Lactistes obesipes Signoret

Lis, Jerzy A. & Lis, Barbara, 2008, Lactistes obesipes Signoret, 1879 (Hemiptera: Cydnidae) — the burrower bug enigma: redescription, synonymy, and remarks on its distribution and taxonomic status, Zootaxa 1933, pp. 66-68 : 66-67

Lactistes obesipes Signoret ( Fig. 1 a, b)

Lactistes obesipes Signoret, 1879: 234 [1880: CLXXII, 1881: 52; both these subsequent descriptions are objective synonymy based on the same female specimen].

Lactistes chinensis J.A. Lis, 1994: 203 , new synonym.

Redescription. Body clearly broadened posteriorly, its dorsal surface castaneous or dark castaneous with head and anterior half of pronotum almost blackish brown.

Head distinctly punctured on paraclypei, clypeus, and vertex impunctate or almost impunctate; paraclypei longer than clypeus and joined or almost joined in a front of the latter, each paraclypeus submarginally with 3 setigerous punctures; eyes brown or blackish brown, ocular index 2.3–4.4; ocelli reddish brown, interocellar index about 5.0–8.5; antennae and rostrum brown or yellowish brown; the latter long, reaching posterior coxae.

66 Accepted by C. Schaefer: 22 Oct. 2008; published: 14 Nov. 2008 Pronotum narrowed anteriorly; its disc with clearly visible punctures – dense and coarse behind the head and around callal areas, more sparse in its lateral parts; callal areas well visible, large, impunctate, and slightly convex; pronotal umbones distinctly swollen; lateral margins with 3–4 submarginal setigerous punctures each.

Scutellum irregularly more or less densely punctured, except for impunctate anterolateral angles and apex; all punctures of the same size as those on pronotum.

Corium with clearly visible punctures; clavus with one complete and two partial rows of punctures; mesocorium with two rows of punctures paralleling clavo-corial suture, mesocorial disc densely punctured; exocorium sparsely punctured; costa with a single setigerous puncture; membrane semihyaline, embrowned, decidedly broader and longer than abdomen.

Propleuron dark castaneous, smooth and polished, slightly wrinkled; propleural depression with a few more or less visible punctures.

Evaporatoria typical of the genus; evaporative areas smaller in comparison to those of other species of the genus; lateral and posterior areas smooth, impunctate.

Sterna smooth and impunctate, their lateral parts slightly transversely striated.

Legs typical of the genus; spatulate process of anterior tibia short, only slightly curved.

Measurements (in mm, females only): body length 6.11–7.75; body width 3.69–4.05; head length 1.06–1.22; head width 1.49–1.88; pronotum length 1.77–2.19; pronotum width 3.15–3.69; scutellum length 2.36–2.83; scutellum width 2.19–2.46; antennal segments: 0.22–0.29: 0.21–0.29: 0.33–0.38: 0.38–0.46: 0.45–0.48.

Type material studied. Lectotype female of Lactistes obesipes Signoret, 1879 (designated by J.A. Lis 1996: 218): labelled as coming from “ Nouvelle-Hollande ”; housed at the Natural History Museum in Vienna ( Austria).

Holotype female of Lactistes chinensis J.A. Lis, 1994 : Canton [=Guangdong], China; housed at the Department of Biosystematics, Opole University ( Poland).

Distribution. The main area of the genus distribution includes Afrotropics and Oriental Region ( Linnavuori 1993; J.A. Lis 1994, 1999); a few species are also known from the southern parts of the Palaearctic Region, namely Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China, and Japan ( J.A. Lis 1996, 2006). Basing on the present study we regard L. obesipes as not Australian in origin (most probably Oriental, known hitherto only from Guangdong, China), and we propose to remove this species (and the genus, as well) from the faunal list of Australian Cydnidae .

Taxonomic status. Linnavuori (1993) divided all species of the genus into two subgenera, namely the Lactistes s. str. (anterior tibia more or less prolonged forming a spatulate process, narrowed and curved apically, spines present on basal two-thirds of its outer margin), and Eolactistes Linnavuori (anterior tibia dilated in its apical half, with spines present along the entire outer margin, apical process short and ending in two stout spines). Examination of available specimens of L. obesipes showed it represented the typical subgenus – Lactistes s. str.

Morphologically, the species can easily be separated from all other Oriental representatives of the subgenus by its pronotum strongly narrowed anteriorly, large and protruding eyes, paraclypeus submarginally with 3 setigerous punctures, and costal margin with a single setigerous puncture. The last character is especially important for separating taxa because all other Oriental species of Lactistes s. str. bear 2–4 setigerous punctures on each costal margin.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Lactistes obesipes. (a) Habitus of female lectotype (partly reconstructed); (b) evaporatorium of female lectotype; (c) peritreme of evaporatorium; (d-e) anterior leg in different views; (f) head with rostrum in lateral view [figures c – f from Signoret, 1881].