Kiwisaldula stoneri ( Drake & Hoberlandt, 1950 ) Larivière & Larochelle, 2016

Larivière, Marie-Claude & Larochelle, André, 2016, Aoteasalda and Kiwisaldula, two new genera of Saldidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), with a key to New Zealand genera and a new synonymy in Zemacrosaldula, Zootaxa 4085 (4), pp. 451-480 : 461-462

Kiwisaldula stoneri ( Drake & Hoberlandt, 1950) new combination

Saldula stoneri Drake & Hoberlandt, 1950: 1 . Holotype female, brachypterous (USNM): BP, Rotorua (not seen).

Description (Brachypterous adult). Body length 2.80–3.32 (3.06) mm; short, pear-shaped ( Fig. 9 ). Dorsal colour largely dark, with bluish tinge and velvety appearance, narrowly pale lateral margins of pronotum, and reduced pale markings on hemelytra. Facial colour ( Fig. 13 ) slightly to strongly contrasted. Head, pronotum and scutellum slightly shiny, not or barely contrasting against mostly dull hemelytra. Dorsal pubescence short to moderately long, reclined to semi-erect, mostly golden brown, usually thicker, longer and more densely distributed on hemelytra (especially clavus and endocorium); also with more erect dark brown setae near lateral margins of pronotum and costal margin of hemelytra. Hemelytra with reduced cells in membrane (cell 4 often extremely reduced or absent); hindwings highly reduced (not fully developed), reaching about half to two-thirds of corium length. Head ( Fig. 13 , facial view). Frons with slightly (shallowly) to moderately developed longitudinal furrow medially. Preocellar spots yellowish. Preocellar furrows moderately deep, usually deeper than longitudinal frontal furrow. Preocular spots yellowish. Transverse swelling slightly to moderately developed; lateral portions contiguous or separated by a narrow gap; whitish yellow to yellowish brown, darker at facial midline. Mandibular and maxillary plates slightly (sometimes rather flat) to strongly developed, whitish yellow or pale yellowish brown. Anteclypeus whitish yellow, marked with brown along margins or largely brownish. Rostrum brownish, extending to hind coxae. Antennae 4.5–4.8x longer than pronotum + collar medially; segment I whitish yellow to yellowish brown, often more darkly pigmented in females, ventral side usually dark (sometimes striped); segment II whitish yellow to pale brown, often darker on one side (especially in males), 1.1–1.3x longer than segment I, clothed over entire length with setae shorter than or about as long as segment width, usually with some longer setae in apical half; segments III–IV dark brown to black. Thorax. Lateral margins of pronotum subrectilinear, less explanate than in other Kiwisaldula species, narrowly pale yellowish (pale area at midlength 1–1.5x the width of antennal segment II) or, in very dark individuals, lateral margins narrowly brown to almost completely black. Scutellum 1.2–1.4x longer than pronotum + collar medially. Thoracic underside dark brown to black, with moderately contrasting, broadly or narrowly pale acetabula (acetabulum I broadly pale, acetabulum II narrowly pale, acetabulum III completely dark), and broadly pale lateral margins; pubescence rather dense, silvery, and appressed (except for glabrous lateral margins). Legs largely pale, whitish yellow, with dark brown to black coxae; femora with more or less defined brown spots on anterior and posterior faces; fore and mid femora with ventral side dark brown to nearly black subapically or over most of length (often distinctly striped); hind femora with ventral and dorsal sides dark brown to black, often coalesced into a broad annulus (as opposed to other Kiwisaldula species); tibiae pale or dark at base, dark at apex; fore tibiae dark dorsally (often distinctly striped throughout); hind tibiae 2.1–2.3x longer than tarsal segments II+III combined; hind tarsal segments dark apically, segment II about as long as segment III. Hemelytra: corium ( Figs 9 , 17 ) largely dark brown to bluish black, velvety in appearance, with very few if any pale markings on endocorium and reduced pale markings (whitish yellow to pale brown) on exocorium; endocorium with distinct brown to nearly black eyespot subbasally near R vein, nearly immaculate otherwise; costal margin dark, not lined with uninterrupted pale band; colour pattern in female consistent with that in male; pruinose areas well developed, bearing a distinctive steely blue tinge, distributed on base and apex of clavus, most of endocorium, subapex of exocorium, and on membrane near apex of clavus; basal pruinose area of clavus broad and long, covering about one-third of clavus length; basal pale spot of clavus absent; subapical pale spot of clavus present; membrane whitish yellow, often mixed with brown, with pale to dark brown apical margin, veins (often heavily pigmented) and patch medially in each of three to four reduced cells; cell 1 the shortest, distinctly shorter than cells 2 and 3, oval to subtriangular; cells 2 and 3 subrectangular, subequal in length and width; cell 4, if present, the narrowest, slender, distinctly shorter than cell 3. Abdomen. Venter: male, dark brown to black, sometimes with posterior margin of some or most segments very narrowly pale brown; female, usually with first two or three visible segments narrowly margined with yellowish brown (often only faint pale patches), darker medially, sometimes with posterior margin of some or most segments very narrowly pale brown (segments entirely dark brown to black in very dark specimens). Pubescence dense, silvery, and appressed in both sexes. Male parandria ( Fig. 25 ) elongate, narrowly subtriangular, acutely rounded at tip; inner margins almost straight; medial membrane with angular inward projection on each side; basal margin sinuate, roundly convex medially. Male paramere ( Fig. 21 ) without distinct processus sensualis, instead with slightly uneven cuticular surface bearing less than ten setae; processus hamatus rather short, its tip moderately broad, acutely rounded, and distinctly upturned. Apical half of male aedeagus, in lateral view, with visible sclerites configuration similar to K. parvula . Subgenital plate of female (segment VII ventrally) dark brown to black with apical half or third pale. Other characters as in generic description.

