Aoteasalda maculipennis ( Cobben, 1961 ) Larivière & Larochelle, 2016

Larivière, Marie-Claude & Larochelle, André, 2016, Aoteasalda and Kiwisaldula, two new genera of Saldidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), with a key to New Zealand genera and a new synonymy in Zemacrosaldula, Zootaxa 4085 (4), pp. 451-480 : 455-457

Aoteasalda maculipennis ( Cobben, 1961) new combination

Saldula maculipennis Cobben, 1961: 104 . Holotype: male (BMNH) labelled “Holo- type (circular red-bordered label; typed in 2 lines) / S. Karori 13.I.24 Hamilton (handwritten) / Holotypus Saldula maculipennis R.H. Cobben MS 1961 (pale green label; handwritten) / J.G. Myers Coll. B.M. 1937-789. (upside down label; typed). Fair condition; right hemelytron missing; left hind leg missing; abdomen removed and dissected, placed on round permanent slide mount on same pin as main body.

Description. Body length 3.77–5.06 (4.28) mm; elongate-ovate ( Fig. 1 ). Dorsal colour largely dark, with narrowly pale lateral margins of pronotum and well-developed, mostly individual (not coalesced) pale markings on hemelytra, including a line of four spots along R vein and a sinuate mark near middle of costa. Facial colour ( Fig. 2 ) slightly to moderately contrasted. Head, pronotum and scutellum slightly shiny, contrasting slightly against mostly dull hemelytra. Dorsal pubescence short to moderately long, reclined to semi-erect, whitish yellow to golden brown, rather evenly distributed. Hemelytra fully developed; hindwings reaching between apex of abdomen and apex of hemelytral membrane. Head ( Fig. 2 , facial view). Transverse swelling whitish yellow to yellowish brown. Mandibular plates, maxillary plates, anteclypeus and labrum concolorous with transverse swelling; maxillary plates often darker brown; anteclypeus often marked with brown basally. Rostrum yellowish brown to dark brown, extending to hind coxae. Antennae 4.7–4.9x longer than pronotum + collar medially; segment I whitish yellow to yellowish brown, with ventral and dorsal sides brown to nearly black (often striped), sometimes nearly entirely black; segment II brown to nearly black, usually pale in apical fourth, sometimes pale from base to apex along one side only; segments III–IV dark brown to nearly black. Thorax. Lateral margins of pronotum subrectilinear to slightly sinuate-concave, usually narrowly whitish yellow to yellowish brown (pale area narrower than or about as wide as antennal segment II) or, very rarely, completely dark. Scutellum 1.6–1.7x longer than pronotum + collar medially. Thoracic underside black, with strongly contrasting broadly to narrowly pale acetabula (acetabula I–II broadly pale, acetabulum III broadly or narrowly pale), and broadly pale lateral margins; pubescence rather dense, silvery, and appressed (except for glabrous lateral margins). Legs largely pale; whitish yellow to yellowish brown, with dark brown to black coxae; femora with more or less defined brown spots on anterior and posterior faces; fore and mid femora striped with dark brown to nearly black on ventral side over basal half or most of length; tibiae pale at base, dark at apex; fore tibiae with dark brown dorsal stripe over most of length; hind tibiae 2.6–2.7x longer than tarsal segments II+III combined; hind tarsal segment II slightly darkened apically, segment III dark apically or, more rarely, completely dark. Hemelytra: corium ( Figs 1 , 8 ) largely black, with numerous, mostly individual (not coalesced), irregular pale markings; exocorium with distinctive, single or divided, sinuate mark stemming from costa at about midlength; colour pattern in female consistent with that of male but often paler overall with broader more coalesced markings; basal pruinose area of clavus broad and long, covering more than one-third of clavus length; basal pale spot of clavus present or absent; subapical pale spot of clavus present; membrane dark brown to black basally with a pale mark near tip of clavus, brown medially within cells, pale elsewhere, and with dark brown to black veins; cell 1 of membrane, the shortest, subtriangular; cells 2 to 4 subrectangular, roughly subequal in width; cells 2 and 3 roughly subequal in length; cell 4 the longest, prolonged basally beyond other cells, ending apically in line with tip of cell 3. Abdomen. Venter: pubescence rather dense, silvery, and appressed. Male parandria ( Fig. 4 ): inner margins regularly concave; basal margin sinuate, obtusely convex medially. Male paramere ( Fig. 3 ) without distinct processus sensualis, instead with rather smooth and unsculptured cuticular surface bearing less than ten setae; processus hamatus obtusely rounded at tip, distinctly upturned. Apical half of male aedeagus ( Fig. 5 ), in lateral view, with four main visible sclerites (elongate, slightly curved median sclerite; small, subtriangular anterolateral sclerite; elongate-sinuate Y-shaped sclerite; mediumsized, nearly pear-shaped sclerite). Female subgenital plate (segment VII ventrally) dark brown to black with apical half pale. Other characters as in generic description.

