Urartucoris ermolenkoi P. V. Putshkov, 1979

Kment, Petr, Fent, Meral & Japoshvili, George, 2013, Redescription of Urartucoris ermolenkoi (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Coreidae) and a revised key to the genera of Pseudophloeini of the Western Palaearctic Region, ZooKeys 319, pp. 191-209 : 197-201

Urartucoris ermolenkoi P. V. Putshkov, 1979 Figs 2-16

Urartucoris ermolenkoi P. V. Putshkov, 1979: 63-64. Type material: Holotype: ♀, Azerbaijan: 'Nakhichevanskaya ASSR: 6 km N of Bilav village, 1700 m, 22 V 1966 (V. M. Ermolenko)' (coll. Institute of Zoology, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, Kiev); paratype: 1 ♀, Azerbaijan, Nakhchivan: '0.5 km E of Ak-Dar village, 2000 m, 19 VII 1977 (P. V. Puchkov)' (coll. Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg).

Urartucoris ermolenkoi : Dolling (2005): 55 (catalogue), Putshkov and Putshkov (2012): 95 (type depository).

Material examined.

TURKEY: Isparta province: Gölcük (site A), 17.iv.2008, 1 ♂, M. Kaya lgt.; (sites A,B), 17.iv.2008, 3 ♂♂, M. Kaya lgt.; (site D), 24.iv.2008, 1 ♂ 1 ♀, G. Japoshvili lgt.; (site C), 15.v.2008, 1 ♀, M. Kaya lgt.; (site E), 10.vii.2008, 1 ♂ 1 ♀, G. Japoshvili lgt.; (site B), 24.vii.2008, 1 ♀, G. Japoshvili lgt.; (site E), 11.ix.2008, 1 ♂ 1 ♀, G. Japoshvili lgt. (coll. Trakya University, Edirne, Turkey, except 1 ♂ 1 ♀ in coll. National Museum, Praha, Czech Republic).

Location of the collecting sites: A - 37°43'33.81"N, 30°30'26.22"E, 1472 m alt.; B - 37°44'13.12"N, 30°29'22.95"E, 1420 m alt.; C - 37°42'49.02"N, 30°29'48.93"E, 1485 m alt.; D - 37°43'03.00"N, 30°29'56.90"E, 1443 m alt.; E - 37°42'09.05"N, 30°29'43.97"E, 1621 m alt.

Redescription.

Colouration (Figs 2-5).Body dorsally dark brown, except three ochraceous stripes dorsally on head, one in midline, running from base of head towards base of clypeus, and two lateral ones, running from base of head along inner margin of eye towards base of antenniferous tubercle; elongate ivory spot on apex of scutellum; and rather irregular whitish spots posterolaterally on laterotergites. Membrane brownish, with small round pale spots; veins dark brown. Antennae and labium black. Head ventrally brown. Thorax ventrally dark brown, pleura to various extent covered with smaller to larger, irregular, sometimes confluent ochraceous spots, especially on metapleuron. Profemora, metatibiae and metatarsi blackish brown. Meso- and metafemora blackish brown with irregular ochraceous spots, especially on dorsal surface. Pro- and mesotibiae ochraceous, basally and apically infuscated with dark brown, pro- and mesotarsi dark brown. Abdomen ventrally pale with nearly continuous wide blackish stripes laterally and at mid-distance between lateral margin and midline, sternites III–VII with narrow, black, nearly continuous to interrupted stripe along midline.

Measurements. Males (mm; n = 8): Body length 9.4-10.3; head: length 1.7-1.8, width across eyes 1.7-1.8, interocular width 1.0-1.3; pronotum: length 1.9-2.1, width across pronotal collar 1.6-1.8, width across humeral angles 2.9-3.3; scutellum: length 1.1-1.3, width 1.4-1.6; abdomen: maximum width (slightly behind its midlength) 4.0-4.2; length of antennal segments: I - 0.9-1.1, II - 1.2-1.5, III - 0.9-1.1, IV - 1.0-1.2; profemur: length 1.8-2.2; protibia: length 1.7-2.0; mesofemur: length 2.1-2.5; mesotibia: length 2.0-2.3; metafemur: length 2.7-3.6; metatibia: length 3.0-3.5.

Females (mm; n = 4): Body length 10.5-11.0; head: length 1.7-1.9, width across eyes 1.8-2.0, interocular width 1.2-1.25; pronotum: length 2.0-2.1, width across pronotal collar 1.7-1.9, width across humeral angles 3.1-3.4; scutellum: length 1.2-1.4, width 1.5-1.7; abdomen: maximum width (slightly behind its midlength) 4.2-4.6; length of antennal segments: I - 0.9-1.1, II - 1.3-1.4, III - 1.1 (n = 1), IV - 1.2 (n = 1); profemur: length 2.0-2.3; protibia: length 1.9-2.2; mesofemur: length 2.3-2.6; mesotibia: length 2.1-2.3; metafemur: length 3.1-3.8; metatibia: length 3.0-3.4.

