Heissophila macrotheleae Schuh, 2006

Yin, Jia-Dong, Bu, Wen-Jun & Xie, Qiang, 2023, Heissophila macrotheleae Schuh, 2006, the first record of the subfamily Heissophilinae from China (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Plokiophilidae), Zootaxa 5382 (1), pp. 55-61 : 56

Heissophila macrotheleae Schuh, 2006

Heissophila macrotheleae Schuh, 2006: 644 . Type locality: Thailand ( Chang Rai Province ).

Redescription. The Chinese samples conform mostly in all diagnostic features to the species description by Schuh, 2006 from Thailand, except for the following new supplement.

Body length (2.05–2.15 mm). Ground colour and head dark brown, ventral surface of head paler. Antennal segment I dark reddish-brown; segment II light brown, distal pale yellow; segment III yellow, distal 1/3 pale brown; segment IV yellow, distal 1/4 pale yellow. Pronotum, propleura and scutellum brown. Membrane of forewing light brown, with four conspicuous longitudinal veins; area around costal fracture whitish. Coxae dark reddish-brown; trochanters basal pale yellow, distal reddish-brown; femora dark reddish-brown and distal part paler; tibiae basal 1/2 brown and distal 1/2 part paler; tarsi paler ( Fig. 1A–D ).

Material examined. 5♂♂, 5♀♀, CHINA, Yunnan Province, Xishuangbanna, Mengla County, Menglun Town , XTBG: 21°58’40.91″N, 101°10’31.11”E; ca. 924 m elev.; leg. Qiang Xie & Yu Men; 2021-V-15 ; 1♂, 1♀, ibid, leg. Hua-yan Chen , 2021-IV-14.

Notes. The Chinese samples do not differ significantly from the Thai samples, and all the morphological characters fall well within the original description by Schuh (2006).

DNA barcode. The COI barcode of H. macrotheleae was deposited in GenBank (accession OQ 197447), which was further searched against the NCBI Nucleotide database: the closest result was Plokiophilidae sp. ( OM 323306) with an identity no lower than 98%. Moreover, the COI barcode of the host spider was also deposited in GenBank (accession OQ 361630).

Biology. Habitat ( Fig. 2A–C ). In total, six to eight spider webs were overlapping each other in about 1 square meter on the afternoon of 15th May 2021 under the canopy shade of Ficus sp. , of which only four webs had both spiders and bugs. There were about 1–5 individuals of them on each web. Based on our intuitive observations, the movement of H. macrotheleae appears to be less nimble than that of P. bannaensis . We examined ten adult specimens, but nymphs and eggs were not found.

Distribution: CHINA (Yunnan Province), INDONESIA (East Kalimantan), THAILAND (Chang Rai, Chiang Mai and Sakon Nakhon Provinces) ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of Heissophila macrotheleae. A. male in dorsal view; B. male in ventral view; C. female in dorsal view; D. female in ventral view.

FIGURE 2. Habitus images of live individuals for Heissophila macrotheleae. A. an adult on the web in side view; B. an adult on the web in dorsal view; C. habitat of collected site. (Photographs were authorized by Dr. Hua-Yan Chen)

FIGURE 3. Distribution of all known specimens of Heissophila Schuh, 2006. Blue dot = distribution in Thailand; yellow dot = distribution in Indonesia; red dot = distribution in China.