spot in anterior part; cuneus transparent, with brown spot in middle; membrane pale brown; legs distinctly bicolored; coxa partially pale and brown; profemora unavailable; mosofemora pale in basal half, brown in distal one; metafemora pale with two brown stripes: broad antero-dorsal and narrow posterior; metatibiae yellowish except basal 1/3 dark and apex brown. Abdomen: dark brown. Surface and Vestiture. Body shiny, densely and deeply punctate; except glabrous head, covered densely with pale setae ( Fig. 6A–C ); along costal vein row of punctures, embolium and cuneus impunctate, antennae with sparse setae; pronotal collar with row of setae; scutellum punctate only in the midline ( Fig. 6E ); legs with short, adherent, pale brown setae. Structure. Head: flattened, hypognathous, distinctly higher than width across eyes, dorsally extending level of the highest point of pronotum; vertex flat, slightly protruding above eyes level; compound eyes 0.4x as high as head high; vertex wide, 0.39x as head width; ocelli medium-sized, diameter 0.25x as vertex width, spaced apart, touching compound eyes ( Fig. 6B–D ); fovea antennalis positioned at middle of the ventral margin of compound eye and apex of clypeus; scape 0.5x as long as distiflagellomere, thick; pedicel slightly arcuate, thinner in basal part, slightly thickened in distal one; flagellomeres linear, thin; labium long, reaching fourth abdominal segment. Thorax: pronotum trapeziform, midline length about 1/2 posterior width; pronotal collar broad; calli slightly marked, disc slightly convex, lateral margin carinate, posterior margin weakly sinuate, posterior angles weakly angled; exposed part of mesoscutum short; scutellum tumid, large, 0.67x as long as pronotal length, baso-medially clearly depressed ( Fig. 6E ); scent gland evaporative area triangular; ostiolar peritreme swollen, directed upward and anteriorly; hemelytron lateral margin rounded; cuneus broad, inner margin almost straight; membrane with two cells; mesofemora with five trichobothria (four well-developed and one reduced); metafemora with six trichobothria. Abdomen: elongate, reaching apex of cuneus.

Measurements. Body. Length, clypeus-apex of membrane: 3.37; width 1.46. Head. Length: 0.34; width, including compound eyes: 0.54; vertex width: 0.21; eye dorsal width: 0.20; height in frontal view: 0.93. Antenna. Total length: 1.79; length of scape: 0.12, pedicel: 0.63, flagellomere I: 0.83, flagellomere II: 0.21. Labium. Total length: 1.51; length of segment I: 0.32; II: 0.38; III: 0.37; IV: 0.47. Pronotum. Mesal length: 0.73; posterior maximal width (straight): 1.34. Mesoscutum. Mesal length: 0.11. Scutellum. Anterior width: 0.58; mesal length: 0.49. Hemelytron. Claval commissure length: 0.44; heme length: 2.45; outer embolial margin length (straight): 1.49; outer cuneal margin length (straight): 0.38; cuneus width: 0.44.

Etymology. This species is named after Linus Pitt, a fictional lecturer in natural history from Blood of Elves (the first novel in The Witcher series by Andrzej Sapkowski), of which the first author is a big fan.

Type material. Holotype ( ♀) ‘ INDONESIA: \ SULAWESI UTARA. \ Dumoga-Bone N. P. \ March 1985. \\ Insecticide \ Fogging : 9 \ KOPA \\ R.Ent.Soc. Lond. \ PROJECT WALLACE \ B. M. 1985-10 \\ TRAY \ 32’ ( NHM).

Distribution. Indonesia, North Sulawesi, Bogani Nani Wartabone National Park (formerly known as Dumoga Bone National Park) ( Fig. 3R ).

Biology. Unknown.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Distribution of Gigantometopini (updated from Taszakowski et al. 2020). Yellow arrows and letters – described species, white arrows and numbers – unknown or undescribed Gigantometopini. Astroscopometopus gryllocephalus (Miyamoto, Yasunaga & Hayashi, 1996) (A); A. gryllocephalus and Kohnometopus fraxini Yasunaga, 2005 (B); Astroscopometopus formosanus (Lin, 2004) and Isometopidea lieweni Poppius, 1913 nec (C); Kohnometopus yangi (Lin, 2005) (D); A. formosanus (E); Gigantometopus coronobtectus Kim, Taszakowski & Jung, 2021 (F); I. lieweni (I); Astroscopometopus hesaraghattaensis Yeshwanth, Chérot & Henry, 2021 (G); Isometopidea viraktamathi Yeshwanth, Chérot & Henry, 2021 (H); Planicapitus brunneus sp. nov. (J); Gigantometopus rossi Schwartz & Schuh, 1990 (K); Malaymetopidea maculata gen. et sp. nov. (L); Kohnometopus yasunagai Taszakowski, Kim & Masłowski, 2022 (M); Gigantometopus schuhi Akingbohungbe, 2012 (N); Bruneimetopus simulans Taszakowski, Kim & Herczek, 2020 (N); Megalofaciatus gibbosus Taszakowski, Kim & Herczek, 2021 (N); Planicapitus luteus Taszakowski, Kim & Herczek, 2020 (N, P); Megalofaciatus foliotibialis Taszakowski, Kim & Herczek, 2021 (O); Sulawesimetopus henryi Herczek, Gorczyca & Taszakowski, 2018 (R); Utarametopus linuspitti sp. nov. (R); Utarametopus striatus sp. nov. (R); Wallacemetopus anteriotenebrosus gen. et sp. nov. (R). Kohnometopus sp. (1); Isometopidea sp. (2); Unknown Gigantometopini (3–5); Gigantometopus spp. (5).

FIGURE 6. Utarametopus linuspitti Taszakowski & Kim sp. nov., holotype, female. Dorsal (A), lateral (B) and anterior (C) views.

FIGURE 7. Utarametopus linuspitti Taszakowski & Kim sp. nov., holotype, female. Lateral view (A); head and pronotum, dorsal (B), anterior (C) and dorso-antero-lateral (D) view; scutellum, dorso-postero-lateral view (E), trichobothria on mesofemur (F) and metafemur (G).