Platycranus pictus Wagner, 1963

Knyshov, Alexander & Konstantinov, Fedor V., 2013, A taxonomic revision of the genus Platycranus Fieber, 1870 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae), Zootaxa 3637 (3), pp. 201-253 : 238-239

Platycranus pictus Wagner, 1963

Figures 18 –19, 51–52, 59, 100, 148, 166, 187, 202

Platycranus pictus Wagner, 1963: 128 [n.sp.]; Schuh, 1995: 183 [cat.]; Pericart, 1965: 382 [record, notes]; Wagner, 1974: 151 [descr.]

Diagnosis. Distinguished by the following combination of characters: first antennal segment, head, pronotum, scutellum, and inner margin of hemelytron dark brown ( Figs. 18 –19, 51– 52); first antennal segment relatively short, 0.3–0.5 × as long as width of head, with abundant silvery scalelike setae. Most similar to P. genistae and P. wagneri but differs from the former in having short and subtile vestiture of first antennal segment and from the latter in its larger body size.

Redescription. Male. Small, 3.9–4.4. COLORATION. Head: brown with yellowish frons ( Fig. 51); first antennal segment brown to dark brown, second segment contrastly yellow, third and fourth segments pale brown. Thorax: pronotum brown sometimes with pale lateral margins and medial line; mesonotum, scutellum, and scutoscutellar suture dark brown; pronotal sides yellow; meso- and metapleura yellow or slightly darkened. Hemelytron: yellow, inner margin brown; membrane dark brown. Legs: yellow, apical part of third segment dark brown. Abdomen: dorsally brown, ventrally yellow. SURFACE AND VESTITURE. First antennal segment without mesial stiff setae, densely clothed with scalelike setae; antenna with pale brown simple setae. STRUCTURE. Head: vertex 1.89–2.29 × as wide as eye; first antennal segment 0.38–0.46 × as long as width of head; second antennal segment 1.07–1.51 × as long as width of head and 1.02–1.51 × as long as width of pronotum. Thorax: pronotum with slightly concave anterior and posterior margins, 1.79–1.83 × as wide as long and 1.0– 1.15 × as wide as head. Hemelytron: cuneus twice as long as wide. Legs: third tarsal segment nearly equal in length to first and second combined; pulvillus relatively short, not reaching midpoint of claw ( Fig. 202). GENITALIA. Left paramere as in Fig. 100; right paramere with weakly tapering apex ( Fig. 148).

Female. Small, 3.7–4.1. COLORATION, SURFACE, AND VESTITURE. As in male. STRUCTURE. Similar to male except larger interocular distance, vertex 2.38–2.9 × as wide as eye; first antennal segment 0.33–0.49 × as long as width of head; second antennal segment 1.08–1.51 × as long as width of head and 1.02–1.38 × as long as width of pronotum; pronotum 2.0– 2.14 × as wide as long and 1.06–1.10 as wide as head. GENITALIA. Interramal lobes distinctly twin-coned, lateral cone relatively long and acute ( Fig. 187); sclerotized rings as in Fig. 166.

Distribution. The species is known from the Tyrrhenian Sea area: islands Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Ponzo, Vulcano, and Pantelleria, North-East Tunisia (Fig. 59).

Host associations. According to Wagner (1963) and Pericart (1965), P. pictus was collected from Calycotome villosa (Poiret) Link in Corsica. Carapezza (1993, 1997) sampled the species from Genista aspalathoides Lamarck in Tunisia and from Genista ephedroides de Candolle in Italy.

Material. Holotype: FRANCE: Corse ( Corsica): Tiuccia, 42.06566 ° N 8.73889 ° E, 10 m, 19 Jun 1961, J. Pericart, Calicotome villosa ( Fabaceae ), 13 ( AMNH _PBI 00183846) ( ZMUH).

Paratypes: FRANCE: Corse ( Corsica): Tiuccia, 42.06566 ° N 8.73889 ° E, 10 m, 19 Jun 1961, J. Pericart, Calicotome villosa ( Fabaceae ), 1 Ƥ ( AMNH _PBI 00336852) ( ZMUH).

Other Specimens Examined: FRANCE: Corse ( Corsica): Tiuccia, 42.06566 ° N 8.73889 ° E, 10 m, 10 Jul 1963, Tempere G., Calicotome villosa ( Fabaceae ), 13 ( AMNH _PBI 00336300) ( LCRT). ITALY: Sicily: Foce Imera, Madonie, 37.96666 ° N 13.86666 ° E, 28 Jun 1988, A. Carapezza, 13 ( AMNH _PBI 00314082), 1 Ƥ ( AMNH _PBI 00314073) ( ZISP).