Physatocheila angusta, Golub & Soboleva, 2023

Golub, V. B. & Soboleva, V. A., 2023, Descriptions of three new species and one subspecies of Physatocheila (Heteroptera: Tingidae) from China and the Russian Far East, with an identification key to the species of the Russian fauna, Zoosystematica Rossica (Zoosyst. Rossica) 32 (1), pp. 27-42 : 29-31

Physatocheila angusta sp. nov.

( Fig. 1B, D )

Holotype. Male, China, Yunnan Prov., Er Hai Lake , 15 km NE of Xiaguan, 25°45′32.6″N, 100°13′43.0″E, 2261 m a.s.l., 20.V.2002, A. Konstantinov & M. Volkovitsh leg. ( ZISP) ( Fig. 1G ).

Paratypes. Two females, same data as for holotype ( ZISP) .

Description. Body elongate, rather narrow, in male 2.63 times and in female 2.54–2.60 times as long as wide, dorsally brown with dark red tint; paranota and hemelytra with large blackish spots.

Head black, with rather long yellowish brown three frontal and two occipital spines thinning towards apices; apices of paired frontal spines converging; median frontal spine slightly or rather strongly protruding beyond bases of lateral frontal spines, elevated above surface of head; occipital spines adjacent to head or slightly erected. Antennae long; first three segments brown, segment IV almost entirely blackish, with slightly raised blackish hairs.

Pronotum 1.70 times (in male) or 1.56–1.58 (in females) times as long as wide. Pronotal disc strongly convex, with large punctures. Anterior margin of pronotum angulate, distinctly but not strongly produced anteriorly, with raised tectiform hood (vesicula). Three longitudinal pronotal carinae distinctly elevated; median carina with one row of minute areolae; lateral carinae scarcely converging anteriorly, slightly lower than median carina, with one row of areolae or only traces of areolae. Areolate paranota completely reflexed on dorsal surface of pronotum, anteriorly pressed to disc, posteriorly, on lateral angles of pronotum distinctly inflated, with five longitudinal rows of rather large areolae at widest part; outer margin of paranotum straight in its considerable length, touching lateral pronotal carina at distance of about one-tenth of its length or only in one point.

Macropterous form. Hemelytra considerably protruding beyond abdomen. Costal area rather narrow, with one row of rather large areolae in most of its length and with few small areolae forming a second row in different parts of area; in widest part of discoidal area, where dark spot located, costal area with approximately six areolae arranged in two rows being most clearly expressed in females; largest areolae located in apical third. Subcostal area narrow, almost vertical, with two rows of areolae along almost its entire length and becoming uniseriate at apex; areolae of subcostal area slightly smaller than areolae of costal area. Discoidal area with seven (in male) or eight (in females) rows of angular areolae in widest part. Sutural area with eight rows of angular areolae in widest part, those being rather large at apex of membrane.

Body ventrally brown; prothorax or mesothorax with black spots near coxae. Legs brown, tarsi black. Subgenital plate in females small, triangular.

Length (in mm): body in male 3.10, in females 3.10–3.25; head in male 0.25, in females 0.20; pronotum in male 1.70, in females 1.58; antennal segments (I, II, III, IV) in male 0.15, 0.12, 0.88, 0.32, in females 0.12–0.15, 0.11–0.12, 0.72, 0.28.

Width (in mm): body in male 1.18, in females 1.22–1.25; head in male and females 0.70; vertex in male and females 0.22; pronotum in male 1.00, in females 1.00–1.02.

Comparison. Physatocheila angusta sp. nov. is morphologically most similar to Ph. marginulata Golub, 1976 ( Fig. 4B, D ) known from the south of the Primorskiy Territory of Russia in having the narrow costal areas of the hemelytra. The new species differs from it in having five rows of areolae in the widest part of paranota (vs. 7–8 rows in Ph. marginulata ), slightly inflated paranota on the lateral angles of pronotum (the paranota are pressed to the pronotum along their entire length in Ph. marginulata ). In Ph. angusta sp. nov., the costal area of hemelytra has one row of areolae over most of its length and only a few areolae of the second row in the middle part of its length; in Ph. marginulata , the costal area has two rows of areolae over most of the length and three rows at the bases. The subcostal area of Ph. angusta sp. nov. is biseriate over most of its length; in Ph. marginulata , this area has four rows of areolae over most of its length. Physatocheila marginulata is larger, its body length is 3.65 mm.

This new species bears some resemblance to Ph. fieberi (Scott, 1874) distributed in south-eastern China, Taiwan, Japan and in the Oriental Region, as well as to three species of Physatocheila known from Bhutan, approximately at the latitude of the type locality of Ph. angusta sp. nov.: Ph. similis Péricart, 1985 , Ph. bhutanensis Péricart, 1985 , and Ph. subgibbosa Péricart, 1985 . The first three species differ from the new species in the reflexed paranota, which are very wide and completely cover the pronotal disc including the lateral carinae. On the contrary, the paranota in Ph. subgibbosa are very narrow and almost do not cover the disc dorsally ( Péricart, 1985).

Physatocheila angusta sp. nov. is also somewhat similar in the general appearance to Cysteochila consueta Drake, 1948 distributed in the Korean Peninsula, Taiwan, and the Oriental Region. In this species, as well as in Ph. angusta sp. nov., the reflexed paranota are elevated on the lateral angles of pronotum, the costal area is narrow, with one row of areolae in the anterior half. Cysteochila consueta differs from Ph. angusta in the wider reflexed paranota, which partially cover the lateral carinae of the pronotum dorsally.

Etymology. The specific name of this species is a Latin adjective meaning “narrow”.

Figures

Fig. 1. Physatocheila spp.A, C, E, F, Ph. explanata sp.nov., holotype, male; B, D, Ph. angusta sp. nov. (B, G, holotype, male; D, paratype, female). General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D); labels of holotype (E, G) and paratype (F). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Fig. 4. Physatocheila spp. A, C, Ph. putshkovi Golub, 1976, paratype, female, foothills of Saur Ridge, Kazakhstan; B, D, Ph. marginulata Golub, 1976, female, holotype, southern Primorskiy Territory, Russia. General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.