Geographic distribution ( Fig. 32 ). North Island, general.

Material examined. A total of 229 specimens including holotype, from the following localities. North Island . AK – Hill NE of Leigh ( AMNZ); Waitakere Ranges (Vicinity of Goldie Bush Reserve, Mokoroa Stream ( NZAC); Swanson Creek, Cascade Park ( NZAC); Upper Nihotupu Reservoir ( NZAC)); Whangateau, Coxhead Creek ( AMNZ). BP –Waioeka Gorge, Little Manganuku Track ( NZAC). CL – Forest E of Kirikiri saddle ( NZAC); Te Hope-Mount Moehau Track, half way to summit ( NZAC); Whiritoa Valley , S side ( AMNZ). GB –Awatere (near Awatere River ) ( NZAC); Morere ( AMNZ); Otoko Scenic Reserve ( NZAC); Waimata Valley , Kaharoa Station ( NZAC). HB –Cape Kidnappers ( NZAC). ND – Mokohinau Islands , Burgess Island ( NZAC); Mount Camel ( NZAC); Waipoua Forest ( Waipoua River , near Headquarter) ( NZAC). RI –Ruahine [Ranges], Junction of Lagoon Road & Wairaki Creek ( NZAC); Te Huia, Mangoira Stream ( NZAC). TK –[New Plymouth] East end, mouth of Te Henui Stream ( AMNZ); Te Henui Stream, 1–2 km from coast ( AMNZ); Egmont National Park (Ihaia Track ( NZAC); Puniho Track ( NZAC)); Pukearuhe ( AMNZ); Tangarakau Gorge, Route 43 , 7.5 km N Tahora ( NZAC); Whitecliffs Walkway, Waipunga [=Wai Pingao] Stream ( NZAC). TO – Kaimanawa Forest Park (Clements Road end, Hinemalaia Track ( NZAC); Clements Road , 1.5 km E Waiharuru Stream ( NZAC)); Lake Taupo, [Taupo] shore ( AMNZ); Taumarunui ( MONZ); Tongariro River , Admirals Pool ( AMNZ). WA – Makaretu River , 2 km N Takapau ( NZAC); Mangatewainui River, Junction Gundry Road ( NZAC). WN – Tararua Forest Park, Otaki Forks ( NZAC); Wellington ( South Karori ( BMNH, MONZ); York Bay ( BMNH). WO – Tawarau Forest Conservation Area , Route 37 ( NZAC). Vicinity of Karamu Walkway (7 km W Whatawhata) ( NZAC).

