Slaterocoris hirtus (Knight, 1938)

Schwartz, Michael D., 2011, Revision And Phylogenetic Analysis Of The North American Genus Slaterocoris Wagner With New Synonymy, The Description Of Five New Species And A New Genus From Mexico, And A Review Of The Genus Scalponotatus Kelton (Heteroptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (354), pp. 1-290 : 234

Slaterocoris hirtus species group

DIAGNOSIS: Slaterocoris alpinus , S. hirtus , and S. mohri are distinguished by body conformation, overall size, vestiture color, angle, and length, and features of the male genitalia. COLORATION: Antennal segment I and II black; legs black, except apices of femora narrowly pale; sometimes pale on tibiae and antennal segment I distally and segment II at base. VESTITURE: With dense, long, suberect or erect, brown simple setae (pl. 4A, I, J, fig. 50B, C). STRUCTURE: Body conformation variable; frons striate (fig. 50A). MALE GENITALIA: Pygophore: Tergal process short with broad base and one apical point (figs. 49F, 52D, E, 55I). Phallotheca: Left lateral surface slightly compressed (figs. 49D, E, 52I, J, 55H). Endosomal spicule: Ventral lobe with uniform thickness throughout apical region, distal portion with variable marginally serration (figs. 49A–C, 52A–C, 55A–C). Right paramere: Large, apical region usually with three narrow parallel spines, subapical region wide with variable process, basal lobe narrow and elongate (figs. 49I–O, 51, 52H, 54, 55G). Left paramere: Distal portion shorter than basal portion with ventral surface diameter equal throughout (figs. 49G, H, 52F, G, 55E, F). FEMALE GENITALIA: First gonapophyses: Left overlapping right, in ventral view (fig. 53B), right lateral surface small, comparative size at overlap with left greater than right (fig. 53A, B). Left first gonapophyses: Dorsal surface concave, apex wide (fig. 53B). Vestibulum, anteroventral margin of anterior wall: Widely sclerotized medially, with sclerotized reaching lateral margins of bursa copulatrix. Ventral labiate plate: Strongly produced, with moderately wide, triangular base (fig. 53A). Second gonapophyses: Anterior medial surface moderately to strongly convex (fig. 53D). Interramal sclerite: Dorsomedial region flat, not produced anteriorly, posteromedial portion with tumid process abutting ovipositor bulb, ventromedial region overlapping second gonapophysis basally and ventromedial plate of interramal sclerite (fig. 53C, D). Interramal lobe: Dorsal or basal insertion with membranous attachment, dorsomedial margin with narrow lobe, ventral projection short with concave anterior surface (fig. 53D).

Features of the male genitalia will distinguish all the species of the hirtus group from one another. The base of the dorsal lobe in the endosomal spicule in S. alpinus is entire and marginal serrations are small (fig. 49A– C, arrow); in S. hirtus , the dorsal lobe is either bifurcate (fig. 52A arrow, C) or entire (fig. 52B, arrow) and marginal serrations are prominent (fig. 52A–C); in S. mohri , it is bifurcate and generally lacking serration (fig. 55A–D, arrow). Significant species-specific variation is found in the right paramere, particularly in the size of the tubercle adjacent to the parallel apical spines, the distance between the medial process and the apical spines, and the size and attenuation of the medial process. In S. alpinus , the tubercle is small, the distance is short, and the process is truncate with terminal spines (fig. 49I–O, arrow); in S. hirtus , the tubercle is removed from the apical spines and prominent, the distance is long, and the process is prominent and sharply attenuate (figs. 51A–G, 52H, arrow); and in S. mohri , the tubercle is prominent and sometimes merging with the base of the apical spines, the distance is long and the process is somewhat thick apically (figs. 54A–F arrow, 55G).

DISCUSSION: Two characters contribute unique, but ambiguous, support to the hirtus group. Under slow optimization the tergal process with a broad base and one apical point (23-4) and a narrow right paramere with an elongate basal lobe (44-3) support this species group. Brown vestiture (9-2) present on all species of the hirtus group, occurs widely in the genus and the ventromedial portion of the interramal sclerite overlapping the second gonapophysis (66-2) supports the hirtus group under slow or fast optimization is also present in S. clavatus .