Dictyla monotropidia ( Stål, 1858 )

Guilbert, Éric & Montemayor, Sara I., 2010, Tingidae (Insecta, Heteroptera) from the Argentinan Yungas: new records and descriptions of selected fifth instars, Zoosystema 32 (4), pp. 549-565 : 554-556

Dictyla monotropidia ( Stål, 1858)

Monanthia (Physalocheila) monotropidia Stål, 1858: 63 .

Monanthia monotropidia – Stål 1873: 133.

Dictyla monotropidia – Drake & Ruhoff 1960: 51.

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Argentina. Province of Jujuy, Calilegua , 2.VI.2007, Guilbert & Montemayor coll., 3 ŠŠ, 3 şş, 2 instars V, 1 instar IV, 1 instar III ( MLP) ; 3 instars V, 1 instar III ( MNHN). — Province of Jujuy, Calilegua , 3.VI.2007, Guilbert & Montemayor coll., 1 Š ( MLP). — Orán, 5.VI.2007, Guilbert & Montemayor coll., 1 Š ( MNHN). — Province of Salta, Urundel, 7.VI.2007, Guilbert & Montemayor coll., 2 ŠŠ, 3 şş ( MNHN). — Province of Salta, Urundel, 8.VI.2007, Guilbert & Montemayor coll., 1 Š, 2 şş ( MLP) .

DISTRIBUTION. — Argentina: Misiones (Loreto, San Ignacio, San Javier). Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Venezuela. This species is widespread throughout South and Central America, including Argentina. It is, however, newly recorded from Jujuy and Salta. The specimens were collected by beating the understory.

HOST PLANTS. — Cordia sp. (Boraginaceae) ( Drake & Hambleton 1938: 45; Monte 1940c: 124; Drake & Ruhoff 1965: 191); Cordia alliodora (Ruiz & Pav.) Cham. ( Hurd 1946: 451; Drake & Ruhoff 1965: 191); Cordia curassavica (Jacq.) Roem.& Schult. ( Silva 1956:43) ; Cordia gerascanthus L. ( Fenton 1934: 199; Drake & Poor 1937: 302; Drake & Ruhoff 1965: 191); Cordia tomentosa Lam. ( Monte 1937b: 71; Drake & Ruhoff 1965: 191); Cordia trichotoma (Vell.) Steud. ( Monte 1937a: 33) ; Gossypium sp. ( Fenton 1934: 199; Drake & Ruhoff 1965: 191).

B

DESCRIPTION OF FIFTH INSTAR ( FIG. 3)

Body brown, with antero-lateral parts and posteromedian part of pronotum, a transversal band across middle of wing pads, and a small spot in the middle of fourth abdominal tergite yellowish; legs yellowish ( Fig. 3A). Dorsum covered with tiny tooth-like protuberances, including sides of tubercles; body with sparse, tiny, whitish trumpet-like tubercles. Body with set of tubercles; tubercles erect, slender, long, ending in a bulge bearing four to ten spiny petal-like protuberances around edge, with a seta at the middle; tubercle length 0.25 to 0.43 mm. Body length 2.75 mm; width 1.68 mm ( Fig. 3B, C).

Head armed with five tubercles, a frontal and an occipital pair, and one at median, with some small setae longitudinally arranged at the middle.

Pronotum wide, widened posteriorly, medially swollen anteriorly; with a submedian pair of tubercles near anterior margin on swollen part; lateral margins armed with three long, erect tubercles, a fourth shorter one anterior to the others.

Wing pads wider than pronotum, armed with a submedian pair of long, erect tubercles, separate by angulate apex of posterior pronotal margin; lateral margins with three long, erect tubercles, a fourth much shorter tubercle anterior to the others as on lateral pronotal margins.

Abdominal tergites as wide as wing pads, middle widely swollen; second, fifth and eighth tergites with a median tubercle, the same length as marginal tubercle on pronotum and wing pads; fourth to ninth tergites with a tubercle on posterior part of lateral margins, the same length as submedian tubercles. REMARKS

Instars III and IV have the same habitus as instar V. However, there are different combinations of tubercles among the different instars. Lateral margins of pronotum and wing pads bear three tubercles, the most posterior one the longest and the most anterior one the smallest in instars III and IV. The second and third abdominal tergites bear a tubercle on each lateral margin in instar III, whereas only the third one has a tubercle in instar IV. The number of tubercles on abdominal margins decreases whereas it increases on the margins of the wing pads. These observations are similar to the translocation suggested by Štusák & Štys (1959), and noted by Péricart (1983) and Guilbert (2004). In addition, the combinations of tubercles differ in being smaller, more slender, and without denticles in instar III.