Physopelta finisterrae, Stehlík & Kment, 2012

Stehlík, Jaroslav L. & Kment, Petr, 2012, Description of Physopelta finisterrae sp. nov. from Papua New Guinea (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Largidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 52 (2), pp. 349-354 : 350-353

Physopelta finisterrae sp. nov.

( Figs. 1–13 )

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, PAPUA NEW GUINEA: MADANG PROVINCE: ‘ NEW GUINEA: NE / Finisterre Range / Saidor: Matoko / Vill. IX-6-24-58’ [p, white label] // ‘ W. W. Brandt / Collector / BISHOP’ [p, white label] // ‘J’ [p, white label] // ‘ HOLOTYPUS [p] / Physopelta / finisterrae [hw] / det. STEHLÍK & KMENT 201[p]2[hw]’ [red label] (coll. Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA). The specimen and its dissected pygophore and paramere are glued on one piece of card, both antennomeres 4 and right hind leg are missing, and the dissected phallus is placed in a small plastic vial placed on the same pin. PARATYPE: J, same data as holotype, except for ‘PARATYPUS’ instead of ‘HOLOTYPUS’ (coll. Moravian Museum, Brno, Czech Republic).

Description. Male. Colouration ( Figs. 1–2 ). Dorsum black, only anterior and lateral margins of pronotum reddish. Corium mostly dark with traces of two large black spots (round median and triangular apical), costal margin of corium reddish; membrane smoky. Legs and antennae black, only basal third of antennomere 4 whitish. Thoracic sterna and pleura, pair of crescent spots on anterior margin of each of abdominal sternites IV–VII (only small on sternite VII), and circular spot on ventral wall of pygophore all black; lateral pronotal margins, prosternal collar, pronotal epipleuron, posterior portion of posterior pleural flange I, dorsal margin of pleuron I narrowly, hypocostal lamina, and remaining parts of abdominal sternites (including dorsal and ventral laterotergites) and pygophore all reddish.

Structure. Body large, parallel-sided ( Figs. 1–2 ), dorsally flat, ventrally strongly convex ( Fig. 3 ). Head prognathous, eyes approaching anterior margin of pronotum. Antennomere 1 longer than antennomere 2 ( Figs. 1–2 ). Labium reaching meso- or metacoxae ( Fig. 2 ); first labial segment adjoining ventral surface of head.

Callar lobe of pronotum strongly gibbose; pronotum with transverse depression between callar and pronotal lobe. Lateral margin of pronotum wide, distinctly raised dorsally, slightly concave medially. Pronotal lobe rather flat, medially with a weak longitudinal keel along its entire length ( Fig. 1 ). Profemur strongly incrassate, apically attenuated, medially strongly swollen, ventrally with median longitudinal furrow; anterior side of the median longitudinal furrow apically with two large teeth remote from each other and one smaller tooth (in paratype with only one large tooth), basally with three somewhat larger teeth, and row of small denticles along its entire length. Meso- and metafemora with longitudinal row of small denticles, without median furrow. Protibia on ventral side with longitudinal row of small denticles. Stridulatory organs with strigil in form of a tooth laterally on procoxa, plectrum in form of two wrinkled spots on trochanter.

Pygophore ( Figs. 3–6 ). Ventral wall of pygophore gibbose, ventral rim situated low, deeply concave. Lateral rim strongly raised towards dorsal rim in its lateral third, on inner side strongly insinuated to form paramere sockets. Lateral rim infolding steeply sloping into genital chamber. Anal tube positioned horizontally, large, occupying more than half of the posterior opening. Paramere as illustrated in Figs. 7–11 . Phallus ( Figs. 12–13 ) with vesica twisted medially along its longitudinal axis and a single coil apically.

Punctation. Pronotal lobe except for lateral margins, scutellum, clavus, and corium except for costal margins distinctly regularly punctured.

Pilosity. Scutellum densely covered with short, semierect black hairs; head dorsally with sparse short, semierect black hairs. Clavus and corium covered with very short black setae. Body ventrally with short silver pubescence. Posterior margin of sternite VII and pygophore covered with pale setae.

