Physoderes minor, Usinger, 1946

Usinger, Robert L., 1946, Hemiptera Heteroptera of Guam, Insects of Guam II, Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Bulletin 189, pp. 11-103 : 50-51

43. Physoderes minor , new species ( fig. 11 ).

Relatively small, the head half as broad as long, apical portion of scutellum about as broad as long, legs short and stout and color predominantly pale, fulvous to ochraceous on head, thorax, and appendages.

Head half as wide as long; transverse impression well developed, located just behind eyes, the anterior lobe thus delimited twice as long as the short, strongly transverse (17: 10) posterior lobe; front lobe gradually tapering to blunt apex, the antennae inserted at its anterior third, antenniferous tubercles short, not produced, juga well developed, roundly convex, reaching to level of apices of antenniferous tubercles; eyes about one fourth as wide as interocular space. Hind lobe transverse, its hind margin broadly, evenly rounded, its sides roundly angled. Entire head sparsely clothed with curved hairs and with a pair of erect, posteriorly-directed hairs on hind margin of posterior lobe. Rostrum long, slender, tapering, proportion of segments one to three as 13: 23: 8. Antennae slightly longer than head, 37: 35; proportion of segments one to four as 8: 11: 8: 10.

Pronotum as long on median line as head, almost half again as broad across humeri as long, 50: 35; disk gradually sloping in back and more abruptly in front of transverse impression, the front lobe one seventh narrower than hind lobe, convex, elevated anteriorly at middle and carinate sublaterally, with four sinuate carinae on posterior part of front lobe, the two median ones connected to hind lobe which is subdepressed and transversely rugose at middle. Front margin strongly depressed and then a little reflexed, the lateral angles briefly, roundly produced. Lateral margins broadly, arcuately rounded, minutely toothed and covered with stiff, curved hairs; constricted at transverse impression, and then abruptly flaring to rounded humeri. Hind margin feebly arcuate in front of scutellum, the parascutellar lobes relatively short, about half as long as width of posterior scutellar lobe, 3.5:6, straight on inner margins, sinuate on outer margins and rounded apically. Disk also depressed in front of middle of transverse impression and sublaterally beyond parascutellar lobes, glabrous between carinae of anterior lobe and very sparsely beset with sparse, subappressed hairs on posterior lobes.

Insects of Guam-II

Scutellum broader at base than long, 20: 16; the sides sinuate and roundly carinate, the disk strongly depressed at base and deeply impressed as a trough on apical lobe, this last with subparallel sides, the width at this point nearly one sixth the total width of scutellum at base, 6: 20; apex rounded.

Hemelytra complete, reaching to middle of apical abdominal tergite, exposing the connexivum a little more broadly at middle of sides of abdomen than posteriorly.

Female pygidium as broad dorsally as long, arcuate on dorsal margin, slightly concave and converging laterally, the ventral margin half as long as dorsal.

Femora relatively stout, the front femora one third as wide as long and provided with at least three very prominent spines one third as long as width of femur.

Color fulvous to dark brown and ochraceous, the head and pronotum brownish fulvous with antenniferous tubercles apically and discal carinae, lateral margins, posterior margin and posterior portion of pronotum at middle paler, fulvous to ochraceous. Scutellum whitish at least on apical two thirds, corium dark brown with paler veins apically, membrane dark. Connexivum dark brown with ochraceous posterior third to half of each segment. Under surface largely ochraceous with brownish longitudinal stripes and markings. Rostrum pale. Antennae with first segment, apical half of second and fourth segments, and joints between the segments pale. Legs ochraceous on coxae, trochanters, femora broadly at middle, tibiae subbasally and just beyond middle, and tarsi.

The male is a little smaller with the hemelytra slightly longer but still not reaching apex of abdomen.

Size: female, length 7.65 mm., width (hemelytra) 4.25 mm., (pronotum) 2.5 mm., (abdomen) 3.2 mm.; male, length 7.2 mm., width (hemelytra) 4.05 mm., (pronotum) 2.25 mm., (abdomen) 2.75 mm.

Holotype female, Dededo, May 19, taken in a rotten banana stump, Usinger; allotype male, Piti , May 22, beneath rotten breadfruit, Swezey ; three paratypes, same data as holotype; five specimens, Piti , May 22, 23 and 26 and Oct. 27, in rotten banana log and breadfruit, Swezey and Usinger ; four specimens, Mt. Alifan , May 26, in rotten papaya log, Usinger; and two specimens, Yigo, Nov. 13, in rotten banana stem, Swezey.

P. minor has the short head with the roundly angulate posterior lobe of javanica Miller but is smaller and has an unusually broad apical scutellar lobe. P. fuliginosa Stal , which I collected on Mt. Maquiling in the Philippines, differs in its larger size, darker coloration, longer and more slender head with rounded sides of posterior lobe, narrower apical scutellar lobe and more slender legs. Physoderes Westwood (= Epirodera Westwood ) extends from Madagascar through the Oriental Region. The Oriental section of the genus is much the larger in described species, all of which differ from the Madagascar forms in the sulcate apical scutellar lobe. The center of distribution appears to be Java, Sumatra, and the Malay Peninsula. I have three species from the Philippines and a remarkable, nearly apterous species from Fiji. The Fijian and Guam species represent the easternmost extensions of the genus known to date.

Figures

FIGURE 11.-Physoderes minor: dorsal view of male.