Malipatilius microps Kondorosy & Schmidt, 2024

Kondorosy, Előd, Kovács, Szilvia & Schmidt, Péter, 2024, A review of Malipatilius (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Rhyparochromidae), with a checklist of Lygaeoidea occurring in the Papuan Subregion, Zootaxa 5477 (2), pp. 147-170 : 160-162

Malipatilius microps Kondorosy & Schmidt , sp. nov.

( Figs. 2 , 13, 17)

Type material. Holotype: New Guinea cent. / BALIEM TAL- 1700 m / March 1992 / leg. Jiří Kolibáč (♂, ZSMC) . Paratypes: same data (3♀, ZSMC; 1♀, EKKH) .

Description. Colour: Antennae almost unicolorous dark brown, only basal half of pedicel paler. Profemora hardly darker than rest of legs ( Fig. 2 ).

Structure: Eye small (interocular distance at least 2.91 times wider than eye and less than 1.4 times longer than antenniferous tubercle). Ostiolar peritreme of metathoracic scent gland apparatus of moderate length (Fig. 13), directed straightly towards posterolateral edge of metepisternum, only apical fourth curved posteriad, ending far from posterior margin of metepisternum. Evaporatorium reaching about two-third of metepisternum but posteriorly leaving a relatively large area uncovered.

Measurements (holotype male, followed by ranges of 1 male and 3 female paratypes): Total body length: 3.93, 3.93–4.08; head: length 0.63, 0.61–0.65, width 0.69, 0.68–0.71, interocular distance 0.41, 0.40–0.43, eye length 0.19, 0.18–0.20, length of antenniferous tubercle 0.15, 0.14–0.15; length of antennomeres: I 0.44, 0.40–0.44, II 0.71, 0.66–0.74, III 0.60, 0.58–0.60, IV 0.56, 0.54–0.63, diameter of basiflagellum 0.10, 0.09–0.10; pronotum: length 0.81, 0.76–0.81, maximum width 1.14, 1.10–1.19, width at transversal furrow 0.76, 0.76–0.79, width at anterior margin 0.50, 0.49–0.51; scutellum: length 0.69, 0.68–0.73, width 0.63, 0.64–0.66; length of claval commissure 0.35, 0.33–0.36. Relative measurements: Table 3 .

Intraspecific variation. A specimen collected near the type locality (28.-29. IX. 1991 Irian Jaya / Jayawijaya-Prov. / Angguruk-Tanggeam / 1500-1800m, leg. A. Riedel; 1♂, ZSMC) was examined, but not included in the type series due to its uncertain identity. It is highly similar to the new species in most features, but it has a larger eye (vertex only 2.31 times as wide as eye), a longer scape (0.76 times as long as head, whilst in the type material of M. microps sp. nov. only 0.63–0.70 times as long), a longer pronotum (width only 1.34 times longer than length, while in the type material 1.44–1.48 times longer). This specimen is different in coloration as well: its profemur is dark brown, whilst the meso- and metafemora are provided with dark subapical rings. Additional material would be needed to decide whether this specimen represents an extreme of the intraspecific variation of M. microps sp. nov. or rather a different species.

Diagnosis. M. microps sp. nov. is highly similar to M. horvathi sp. nov. and the other new species. Its most conspicuous diagnostic character is the small eye: its vertex is 2.91–3.00 times as wide as eye, while 1.86–2.22 times in M. horvathi sp. nov.; in the other new species the eye is even larger; if eye is small, body length is under 2.5 mm. The difference is even more expressed in the relative length of the eye: antenniferous tubercle length, which is 1.07–1.45 in M. microps sp. nov. and at least 1.58 in the other species of the genus. The relatively small eye is similar to the condition found in M. forticornis , but the antenniferous tubercle is much shorter than the eye in the latter species; the very short antenna and the strongly incrassate basiflagellum of M. forticornis allow an easy separation of these two species.

Etymology. The name of the species is latinized Greek noun formed from the prefix micr(o)- (μικρο-) and the noun ops (oψ), meaning ‘small eye’, referring to its relatively small eye, a character that readily differentiates it from the similar species.

Distribution. M. microps sp. nov. is known from the western part of New Guinea, from the central mountains of Irian Jaya ( Fig. 17 ).

Figures

FIGURE 17. Distribution of Malipatilius species in New Guinea.

FIGURES 1–4. Dorsal view of Malipatilius spp. 1 M. horvathi Kondorosy & Schmidt, sp. nov.; 2 M. microps Kondorosy & Schmidt, sp. nov.; 3 M. bodisjuditae Kondorosy & Schmidt, sp. nov.; 4 M. batantensis Kondorosy & Schmidt, sp. nov.