Psallus (Psallus) helenae Josifov, 1969

Çerçi, Barış, Koçak, Özgür & Tezcan, Serdar, 2024, Review of the Heteroptera (Hemiptera) fauna of Turkey: perspectives for future research, European Journal of Taxonomy 937, pp. 1-127 : 34-35

Psallus (Psallus) helenae Josifov, 1969

Fig. 11B

Material examined

TURKEY – Karaman Province • 1 ♂; Başyayla ; 1500 m; 25 Jun. 2023; B. Çerçi leg.; BCIT .

Comments

A European species associated with Quercus cerris Lipsky and collected with other Quercus -associated Psallus spp. ( Bryja & Kment 2002). It is a cryptic species in Europe and its distribution is most probably much wider than known to date ( Aukema 2023). It is known from Italy, mainland Greece and from the Lesbos Island in the Mediterranean region ( Wyniger 2004; Aukema 2023). The examined specimen was collected with light trap that was set up in an area dominated by trees of Quercus spp. , at an elevation of 1500 m. This species can be easily distinguished from its congeners known from Turkey by the unique shape of its vesica and dominancy of the thick and black setae ( Fig. 11B ).

Figures

Fig. 11. A. Mesopsallus fagi (Drapolyuk, 1990), dorsal and lateral view, with vesica, left and right parameres, ♂ (LEMT). B. Psallus (Psallus) helenae Josifov, 1969, with vesica, ♂ (BCIT). Scale bar: A = 1 mm