Glaucopterum alborubrum, Konstantinov, Fedor V. & Vinokurov, Nikolay N., 2011

Konstantinov, Fedor V. & Vinokurov, Nikolay N., 2011, New species and new records of Plant Bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae) from Northwestern China, Zootaxa 2836, pp. 27-43 : 36-37

Glaucopterum alborubrum sp.nov.

Figures 4 , 17–24

Differential diagnosis. Recognized by the contrastingly orange red head, pronotum, and femora, uniformly pale scutellum, hemelytra, and tibiae ( Fig. 4 ), dorsal vestiture of moderately flattened, silver setae and more or less darkened simple setae, shape of both apical blades of vesica, and truncate apex of the right paramere. G. a l b o r u - brum belong to the group of nine species feeding on Atraphaxis (Polygonaceae) and most similar in general appearance and male genitalia structure to G. albonigrum Kerzhner, 1984 and G. maculipenne Kerzhner, 1984 . The two latter species can be distinguished from G. alborubrum by the uniformly dark brown, rarely dirty yellow head, pronotum, and femora, scutellum concolorous with pronotum ( Figs. 5–7 ), dorsal vestiture composed of only silvery setae, and shorter labium reaching middle coxae. G. m a c u l i p e n n e further differs in having darkened endocorium ( Fig. 7 ). G. alborubrum is also smaller in size, has somewhat larger eyes and a narrower vertex than both G. albonigrum and G. maculipenne ( Table 1 ), but these distinctions may be due to the limited number of specimens known so far. These three species can not be separated by the structure of the male genitalia.

Description. Male: COLORATION ( Fig. 4 ): Orange red, with whitish hemelytra. Head: Uniformly orange red, apex of clypeus pale yellow, frons with a series of yellowish red rays radiating from midline; antenna pale yellowish, with entirely orange-red first segment; labium dirty red, with reddish brown first segment and dark brown fourth segment; labrum pale yellowish. Thorax: Pronotum, thoracic venter, and exposed part of mesonotum uniformly bright orange red, thoracic pleura and posterior margin of pronotum sometimes slightly darkened, scutellum uniformly pale, whitish yellow. Legs: Coxae and femora entirely orange red, tibiae and tarsi uniformly pale yellow, tibial spines pale. Hemelytra: Uniformly pale, whitish yellow; membrane semitransparent, whitish to smoky pale brown, veins pale. Abdomen: Dirty yellow, genital segment laterally or entirely pale brown, phallotheca dark brown.

SURFACE AND VESTITURE: Dorsum smooth, shiny, entirely clothed with scarce, silvery white, semiadpressed, moderately flattened setae; in addition, vertex and pronotum with robust, dark brown, semierect to adpressed simple setae, hemelytra with pale brown, adpressed simple setae at sides and on cuneus; legs, antennae, and venter with adpressed, silver simple setae; tibial spines pale, as long as width of tibia; first antennal segment with pale, short spinelike seta on medial surface.

STRUCTURE: Elongate-oval, total length 3.2–3.3, body 2.7–2.8 × as long as width of pronotum. Head: Moderately projecting anteriorly, clypeus visible from above; vertex 1.6–1.8 × as wide as eye; second antennal segment 0.6 × as long as basal width of pronotum, 0.9–1.0 × as long as width of head; labium reaching genital segment. Thorax: Pronotum 1.6–1.7 × as wide as long, with indistinctly demarcated calli; tarsus and claw as in Fig. 24 .

MALE GENITALIA: Genital capsule: Large, more than half of abdomen, without distinctive ornamentation. Parameres: Shape typical for Phylini , right paramere apically truncate, with well developed protrusion on either side ( Fig. 22 ), left paramere with apically rounded sensory lobe and long, thin and straight apical process ( Figs. 20, 21 ). Apex of phallotheca: As in Fig. 23 . Vesica: S-shaped ( Figs. 17–19 ), with several closely approximating ridges running along margin of lateral strap and with a proximal portion of one strap terminating near secondary gonopore; apical portion of vesica with two blades, apex of larger blade almost straight, with simple tooth at base, smaller blade slightly and gradually curved, apically bifurcate, with distal apex somewhat larger than proximal one; secondary gonopore subapical, placed on membrane, large, with well developed sculpture.

Female. COLORATION, SURFACE AND VESTITURE: As in male, abdomen uniformly pale yellow.

STRUCTURE: Somewhat smaller than male, with similar body proportions. Total length 2.9–3.1, body 2.6– 2.8 × as long as width of pronotum. Head: Vertex 1.9–2.0 × as wide as eye; second antennal segment 0.7 × as long as basal width of pronotum, as long as width of head, labium reaching base of ovipositor. Thorax: Pronotum 2.4 × as wide as long.

Distribution. Xinjiang, China. Refer to Fig. 26 for distribution of G. alborubrum and closely related species.

Host. Unknown. However, species of Glaucopterum are known to be strictly monophagous and both species closely related to G. alborubrum , namely G. maculipenne and G. albonigrum , were described from Atraphaxis pungens (M. Bieb.) Jaub. & Spach (Polygonaceae) ( Kerzhner 1984). It seems likely, that the new species is a specialized feeder on some Atraphaxis spp. as well.

Etymology. The species name refers to the characteristic color pattern.

Material examined: Holotype: CHINA: Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu: Huyang quan, Ruoqiang, 39.53436 ° N 92.50847 ° E, 1694 m, 24 May 2010, Zhaohui Luo, 1ď ( AMNH _PBI 00337708) ( ZISP).

Paratypes: CHINA: Xinjiang Uygur Zizhiqu: Huyang quan, Ruoqiang, 39.53436 ° N 92.50847 ° E, 1694 m, 24 May 2010, Zhaohui Luo, 1ď ( AMNH _PBI 00337707), 1Ψ ( AMNH _PBI 00337710) ( CAU), 1ď ( AMNH _PBI 00337706), 1Ψ ( AMNH _PBI 00337709) ( ZISP).

Figures

FIGURE 26. Distribution of Glaucopterum spp.

FIGURES 1 – 7. Dorsal habitus photographs. 1, 2 — Compsidolon schrenkianum sp. nov.: 1 — male, 2 — female. 3 — Compsidolon alatavicum (Kerzhner, 1962), male. 4 — Glaucopterum alborubrum sp. nov., male. 5 – 6 — Glaucopterum albonigrum Kerzhner, 1984: 5 — typical dark male, 6 — pale female. 7 — Glaucopterum maculipenne Kerzhner, 1984.

FIGURES 17 – 24. Glaucopterum alborubrum sp. nov., male genitalia and tarsus. 17 – 19 — Vesica. 20 – 21 — Left paramere. 22 — Right paramere. 23 — Apex of theca. 24 – Tarsus.