Measurements (holotype / paratype; in mm). Body length: 18.36 / 17.17; head: length 1.84 / 1.89, width (including eyes) 2.43 / 2.38, interocular width 1.51 / 1.40; lengths of antennomeres: 1 – 3.13 / 2.97, 2 – 2.97 / 2.81, 3 – 1.94 / 1.86, 4 – missing / 3.46; pronotum: length 3.83 / 3.56, width 5.45 / 4.81; scutellum: length 2.70 / 2.05, width 2.97 / 2.88; corium: length 9.34 / 8.48, width 2.75 / 2.48.

Female. Unknown.

Variation. Profemur on ventral side apically with two large teeth and one smaller tooth (holotype) or only one large tooth on dorsal side of the median longitudinal furrow (paratype). Labium reaching mesocoxae (holotype) or metacoxae (paratype).

Differential diagnosis. Antennomere 1 of the new species is longer than antennomere 2. This character is shared with three Oriental species of Physopelta : P. albofasciata (DeGeer, 1773) , P. biguttata Stål, 1870 , and P. robusta Stål, 1863 ; however, the new species differs from all of them in having a longitudinal row of small denticles on meso- and metatibiae, and a different type of stridulatory organs (J. L. Stehlík, unpubl.). The structure of the stridulatory organs (strigil in form of tooth on coxa, plectrum in form of flat, wrinkled area on trochanter) of P. finisterrae sp. nov. is shared with another species group of Physopelta comprising 13 species in the Australian and Oriental Regions ( P. australis Blöte, 1933 , P. cincticollis Stål, 1863 , P. confusa Zamal & Chopra, 1990 , P. gutta gutta (Burmeister, 1834) , P. gutta famelica Stål, 1863 , P. indra Kirkaldy & Edwards, 1902 , P. kotheae Stehlik & Jindra, 2008 , P. lisae Taeuber, 1927 , P. melanopyga melanopyga Blöte, 1938 , P. melanopyga rufifemur Stehlík & Jindra, 2008 , P. parviceps Blöte, 1931 , P. quadriguttata Bergroth, 1894 , P. sita (Kirby, 1891) , P. slanbuschii (Fabricius, 1787) , and P. trimaculata Stehlík & Jindra, 2008 ); but these species differ in having the antennomere 1 shorter than the antennomere 2 and vary in the presence / absence of the median longitudinal furrow and small denticles on the meso- and metafemora. Furthermore, P. finisterrae sp. nov. can be easily distinguished from all species of Physopelta by its largely blackish dorsal coloration (except for the reddish lateral margins of the pronotum and corium). The coloration of P. finisterrae sp. nov. resembles superficially some species of the genus Iphita , which, however, differs markedly in body structure (in Iphita , the callar lobe is only slightly gibbose, the wide lateral pronotal margins are strongly elevated above the surface of the callar lobe, and stridulatory organs are lacking).

Etymology. The species epithet, referring to the distribution of the species in the Finisterre Range, is composed of two Latin nouns, finis (= end; nominative) and terra (= land; genitive terrae), standing here for ‘from the end of the land’.

Biology. Unknown.

Distribution. Northern areas of Papua New Guinea (Madang province).

Figures

Figs. 1–4. Physopelta finisterrae sp. nov., male (holotype, body length 18.4 mm). 1–2 – habitus (1 – dorsal view, 2 – ventral view); 3 – apex of abdomen and pygophore, posterior view; 4 – pygophore, lateral view. Not to scale.

Figs. 5–13. Physopelta finisterrae sp. nov.5–6 – pygophore (5 – dorsal view, 6 – dorso-posterior view); 7–11 – paramere (five different positions); 12–13 –phallus (not inflated, basal portion omitted) (12 – lateral view, 13 – ventral view). Lettering: ds – ductus seminalis, pa – paramere, ve – vesica, vr – ventral rim. Not to scale.