Antillaptera, Heiss, 2019

Heiss, Ernst, 2019, New genera and species of apterous Carventinae (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Aradidae) Irom Lesser Antilles, Linzer biologische Beiträge 51 (1), pp. 69-82 : 71

Genus Antillaptera nov.gen.

T y p e s p e c i e s: Antillaptera wheeleri nov.sp.

E t y m o l o g y: Refers to its occurance in Antilles and the apterous condition.

D i a g n o s i s: Apterous, small sized, body elongate oval; antennae slender with first segment thickest; eyes not stalked; surface of thorax glabrous with fine tubercles and rugosities, lateral margins of thorax and abdomen beset with setigerous tubercles; fused median carinate ridge reaching from pronotum to tergal plate; deltg II+III fused; spiracles II+III lateral and visible from above, IV+V sublateral, sometimes faintly recognizable from above, VI+VII lateral and visible from above; sternite VII of male with a shiny glandular tubercle at apices which is visible from above; rostrum arising from a slit ̅ like atrium.

D e s c r i p t i o n: Head about as long as wide, genae produced over clypeus, diverging anteriorly; antenniferous lobes with acute apex; antennae about twice as long as width of head, segment I longest, II shortest; postocular lobes with a small setigerous tubercle adjacent to eyes, then roundly converging to constricted neck; rostral groove wide, posteriorly delimited by a carina.

Thorax: Pronotum strongly transverse, lateral margins slightly concave and converging anteriorly, anterolateral angles subangular; disk with a median groove which is anteriorly delimited by a triangular sclerite, laterally with smooth oblique callosities and tuberculate margin; disk of meso- and metanotum consists as well of ovate flat callosities and tuberculate margin laterad of fused median ridge which is flanked by longitudinal carinae along metanotum and fused mtg I+II; metanotum fused to mtg I+II without a visible suture.

Abdomen: Tergal plate with a median longitudinal elevation on mtg III+IV; deltg II+III fused, posterolateral angles of deltg VI rectangular, of VII triangularly produced posteriorly; spiracles VI and VII are placed on dorsally reflexed expansions of vltg VI and VII; mtg VII of male raised at middle for the reception of the conical pygophore, this with a longitudinal ridge and oval lateral depressions; ptg VIII club shaped.

Legs: Unarmed, scarcely beset with small setigerous tubercles; trochanters fused to femora; pulvilli present.

C o m p a r a t i v e n o t e s: Antillaptera nov.gen. shares with the habitually closest related Caribbean genus Kolpodaptera USINGER & MATSUDA, 1959 the structure of the median thoracic ridge, non stalked eyes and male vltg VII with shiny apical glandular tubercle. However, it differs by a set of characters as pronotum with lateral margins concave (vs. rounded) and subangular anterolateral angles (vs. dorsally rounded but angularly produced at a lower level), postocular setigerous tubercles distinct (vs. small to inconspicuous), position of spiracles VI + V sublateral (vs. all lateral and visible from above) and by distinctly narrower pygophore in male (wider) with longer ptg VIII (shorter).