Apennocoris Montandon, 1907

Kóbor, Péter, 2020, Apennocoris pilosulus: rediscovery of a forgotten big-eyed bug taxon from New Caledonia (Heteroptera: Lygaeoidea: Geocoridae), Zootaxa 4822 (2), pp. 285-292 : 286-288

Apennocoris Montandon, 1907

( Figs. 1–3 )

LSID: http://lsid.speciesfile.org/urn:lsid:Lygaeoidea.speciesfile.org:TaxonName:488766 ( Dellapé & Henry 2020).

Type species: Apennocoris pilosulus Montandon, 1907 by monotypy.

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Redescription. Macropterous and coleopterous morphs known. Head pentagonal, eyes moderately stylate with eyestalks slightly erect, not encompassing anterior edges of pronotum; ocular sulcus reduced, hardly visible. Ocelli situated on vertex medially, eye–ocellus distance greater than distance between ocelli. Clypeus rounded, basally bulging in lateral view. Antenniferous tubercles developed, visible in dorsal view. Antennomere I shortest, antennomere II longest, antennomeres III and IV somewhat shorter than antennomere II. Labial trough open, V-shaped, reaching middle of head, not continuing in suture to base of head. Labiomere I longest, labiomere II shortest, labiomeres III and IV subequal in length. Thorax: thoracic dorsum sparsely covered with erect, dark, bristle-like setae of length subequal to length of antennomere I. Pronotum bell-shaped with median length shorter than basal width (macropterous morph), or subquadrangular (coleopterous morph); anterior margin straight, anterior edges oblique, slightly rounded; humeral angles rounded, bulging in lateral view; posterior margin straight; integument with deep, coarse punctures, denser anteriad of pronotal callosities than posteriad; pronotal callosities transverse, slightly arched and elevated. Scutellum subequilateral with a trifurcate carina well-developed, slightly bulging in lateral view; apex of scutellum sharply pointed. Wings of macropterous morph: mesothoracic wing hemelytral; clavus with parallel margins; length of claval commissure less than half of median length of scutellum; corium relatively weakly sclerotized; punctation present along claval margin and in form of an arched line along M+R, not reaching apical margin; membrane surpassing apex of abdomen, venation inconspicuous, obscure; metathoracic wing fully developed; hamus complete; intervannals fused basally. Wings of coleopterous morph: mesothoracic wing conspicuously thickened, reaching up to base of abdominal tergite VII; clavus and corium indistinguishably fused, their boundary indicated by punctures; metathoracic wing absent. Thoracic tergites and pleurites with punctation like on thoracic dorsum. Prosternum with bulging, collar-like structure between apex and procoxa. Metathoracic scent efferent aparatus (MTSEA) situated in ventral half of metaplurite; dorsal extremity of peritreme exceeding dorsal margin of supracoxal lobes; ostiole oblong, oval; vestibular scar well-defined, reaching thoracic venter; evaporatorium not exceeding midline of metapleurite dorsally, extending between meta- and mesocoxae. Metapleurite divided into anterior and posterior lobes with a ratio of surface of approximately 3:1 by a dorsoventral furrow above metacoxae. Femora fusiform, unarmed; fore tibiae with spines on posterior side, spines denser and thicker apically than basally; tarsomere I longest, II shortest. Abdominal tergites rugose; connexiva glabrous; abdominal spiracles II–IV ventral, V–VII dorsal. Ovipositor of female splitting abdominal ventrites V–VII. Pygophore of male with two bulging tubercles submedially.

Diagnosis. Types of all Germalus species from New Caledonia, including Nesogermalus dissidens ( Montandon, 1907) (KNHM) , Germalus montandoni Bergroth, 1916 (HNHM), and species described by Distant (1920) (BMNH) were studied in course of the present study. Apennocoris pilosulus can be separated from all of the above species by the combination of the following characters: eyes moderately stylate, eye-stalks slighly erect, ocular sulcus reduced; thoracic dorsum sparsely covered by erect, dark, bristle-like setae; punctation of corium along M+R less strongly arched than in other taxa; ostiole of MTSEA oblong, oval, evaporatorium covering ventral half of metapleurite; pygophore of male with conspicuous blackish tubercles.

Remarks. Apennocoris is the only genus among taxa allied to Germalus in which wing polymorphism and a flightless morph is documented. This condition is associated with habitat permanency in Lygaeoidea ( Slater 1977) and relatively common in Afrotopical, Nearctic and Palaearctic representatives of the genus Geocoris Fallén, 1814 .

Figures

FIGURE 1. Apennocoris pilosulus Montandon, 1907, coleopterous female (lectotype, KNHM): A. dorsal habitus, B. lateral view, C. labels (scale bar: 1 mm).

FIGURE 2. Apennocoris pilosulus Montandon, 1907, macropterous male (MNHN): A. dorsal habitus, B. lateral view (scale bar: 1 mm).

FIGURE 3. Details of Apennocoris pilosulus, macropterous male: A. labial trough, B. metapleurite with structures of metathoracic scent efferent apparatus (indicated with red arrow), C. detail of thorax and abdomen in lateral view with dorsal setosity. (scale bar: 1 mm).