Pariaconus montgomeri Percy

Percy, Diana M., 2017, Making the most of your host: the Metrosideros-feeding psyllids (Hemiptera, Psylloidea) of the Hawaiian Islands, ZooKeys 649, pp. 1-163 : 80

Pariaconus montgomeri Percy sp. n. Figures 40, 51 A–D, G–H

Adult colour.

Generally body colour orange-red to red-brown. Females often appear to have a dark abdomen due to darkly pigmented egg load. Fore wing membrane clear, or slightly fuscous.

Adult structure.

Fore wing apex bluntly acute to rounded; spinules distributed in all cells but few in r1; medium-short setae on margins and veins. Antennae medium-long (av. length 1.06; ratio AL:HW av. 1.89); genal processes medium-short (ratio VL:GP av. 2.38), and bluntly acute; medium-short to short setae on vertex and thorax; distal proboscis segment short (av. length 0.08); hind tibia length subequal to head width (ratio HW:HT av. 1.03). Male terminalia: paramere length subequal to or longer than proctiger (ratio MP:PL av. 0.95), slender, broader at the base and more or less parallel-sided or slightly medially expanded before constricting below apex with a small anteriorly directed hook; distal aedeagus segment shorter or subequal to paramere (ratio PL:AEL av. 1.05) with base rounded, not or slightly inflated, and a short, compact, shallow hooked apex (Fig. 40 J–K) (ratio AEL:AELH av. 2.67). Female terminalia: proctiger long, dorsal surface slightly to moderately convex, apex acute, anal ring short (ratio FP:RL av. 5.24); subgenital plate with slight to moderate medial bulge ventrally, acute apically; ovipositor apex lacking serrations, valvulae dorsalis moderately convex dorsally.

Egg.

Short, broad, pigmented brown to dark brown (except tip of pedicel and tail) with fine surface microsculpturing, medium-long pedicel with slightly inflated tip, tail extremely short or absent (Fig. 40O).

Immature.

Colour and structure: 5th instar: Cream to orange. Elongate ovoid in outline, wing buds protruding with moderate humeral lobes (Fig. 51 A–B). Tarsi with large claws (Fig. 51C). Circumanal ring large, wide (CPW:RW av. 6.30), and composed of two lateral u-shaped multicellular sections with irregular borders, sometimes reduced or interrupted (Fig. 51D). Chaetotaxy: 5th instar: Head, thorax and abdomen with scattered long to medium-long simple setae.

Host plant notes.

Collected from glabrous morphotypes.

Island.

Maui.

Distribution notes.

Known from east and west Maui; molecular data indicates very distinct eastern and western populations that are characterized by the two recognized forms.

Biology.

Makes flat leaf galls (Fig. 51 G–H), often with a small central depression (see also Pariaconus ohiacola ).

Etymology.

Named after Steve Montgomery, an extraordinary field biologist who made a substantial contribution to this study (noun in the genitive case).

Comments.

Two forms are recognized (Fig. 40): form montgomeri (based on the type is a slightly larger form, with more sinuous paramere, less developed aedeagus hook, and longer female terminalia, known from west Maui), and form paliuliensis (generally smaller with paramere more straight, aedeagus hook more developed, and shorter female terminalia, known from east Maui).

Type material.

Holotype male (slide mounted, BMNH). See Table 2 for details of type and other material examined for this study.