Leptopharsa firma Drake & Hambleton, 1938

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 : 558

Leptopharsa firma Drake & Hambleton, 1938

Leptopharsa firma Drake & Hambleton, 1938: 53 .

MATERIAL EXAMINED. — Argentina. Province of Jujuy, Calilegua , 4.VI.2007, Guilbert & Montemayor coll., 2 ŠŠ, 1 ş ( MNHN). — Province of Jujuy, Calilegua, 10.VI.2007, Guilbert & Montemayor coll., 1 ş ( MNHN) ; 1 ş ( MLP). — Province of Salta, Orán , 5.VI.2007, Guilbert & Montemayor coll., 2 ŠŠ, 1 ş, 1 instar V ( MLP). — Province of Salta, Urundel, 7.VI.2007, Guilbert & Montemayor coll., 1 Š, 1 ş ( MNHN) ; 1 Š, 1 ş ( MLP).

DISTRIBUTION. — Brazil.

This species is newly recorded for Argentina, from Jujuy and Salta. It was found on vines extending up to 30 metres in the canopy in Calilegua park.

HOST PLANTS. — Unrecorded.

DESCRIPTION OF FIFTH INSTAR ( FIG. 5 )

Body whitish to yellowish, medially brownish; shiny, glabrous. Body length (without tubercles) 1.64 mm; width 0.80 mm ( Fig. 5A ).

Head armed with five simple, slender tubercles bearing scattered setae; frontal pair moderately long, directed forward and subparallel; median tubercle long and directed upward; occipital pair long, suberect and divergent.

Pronotum short and wide, median part swollen anteriorly, with a longitudinal small median keel; armed with a pair of short, suberect, divergent tubercles on swollen part; with a pair of long, suberect, divergent tubercles on middle line across keel and a long tubercle posteriorly on each margin; tubercles with several scattered setae ( Fig. 5B ).

Wing pads with two tubercles on each side, mesonotum armed on middle with a pair of long, slender, divergent tubercles; all tubercles covered with scattered setae.

Metanotum armed with a pair of slender, divergent, very short tubercles.

Abdominal tergites with a long, marginal tubercle on each side; tergites second, fifth, sixth and eighth with an erect, simple, median tubercle with a few scattered setae.

REMARKS

Until now, only the fifth instar of Leptopharsa gibbicarina ( Guilbert 2005) have been described. The fifth instar of L. firma can be distinguished from that of L. gibbicarina by the number of cephalic tubercles, the former species having five tubercles and the latter having three.

Figures

FIG. 5. — Instar V of Leptopharsa firma Drake & Hambleton, 1938: A, habitus; B, pronotal tubercle. Scale bars: A, 1 mm; B, 10 μm.