Biology. Altitudinal range. Lowland to montane. Not usually coastal; may be present in predominantly freshwater habitats located near the mouth of rivers that also harbour inland populations. Habitat. Occurs mostly inland, in open or shaded (e.g., forests) environments, mostly along or near the banks of rivers, streams, rivulets, their side-channels or temporary backwaters; on sandy (including pumice sand), muddy or clayey, bare or nearly bare ground, between gravelly or stony areas, or along nearby bare to nearly bare mud or sand flats; not strictly saxicolous, often found on partly mossy or bare large stones and boulders near the water’s edge (sometimes on stones and boulder emerging from water) or at a certain distance from water (2–4 m); commonly found along slightly mossy or bare seepages on horizontal to vertical rock faces near streams or waterfalls; also found on moist sand, clay or mud, sometimes mixed with stones, in modified environments (e.g., around temporary roadside pools, water puddles in nearly dried-up streambeds, waterholes in or near pastures); rarely found on uniformly gravelled or pebbled ground. Nymphs live in the same habitat as adults, on the ground surface between and under stones or debris. Seasonality. Adults collected from October to March; newly emerged adults (tenerals) collected mostly in December and March; nymphs found in December and from February to March—suggesting overwintering in the egg stage, nymphal development in spring, adult emergence in early summer, summer breeding, and emergence of a new generation that will breed before the winter, from about January onwards, possibly with a two to four weeks delay in southern parts of the distribution range or at higher altitudes. Food. Predator or scavenger. Behaviour. Jumps or flies short distances (usually less than 1 m) or dashes between stones or under debris when disturbed. Moderately heliophilous; more active in full sunshine, also active in the shade.

Remarks. The type series of S. maculipennis obtained from the Natural History Museum, in London (BMNH) contains a mixture of taxa.

The following specimens belong to S. maculipennis : Holotype male, allotype female, 4 paratypes (2 males, 1 fully mature female, 1 teneral female), S. Karori ( North Island , WN) ; paratypes, 1 male, 1 teneral female, York Bay (North Island, WN).

The following paratypes belong to other taxa. Zemacrosaldula australis : 1 female, S. Karori (North Island, WN); 1 male + 1 female on same pin, Pakuratahi (North Island, WN). Undetermined taxon: 1 teneral female, Waitati (South Island, DN).

One female paratype labelled “New Zealand. Pascoe Coll.” belongs to Zemacrosaldula sp.; this specimen was not listed in Cobben’s (1961) original material.

Finally, the DSIR (Nelson) [= NZAC] paratypes mentioned by Cobben (1961), could not be located.

Aoteasalda maculipennis superficially resembles Zemacrosaldula australis but it is smaller in size and can be primarily distinguished from this species by characters indicated in the key to genera. Other highly distinctive characters of A. maculipennis include the sinuate pale hemelytral mark near the middle of the costa, the narrow, acutely tipped, closely set parandria—somewhat reminiscent of a ‘pair of horns’— with reduced inner membrane, and the bicoloured female abdominal venter. The eunomy is also quite distinctive for this species.

Generally speaking, however, it is important to have sufficiently long series of specimens at hand in order to study the range of variations in colour and morphology and to avoid character misinterpretations that may be caused by local environmental factors or the level of maturity of adult specimens. See also Remarks under Kiwisaldula .

Aoteasalda maculipennis is not strictly saxicolous and it is less strongly heliophilous than Z. australis . It will, however, occur in stony-gravelly habitats resembling those occupied by Z. australis although A. maculipennis seems to prefer muddier, more clayey, or siltier habitats and appears to tolerate better the proximity of slowerrunning waters, less well-oxygenated water conditions, and generally more eutrophic waterways. This is mostly an inland species that can be found near the sea coast but not typically in estuarine habitats.

Figures

FIGURE 32. Collecting localities of Aoteasalda maculipennis, New Zealand’s North Island and nearby offshore islands.

FIGURES 1 – 2. Aoteasalda maculipennis. Scale bar = 1 mm. (1) Dorsal view (legs and antennae omitted). (2) Facial view.

FIGURES 3 – 8. Aoteasalda maculipennis. (3 – 7) Schematic view of male genitalia. (3) Paramere, ventral view, (4) parandria, posterior view, (5) anterior half of aedeagus, lateral view, (6) sclerites of aedeagus, ventral view, (7) filum gonopori, lateral view. (8) Eunomy (left corium), most frequently observed pigmentation patterns.