Physatocheila miyatakei latiuscula, Golub & Soboleva, 2023

Golub, V. B. & Soboleva, V. A., 2023, Descriptions of three new species and one subspecies of Physatocheila (Heteroptera: Tingidae) from China and the Russian Far East, with an identification key to the species of the Russian fauna, Zoosystematica Rossica (Zoosyst. Rossica) 32 (1), pp. 27-42 : 34-37

Physatocheila miyatakei latiuscula subsp. nov.

( Fig. 2B, D )

Holotype. Male , China, “Sy-ch. [Sichuan Prov.], r. [river] Pasynkou vyshe [upstream of] Chzhumse Potan. [G. Potanin leg.] 19VII[18]93” [Cyrillic script] (ZISP) ( Fig. 2F ) *.

Paratype. One female, Russia, Primorskiy Terr., Chindalaz Mt. , 10 km W of Ekaterinovka Vill., 23–24. VII.2007, V. Krivokhatsky & O. Ovtshinnikova leg. ( ZISP) ( Fig. 2G ) .

Description. Body oval, 2.27 times as long as wide in male (holotype) and 2.18 times in female (paratype), dorsally yellowish brown (holotype) or brown with rusty tint (paratype), with blackish spots (those being more distinct in holotype) at base of hood (vesicula), on sides of disc, at apical part of posterior pronotal process and at border between subcostal and discoidal areas of hemelytra. In holotype, pronotum and hemelytra with extremely sparse and short adpressed light hairs; paratype with very short but clearly visible light adpressed or slightly erected hairs.

Head black, with five long, rather thin yellow spines with pointed apices, three frontal and two occipital spines. Apices of paired frontal spines converging and crossing (in holotype) or touching; median frontal spine curved to bases of paired spines, protruding beyond bases of frontal spines. Occipital spines curved in vertical plane along profile of head, slightly elevated above head surface, with pointed apices slightly produced anteriorly beyond anterior margins of eyes. Antennal segments I–III in male (holotype) yellowish brown, segment IV almost entirely black; segments II and III with extremely short slightly raised light hairs, segment IV with longer erected dark hairs. Antennae of paratype broken.

Pronotum rather wide, 1.57 (in male) or 1.40 (in female) times as long as wide. Pronotal disc not very convex, with three low longitudinal carinae lacking areolae in male (holotype) and with traces of extremely small areolae in female (paratype); lateral carinae in their anterior halves slightly converging anteriorly. Anterior margin of pronotum with raised tectiform, rather long hood (vesicula) being slightly (in holotype) or noticeably (in paratype) angularly protruding anteriorly. Areolate paranota completely reflexed over dorsal surface of pronotum, not inflated along their entire lengths, not forming cysts, pressed to disc (in holotype) or only slightly elevated upwards (in paratype), with four longitudinal rows of rather large rectangular and pentagonal areolae in widest part; total number of paranotal areolae 28–31. Outer margins of reflexed paranota virtually straight over most of their lengths, broadly arcuately curved at level of hood, not reaching lateral carinae almost along their entire lengths and only touching or almost touching their anterior ends.

Macropterous form. Outer margins of hemelytra distinctly broadly rounded along entire lengths, not sinuate in posterior halves. Costal area with two rows of triangular, rectangular and pentagonal areolae and several areolae of third row at base and middle; only 7–8 areolae in middle; dark spot noticeably smaller than most of areolae in apical half. Most of areolae of costal area larger than areolae of other hemelytral areas. Costal area as wide as subcostal area in its widest part. Subcostal area with three rows of areolae in basal half, with two rows in apical half. Discoidal area and membrane in widest part with 7–9 and eleven rows of areolae, respectively.

Body ventrally and legs brown with rusty tint; apical half of tibia paler, yellowish; apical half of tarsi blackish. Subgenital plate small, rhombic, slightly lighter than abdominal sternites.

Length (in mm). Body: male 3.4, female 3.5; pronotum: male 1.65, female 1.75; antennal segments (I, II, III, IV): male 0.15, 0.10, 0.90, 0.26, antennae broken in female.

Width (in mm): body in male 1.50, in female 1.68; head in male 0.50, in female 0.58; vertex in male and female 0.22; pronotum in male 1.05, in female 1.25.

Comparison. According to the original description of Ph. miyatakei Miyamoto, 1964 and the diagnosis and photograph of this species by Souma & Ishikawa (2022), several morphological features of the specimens described above from China and the Primorskiy Territory indicate that they belong to Ph. miyatakei : the median frontal spine protrudes anteriorly beyond the bases of frontal spines; the paranota are not bulged upwards throughout their entire lengths; the lateral carinae of pronotum are almost parallel to each other throughout their entire lengths, touch the anterior ends of the outer margins of paranota; the costal areas of hemelytra are rather narrow, equal in width to the subcostal areas in their widest parts, with no less than two rows of areolae throughout the entire lengths; the subcostal areas with three rows of areolae in the anterior half, including its widest part; and the sutural area with eleven areolae in the widest part.

