Malipatilius bodisjuditae Kondorosy & Schmidt, 2024

Kondorosy, Előd, Kovács, Szilvia & Schmidt, Péter, 2024, A review of Malipatilius (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Rhyparochromidae), with a checklist of Lygaeoidea occurring in the Papuan Subregion, Zootaxa 5477 (2), pp. 147-170 : 162-163

Malipatilius bodisjuditae Kondorosy & Schmidt , sp. nov.

( Figs. 3 , 14, 17)

Type material. Holotype: Papua: Kokoda. / 1200 ft. iv. 1933. / L.E. Cheesman. / B.M. 1933-427. (♂, BMNH) . Paratypes: Papua: Kokoda. / 1200 ft. vi. 1933. / L.E. Cheesman. / B.M. 1933-427. (1♂, BMNH, 1♂, EKKH) ; Papua: Kokoda. / 1200 ft. viii. 1933. / L.E. Cheesman. / B.M. 1933-427. (♀, BMNH) .

Description. Colour: A pair of yellow oblique spots present on posterior half of pronotum with a pale and hardly emergent impunctate midline. Scape rather pale, not darker than basiflagellum ( Fig. 3 ).

Structure: Midline of posterior lobe of pronotum impunctate; humeral angles of pronotum acute; largest tooth of profemur shorter than diameter of tibiae; ostiolar peritreme of male relatively short, directed first straightly towards posterolateral edge of metepisternum, then curved posteriad, ending far from posterior margin of metepisternum; evaporatorium small, covering about half of metepisternum, not reaching its posterior margin (Fig.14).

Measurements (holotype male, followed by ranges of 2 male and 1 female paratypes): Total body length: 4.20, 3.88–4.38; head: length 0.65, 0.61–0.68, width 0.70, 0.69–0.73, interocular distance 0.35, 0.34–0.35, eye length 0.25, 0.24–0.25, length of antenniferous tubercle 0.15, 0.14–0.15; length of antennomeres: I 0.61, 0.56–0.63, II 0.94, 0.89–0.91, III 0.79, 0.75–0.79, IV missing, 0.74; diameter of basiflagellum 0.11, 0.10–0.11; pronotum: length 0.88, 0.80–0.88, maximum width 1.18, 1.10–1.25, width at transversal furrow 0.80, 0.74–0.83, width at anterior margin 0.50, 0.49–0.54; scutellum: length 0.73, 0.68–0.79, width 0.65, 0.60–0.71; length of claval commissure 0.38, 0.36–0.44. Relative measurements: Table 3 .

Diagnosis. M. bodisjuditae sp. nov. is highly similar to M. horvathi sp. nov. and M. microps sp. nov. The most significant differences are the acute humeral angles (which is characteristic only for the more colourful next species—other differences see there) and the length of the antenniferous tubercle: the eye is 1.58–1.73 times longer than the antenniferous tubercle, while in M. horvathi sp. nov. this ratio is at least 2.0 and in M. microps sp. nov. only 1.07–1.45. The scape is longer than in any other species, almost or just as long as the head (0.88–1.02), in any other species it is always less than 0.76 times longer; except in some individuals of M. horvathi sp. nov., where the scape: head length ratio reaches 0.87 or even 0.89.

Etymology. The new species is named in honour of associate professor Judit Bódis, Hungarian botanist, in the occasion of her 60th birthday. She is a good colleague and friend and a great help, especially of the senior author.

Distribution. M. bodisjuditae sp. nov. is known from the middle part of the Papuan Peninsula (= Bird’s Tail Peninsula) ( Fig. 17 ).

Figures

FIGURE 17. Distribution of Malipatilius species in New Guinea.

FIGURES 1–4. Dorsal view of Malipatilius spp. 1 M. horvathi Kondorosy & Schmidt, sp. nov.; 2 M. microps Kondorosy & Schmidt, sp. nov.; 3 M. bodisjuditae Kondorosy & Schmidt, sp. nov.; 4 M. batantensis Kondorosy & Schmidt, sp. nov.