Psallops bitterfeldi, Herczek, A., Popov, Yu. A. & Gorczyca, J., 2015

Herczek, A., Popov, Yu. A. & Gorczyca, J., 2015, First new fossil plant bugs of the genus Psallops Usinger, 1946 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera, Miridae, Psallopinae) from the Eocene Baltic amber, Zootaxa 4052 (4), pp. 495-500 : 498

Psallops bitterfeldi sp. n.

(figs 5,6,7,8)

Diagnosis. Charakters that define Psallops bitterfeldi include: uniform distribution of moderator dense hairs on dorsal surface; equal vertex and eye width, pronotum wide to length ratio (almost 2.6x) and equal hind tarsal segments length.

Description. Middle size, some less than 2.8 mm. Generally oblong-oval, almost 2.6x as long as wide; lateral body margins parallel; most of dorsal surface of head, pronotum, mesoscutum and hemelytron smooth, impunctate and covered with short, adpressed, moderately dense and posteriorly directed pale hairs; mesoscutum bare; pronotum slightly wrinkled. General coloration brown; head and scutellumt pale brown, pronotum, mesoscutum and hemelytra brown; base of hemelytra, boundary of clavus and corium and corium and cuneus, also apex of cuneus pale brown (fig. 5,6); antennae, legs and venter are generally ochraceous; hemelytral membrane light, distinctly crumpled.

Head rather short, distinctly wider than long (ca.2.9x); eyes large, strongly flattened, hind margins of eyes almost adjacent to anterior margin of pronotum; interocular space almost equal width of eye (1,07x); antenniferous tubercles inserted at inner margin of eyes; first antennal segment very short and not reaches beyond head apex, 2nd segment 1.3x longer than 3rd one, joints 3rd 1.2x longer than 4th one; all segments covered with hairs (fig. 7). Trapezoidal pronotum 2.65x as wide as long and twice longer than head, calli absent, lateral margins not carinate, posterior margin weakly emarginate. Mesoscutum broadly exposed, 1.45x shorter than scutellum; commissura clavale short, almost equal length with length of mesoscutum and scutellum taken together; cuneus 2.7x shorter than corium outer margin, venation indistinct; hyaline membrane weakly wrinkled, and has one large closed cell more than 2.63x as long as wide, with one additional short vein (“stub” in Usinger, 1946) at most posterior point of cell. Hind femora distinctly incrassate, 3.1x as long as width, almost reach median length of abdomen; nine metafemoral trichobotria (fig. 8); distal half of hind tibiae have four short erect spines on outer sides (fig. 8), approximately the same as diameter of tibia; tarsi covered by very dense brush-like hairs, 1st and 2nd segments equal size; claws very short, weakly curved.

Type material. Holotype, male, Nr. MB.I. 5039; Saxonia amber (Bitterfeld); the smallest-sized, light yellow piece of amber inserted into artificial resin (10 x 10 mm). The holotype is deposited in the Geologisch-Paläontologisches Museum Berlin.

Dimensions. Male: body length—2.76; width—1.06; head length—0.24, width—0.58; dorsal width eye—0.15, vertex width—0.16; antennal segments I:II:III:IV—0.16:0.66:0.48:0.47; rostral segments I:II:III:IV – 0.37:0.48:0.36:0.26; pronotum length—0.35, anterior margin width—0.44; posterior margin width—0.90; mesoscutum length—0.21; scutellum length—0.30; claval commissure length—0.50; hemelytron length—2.37, corium length—1.69, cuneus length—0.41; membrane cell length—0.58, width—0.22; hind femur length—0.89, width—0.29; hind tibia length—1.24; hind tarsus length—0.30 (I+II= 0.16: 0.16).

Etymology. Named after the Eocene Saxonian (Bitterfeld) amber.

Discussion. Comparing these two newly described species ( P. eocenicus and P. bitterfeldi ) with one other species from a younger Miocene Dominican amber P. popovi Herczek , one can notice that firstly, the latter differs due to the very narrow form of the body (4.6х as long as wide), different coloration (the head and pronotum pale yellow, the mesonotum, scutellum and hemelytra ferrugineous, the lateral side of the scutellum, the basal part of the corium and cuneus pale and smaller size (2.4 mm). Moreover, P. popovi has a longer head (1.85x as wide as long), a shorter scutellum that is only slightly (1.25x) longer than the mesoscutum and also thinner hind femora (4x as long as wide). On the other hand, all of these fossil species have several common features, e.g., the proportions of the 1st and 2nd antennal segments, the length of the posterior and anterior margins of the pronotum ( P. bitterfeldi and P. popovi ), the width and length of the pronotum ( P. bitterfeldi and P. popovi ), scutellum and mesoscutum ( P. eocenicus and P. bitterfeldi ), the length of the mesoscutum+scutellum and commissura clavale ( P. eocenicus , P. bitterfeldi and P. popovi ), the width and length of the hind femur ( P. eocenicus and P. bitterfeldi ) and the length of the tibia and femur of the hind leg ( P. eocenicus , P. bitterfeldi and P. popovi ). This mosaic of the similarities can support close relationship between discussed species but also it can mean accidental relationship resulting, example from intraspecies variation.