At the same time, the above-described specimens from China and the Primorskiy Territory differ slightly from specimens of Ph. miyatakei from Japan. Judging by the photo of the holotype (male) in the original description of Ph. miyatakei and the photo of female in Souma & Ishikawa (2022), the costal areas of the hemelytra of the specimens described here are slightly wider than those of the specimens from Japan. This area in the specimens studied by us has several areolae of the third row at the base and in the middle of the length or in the entire anterior half of this area vs. the costal areas of the holotype of Ph. miyatakei with “2 rows of fairly large areolae except for 3-seriate middle part” ( Miyamoto, 1964), and in the specimens from Japan, according to Souma & Ishikawa (2022), they have two rows of areolae throughout their entire lengths. The subcostal areas in the specimens from China and the Primorskiy Territory have three rows of areolae throughout the entire basal half vs. this area in the holotype of Ph. miyatakei is “mostly 3-seriate, biseriate on both ends“. In addition, the subcostal areas in specimens of Ph. miyatakei from Japan, according to Souma & Ishikawa (2022), have three rows of areolae only at the widest points.

Based on the above-mentioned differences between the specimens from China and the Primorskiy Territory of Russia, on the one hand, and the holotype of Ph. miyatakei and other specimens from Japan, on the other hand, we consider Ph. miyatakei from the continental part of the Eastern Palaearctic as the subspecies Ph. miyatakei latiuscula subsp. nov. along with the insular nominative subspecies Ph. miyatakei miyatakei Miyamoto, 1964 .

The new subspecies is similar to Ph. marginulata Golub, 1976 ( Fig. 4B, D ), in particular, in the rather narrow costal areas of the hemelytra in the middle, and two rows of areolae in the apical half. Both taxa have long and thin occipital spines and the paranota adpressed to the pronotal disc. Physatocheila marginulata differs from Ph. miyatakei latiuscula subsp. nov. in the short unpaired frontal spine, the paranota having approximately 60 small areolae arranged in 7–8 longitudinal rows, and the subcostal areas of hemelytra with four rows of areolae.

Physatocheila miyatakei latiuscula subsp. nov. is somewhat similar to Ph. smreczynskii ( Fig. 5A, C ), Ph. costata ( Fig. 3B, D ) and Ph. putshkovi ( Fig. 4F, C ) in having the long frontal spines. However, Ph. smreczynskii differs from Ph. miyatakei latiuscula subsp. nov. in the longer antennae (length of segment III is 1.08–1.10 mm) and the wider costal areas of hemelytra, which have 3–4 rows of small areolae at dark transverse stripe immediately before the middle. Also, Ph. smreczynskii has weakly but distinctly sinuate outer margins of hemelytra in the posterior half, the reflexed paranota with five rows of areolae in the widest part, and the slenderer body. Physatocheila costata differs from Ph. miyatakei latiuscula subsp. nov. in the short unpaired frontal spine, the slenderer body, which is 2.9–3.0 times as long as wide, and very weakly rounded outer margins of the hemelytra. Physatocheila putshkovi differs from the new subspecies in the inflated paranota on the lateral pronotal angles, significantly wider costal area of the hemelytra, which is wider than the subcostal area having four rows of small areolae in the middle of its length, and the presence of five longitudinal rows of areolae in the widest part of the reflexed paranota.

Physatocheila miyatakei latiuscula subsp. nov. is slightly similar in the general appearance to Tracypeplus fulgoris (Drake, 1937) described from southern Jiangxi (south-eastern China) in the genus Physatocheila and currently known from a number of localities in southern China, as well as from India and Bhutan ( Péricart & Golub, 1996). Both taxa have a rather wide pronotum. Tracypeplus fulgoris , judging by the drawings and photograph by Jing (1981), differs from Ph. miyatakei latiuscula subsp. nov. in the shape of the outer margins of reflexed paranota, which do not reach the lateral pronotal carinae, in the presence of two rows of areolae in the costal areas of hemelytra throughout their entire lengths, and in the wider body.

Etymology. The subspecific name is a Latin adjective meaning “widish”.

Figures

Fig. 2. Physatocheila spp. A, C, E, Ph. potanini sp. nov., holotype, female; B, D, F, G, Ph. miyatakei latiuscula subsp.nov., holotype, male. General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D); labels of holotype (E, F) and paratype (G). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Fig. 4. Physatocheila spp. A, C, Ph. putshkovi Golub, 1976, paratype, female, foothills of Saur Ridge, Kazakhstan; B, D, Ph. marginulata Golub, 1976, female, holotype, southern Primorskiy Territory, Russia. General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Fig. 5. Physatocheila spp. A, C, Ph. smreczynskii China, 1952, male, southern Primorskiy Territory, Russia; B, D, Ph. orientis Drake, 1942, female, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Island, Russia. General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Fig. 3. Physatocheila spp. A, C, Ph. distinguenda (Jakovlev, 1880), female, southern Primorskiy Territory, Russia; B, D, Ph. costata (Fabricius, 1794), male, environs of St Petersburg, Russia. General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.