Geographic distribution ( Fig. 33 ). North Island, central Volcanic Plateau and vicinity.

Material examined. A total of 30 non-type specimens from the following localities. North Island. BP – Rotorua (not seen; type label checked by TJ Henry, USNM) . TO –Access Road 3, 1.3 km off Highway 47 (NZAC); Desert Road, Te Piripiri Stream (NZAC); Erua, Junction of Waimarino Stream & Erua Road ( NZAC) ; Junction Mangahuia Stream & Highway 47 (NZAC); Pureora Forest Park, Waihora Road end ( NZAC) ; Tongariro National Park, Taranaki Falls Track ( NZAC) .

Biology. Altitudinal range. Lower montane to subalpine; collected from 400 m to 1,100 m. Inland. Habitat. Occurs mostly near seepages on moist to wet, sparsely vegetated (e.g., moss patches, short rushes), sandy, including pumice sand, or muddy ground located near or away from streams (e.g., roadside ditches, vacant lots, sand or mud flats and banks in tussock grasslands, alpine scrublands or open regenerating forest). Seasonality. Adults collected in December (mostly) and March; newly emerged adults (tenerals) collected in December. Food. Predator or scavenger. Behaviour. Jumps very short distances (less than 0.25 m) or dashes into the base of plant tufts or under debris when disturbed. Slightly heliophilous; slightly more active in full sunshine, also very active under cloudy or rainy conditions.

Remarks. This species was previously known from the female holotype only. It is mostly brachypterous although some marginally larger, more slender looking, submacropterous individuals can sometimes be seen.

Specimens examined so far conform in all respects to the description and illustration of the brachypterous female holotype of Saldula stoneri provided by Drake & Hoberlandt (1950). The velvety black dorsal appearance with rather narrowly pale lateral margins of pronotum, the extensive steely blue-grey pruinose areas on hemelytra, the shortness of antennal segment II, and the darkly pigmented hemelytra and hind femora, are quite distinctive for this species.

The type locality ‘Rotorua’ probably refers to the greater Rotorua area rather than the actual town. Based on K. stoneri ’s known distribution and biology, it is likely that the holotype was collected somewhere south of Rotorua perhaps in the vicinity of the Orakei Korako geothermal fields or beyond where the terrain gains in altitude as it nears the Taupo Volcanic Plateau.

See also remarks under K. parvula .

Figures

FIGURE 33. Collecting localities of Kiwisaldula species, New Zealand’s North Island and nearby offshore islands.

FIGURES 9 – 12. Dorsal view of Kiwisaldula species (males; legs and antennae omitted). Scale bar = 1 mm. (9) K. stoneri, (10) K. porangahau, (11) K. parvula, (12) K. manawatawhi.

FIGURES 13 – 16. Facial view of Kiwisaldula species. (13) K. stoneri, (14) K. porangahau, (15) K. parvula, (16) K. manawatawhi.

FIGURES 17 – 18. Eunomy (left corium) of Kiwisaldula species; most frequently observed pigmentation patterns. (17) K. stoneri, (18) K. porangahau.

FIGURES 25 – 31. Schematic view of Kiwisaldula species male genitalia. (25 – 28) Parandria, posterior view. (25) K. stoneri, (26) K. porangahau, (27) K. parvula, (28) K. manawatawhi. (29 – 30) K. parvula. (29) Anterior half of aedeagus, lateral view, (30) sclerites of aedeagus, ventral view. (31) Kiwisaldula species. Filum gonopori, lateral view.

FIGURES 21 – 24. Schematic view of Kiwisaldula species male genitalia: paramere, ventral. (21) K. stoneri, (22) K. porangahau, (23) K. parvula, (24) K. manawatawhi.