Nannocoris brevipilus, Weirauch, Christiane, Hoey-Chamberlain, Rochelle & Knyshov, Alexander, 2018

Weirauch, Christiane, Hoey-Chamberlain, Rochelle & Knyshov, Alexander, 2018, Synopsis of Schizopteridae (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Dipsocoromorpha) from the United States, with description of seven new species from the US and Mexico, ZooKeys 796, pp. 49-82 : 49

Nannocoris brevipilus sp. n. Figures 6, 7, 10

Material.

Type material. Holotype: male: USA: Texas: Sabine Co.: Beech Bottom, 9 mi E Hemphill, 31.38226°N 93.70455°W, 05 Jun 1989 - 17 Jun 1989, R. Anderson & E. Morris (UCR_ENT 00094257) (TAMU). Paratype: USA: Texas: Angelina Co.: Angelina Nat’l. Forest ca. 3 mi. NE Rockland, 31.05528°N 94.36833°W, 02 May 1996 - 16 May 1996, Clarke, Menard, & Riley, 1 male (UCR_ENT 00093425) (TAMU).

Diagnosis.

Recognized among species of Nannocoris by relatively short head, ovoid body and forewing shape, yellow costal and posterior claval margins, short setae on forewing veins, vertex gland opening on depression of pronotal collar, short and thin, slightly sigmoid vesica, apically bifurcating right paramere, and relatively short s-shaped anophoric process with slender base that reaches anteriorly to tergum 7. Similar to N. brevipilus , but distinguished by slender base of anophoric process.

Description.

Male (Figure 6): submacropterous, length: 1.04-1.09 mm, body broadly ovate. Coloration: general coloration light brown, head somewhat lighter, scutellum and costal and posterior claval margins yellow, legs pale yellow with basal ¾ of femora light brown (Figure 6). Surface and vestiture: head, pronotum and forewing veins with dense, short, recumbent white setae. Structure: Head: moderately elongate, slightly longer than high, labium very slender, reaching to ca. midcoxa, eye small, ~1/6 of greatest head width. Thorax: opening of vertex gland medially on pronotal collar, opening large (Figure 6), forewing submacropterous (Figure 6), costal margin slightly explanate, R1 sinuously traversing cells scc and rc1-rc2, merging with Sc proximal to R2 reaching wing margin. Abdomen: tergum 8 strongly asymmetrical, much wider in left half, right half narrow and curved anteriad. Genitalia (Figure 7B, E): left laterotergite 9 relatively short, laterad-oriented spine, right paramere with narrow, bifurcating apex, left paramere elongate triangular, vesica sinuous, not forming loop, anophoric process with anterior broad portion adjacent to tergum 8 and s-shaped process reaching anteriorly to posterior margin of tergum 7, base of s-shaped process slender.

Female (Figure 6): similar to male, length: 1.11-1.23 mm, shorter and more ovoid than male, yellow borders of costal and claval margin less pronounced, forewings shorter.

Etymology.

Named for the short vestiture on the wings that distinguishes this species from the second species occurring in Texas, N. anophorus ; a combination of the Latin brevis (short) and pilus (hair).

Notes.

We treat a series of female specimens collected in Bastrop County as conspecific with N. brevipilus . We refrain from treating these specimens as paratypes, because no syntopic males are available and females of N. anophorus are unknown. We argue that these specimens are unlikely to be conspecific with N. anophorus because of the short vestiture, but we cannot exclude the possibility that they are females of a yet undiscovered species of Nannocoris .

Males were collected using pitfall and flight intercept traps, females with Berlese extraction.

Distribution.

Known from Angelina, Bastrop, and Sabine Counties in Texas.

Other material examined.

USA: Texas: Bastrop Co.: Bastrop State Park, 30.11222°N 97.26056°W, 11 Mar 1995, R. Wharton, 6 females (UCR_ENT 00094250-UCR_ENT 00094255), 1 female (UCR_ENT 00094256) (TAMU).