Pilosity and vestiture. Body dorsum (except membrane), antennae and legs covered with long, stiff, semi-erect to erect, brown to black spinules, arising from apices of small tubercles (best visible in lateral view); tubercles largest on vertex and anterior portion of pronotum, those on posterior portion of pronotum, scutellum, and coriaceous part of hemelytra smaller. Spinules on tibiae nearly as long as half of diameter of tibia, those on femora nearly as long as the large spinules on pronotum. Body venter with double pilosity: Long, stiff, semi-erect to erect, dark spinules as those on body dorsum, but distinctly sparser, arising from smaller tubercles, short on pleura and ventral surface of head. Besides the dark spinules, body venter covered with intermingled, sparse, adpressed, whitish setae, slightly shorter than the spinules. Antennal segment IV covered with very short and fine adpressed pubescence among the sparse, long black spinulae. Besides the tubercles body covered with irregularly scattered, deep and dark punctures, largest on clavus.

Variability.

The male resembles the female in most of the characters except for slightly smaller body (9.4-10.3 mm) than in females (10.5-11.2 mm), membrane reaching apex of abdomen (slightly shorter in females) and shape of last abdominal segments. We found also some differences in colouration, but this may represent rather intraspecific variability than sexual dimorphism: Peritreme yellowish, only slightly infuscated on its lateral edge (♂); peritreme black (♀). Abdominal sternites III–VII with narrow, black, nearly continuous stripe along midline (♂); sternite III medially with large blackish spot, the black longitudinal stripe in ventral midline being interrupted, ventrites IV–VI medially with only smaller black spots posteriorly (♀). The extent of ochraceous colouration on thoracic pleura is certainly variable among specimens.

The Turkish specimens fit well the original description except for a few details. The mesofemora of the Turkish specimens are unarmed, while Putshkov (1979) mentioned mesofemora with two small spines. There are also slight differences in colouration. According to Putshkov (1979), the Nakhchivan specimens differed, e.g., in antennae dark brown with antennal segment I black; anterior portion of pronotum paler than its posterior portion, darkened near lateral margins and along midline; meso- and metafemora pale, apically darkened, especially dorsally; and abdomen ventrally pale with isolated dark spots, forming two interrupted stripes in lateral midlines (halfway between connexivum and ventral midline of abdomen). The Turkish females are either slightly smaller or approximately as large as the Nakhchivan specimens.

Etymology.

Originally, etymology of the name was not specified. Most probably, the species was dedicated to Valeriy Mikhaylovich Ermolenko (1920-2006), an Ukrainian expert in Hymenoptera : Symphyta and collector of the holotype.

Phenology.

Adults were collected from mid April to end of July and in mid September ( Putshkov 1979, this paper).

Habitat.

All the specimens of Urartucoris ermolenkoi (all adults) were collected between April and September 2008 using pitfall traps; collecting by other methods (yellow traps) yielded no specimens of this apparently epigeic species. The species was collected at five different semi-natural collecting sites in higher altitudes (1420-1621 m a.s.l.), ranging from sparse forest to mountain grassland (Figs 18-20).

A Xerophilic natural plants with a reforested area with pine trees ( Pinus sp.) and cedars ( Cedrus sp.) planted between 1959-1969 ( Şahbudak & Cengiz 2007); about 4.8 % of the plants that were recorded from this site were endemic to Turkish flora. Altitude 1472 m (Fig. 18).

B Main entrance to the GNP, this is an area close to the lake, with areas reforested with Robinia pseudoacacia planted between 1960-1965. Some natural plants like Crataegus orientalis , Cotoneaster nummularia , Pistacia terebinthus and other are also represented in this site which has high human activity (picnic area). Altitude 1420 m.

C Mesophilous area with plantation of 50-60 years old Populus spp. trees, accompanied by Crataegus orientalis , Cotoneaster nummularia , Pistacia terebinthus , Rosa canina , Pyrus , Juglans and Malus spp. Altitude 1485 m.

D Dry xerophilic sandy place with Robinia pseudoacacia plantations and natural shrubland with different dominant Astragalus spp., many of them endemic. Altitude 1443 m (Fig. 19).

E Highland site, reforested in 1989 with Cedrus sp. and Robinia pseudoacacia . Altitude 1621 m (Fig. 20).

Distribution.

Asian Turkey (Isparta province) (this paper, see Fig. 1), Azerbaijan: Nakhchivan ( Putshkov 1979).