Ambotingis ainslei (Drake and Poor) Drake and Poor, 2017

Knudson, Alexander H., Rider, David A. & Knodel, Janet J., 2017, Review of the Genus Ambotingis Drake and Ruhoff (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae), Zootaxa 4269 (1), pp. 146-150 : 148

Ambotingis ainslei (Drake and Poor) , NEW COMBINATION

Plate 2: Figures a–d

Monanthia ainslei Drake and Poor 1938: 1 –2, fig. 1.

Dictyla ainslei: Drake and Ruhoff 1960a: 50 –51; Drake and Ruhoff 1965: 181.

Diagnosis. Ambotingis ainslei can be separated from A. senta by the blunt, suberect cephalic spines, by the less elevated paranota with few spines, by the posteriorly incomplete median carina, by the tan or cream-colored dorsum, and by the long and ovate hemelytra that lack spines along the lateral margins.

Redescription. General appearance ovate, tan to cream colored with a few fuscous markings, thorax and abdomen testaceous. Head testaceous, armed with five long, cream-colored, suberect, blunt spines, occipital pair slightly divergent, clypeal pair converging. Head short, slightly expanded beyond eyes. Bucculae closed anteriorly, produced slightly beyond apex of head. Antennae slender, segment one about as long as wide, fuscous; segment two, twice as long as wide, narrower than segment one, dark reddish brown; segment three long, cream colored, indistinctly pubescent with small white hairs; segment four slightly stout, about as long as segments one and two taken together, apex fuscous, armed with long, fine, white hairs. Antenniferous tubercles obsolete, modified into areolate flaps on bucculae. Bucculae triseriate, terminating on anterior margin of prosternum. Rostrum nearly extending to metasternum. Rostral groove welldeveloped, shallow on prosternum, deep on mesosternum, pro- and mesosternal laminae subparallel, metasternal laminae widely diverging. Pronotum mostly areolate, anteriorly with large punctations, feebly tricarinate, median carina posteriorly obsolete or incomplete, lateral carinae converging, carinae with small indistinct areolae. Paranota large, reflexed over pronotum, covering anterior two thirds of lateral carinae, meeting at median carina. Paranota each with two linear, cariniform processes. Median carina slightly elevated anteriorly; pronotal collar well developed, forming small tectiform hood, which does not cover head. Mesothorasic scent gland lacking. Hemelytra elongate, ovate, extending slightly beyond apex of abdomen; costal area biseriate, with large pentagonal areolae, subcostal area triseriate, distinctly narrowed in middle, but widely expanding on both sides of constriction, appearing yolk shaped. R+M vein elevated in middle of each hemelytron, fuscous. Discoidal area with external margin sinuate, abruptly widening to four to five cells at greatest width. Legs slender, cream colored, femora as long as tibiae; tarsi slender, segment one small, segment two more than four times as long as segment one, apically fuscous, slightly flattened dorso-ventrally, with long fine hairs on ventral surface, pretarsi light fuscous, narrower than segment two, tarsal claws divergent, fuscous. Abdomen reddish brown, elongate oval; abdominal segments subequal in length, slightly rugose near middle; sub-genital plate smooth, hexagonal, broadest near middle; gonocoxae lighter in color; ninth paratergites deeply rugose.

Measurements: (n = 1) Length 2.60, width across pronotum: 0.89, height of paranota: 0.62, width across hemelytra: 1.37, antennal segments one through four, respectively: 0.10, 0.09, 0.64, and 0.20.

Material examined: Type material examined: Holotype ♀: Guatemala: Concepcion , elevation 1400 ft., C. N. Ainslie ( USNM)

Other specimens: Costa Rica: Guanacaste, La Pacifica near Cañas, May, 22–26, 1984, E. Riley, D. Rider & D. LeDoux (3♀ DARC) . Guatemala: El Progresso, Guastatoya, 5km S jct. Rio Sanarate and CA 9, 6051m, 14̊50' 19"N – 04' 16"W, January, 9, 2007, J. R. Jones (1♀ TAMU) .

Plant associations. No biological information has been published or was indicated on any of the specimen labels.

Comments. All specimens known of A. ainsliei are female.