Labops, BURMEISTER, 1835

Tatarnic, Nikolai J. & Cassis, Gerasimos, 2012, The Halticini of the world (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae): generic reclassification, phylogeny, and host plant associations, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 164 (3), pp. 558-658 : 607-612

LABOPS BURMEISTER ( FIGS 4 , 33–36 )

Labops Burmeister, 1835: 279 [gen. nov.; type species: Labops diopsis Burmeister, 1835 by monotypy (junior synonym of Capsus sahlbergii Fallén, 1829 )]; Fieber, 1858: 316 (key); Fieber, 1860a: 294; 1861 (key, descr.); Flor, 1860: 448 (key); Thompson, 1871: 432 (key); Walker, 1873: 44 (cat.); Reuter, 1875a: 24 (key); Reuter, 1875b (1): 86 (2):97 (key, descr.); Provancher, 1887: 135 (descr.); Atkinson, 1890: 120 (cat.); Reuter, 1891: 80, 160 (descr., key); Hueber, 1906: 5 (key); Kirkaldy, 1906: 131 (cat.); Oshanin, 1910: 786 (cat.); Reuter, 1910: 148 (cat.); Van Duzee, 1916: 211 (key); Van Duzee, 1917: 373 (cat.); Knight, 1922: 258 (key, n. spp.); Blatchley, 1926: 797 (key, spp. nov.); Stichel, 1933: 235 (key); Knight, 1941: 81; Slater, 1950: 51 (genitalia); Kiritshenko, 1951: 126 (key); Carvalho, 1952: 74 (cat.); Slater, 1954: 57 (note); Carvalho, 1955: 66 (key); Carvalho, 1958: 18 (cat.); Kerzhner, 1964a: 964 (diag., key); Kelton, 1980: 189 (diag., key); Kerzhner, 1988: 43 (illustrated key to east Asian spp.); Schuh, 1995: 58 (world cat.).

Ophthalmocoris Zetterstedt, 1838: 280 gen. nov. (syn. by Herrich-Schäeffer, 1850:166).

Diagnosis: Readily distinguished from other Halticini by the following combination of characters: tall head and stylate eyes; hemelytra of brachypterous individuals nearly covering abdomen; aedeagus with mass of thin, needle-like spicules suspended in the membrane anterior to secondary gonopore; posterior wall of bursa copulatrix with paired inter-ramal sclerites similar to those found in other Orthotylinae ; DLP often with heavily sclerotized inter-ramal bridge.

Redescription: Coloration ( Fig. 4 ): mostly dark, dull brown to black, usually with yellow, orange, or reddish markings. Head: black with yellow markings, particularly on vertex, along midline, and on genae, mandibular and maxillary plates. Hemelytra black, sometimes with white or yellow along costal margins. Surface and vestiture ( Figs 4 , 33A–H ): clothed in simple setae and pale, scale-like setae. Head smooth and setaceous. Antennae and legs with erect and semi-erect spines, particularly on AI and tibiae. Posterior of pronotum and scutellum rugulose. Hemelytra clothed in simple setae or both simple and scale-like setae. Structure: body elongate-oval. Head ( Figs 4 , 33A–C ): transverse and tall; genae height> two times eye height; eyes stylate, projecting laterally and slightly upward, extending well beyond the anterolateral margins of the pronotum; frons steep, with faint folds radiating from midline; mandibular plate sometimes tumescent, especially males. Labium ( Fig. 33C ): variable, sometimes reaching metacoxae; LI swollen. Antennae ( Figs 4 , 33A–C ): insertion below eye; shorter than insect; AI swollen, shorter to longer than pronotum, approximately twice as long as eye height. Thorax ( Figs 4 , 33A, C, D ): pronotum campanulate, collar thin and flat, callosite region well defined, posterior margin weakly concave; mesoscutum broad; scutellum small, triangular; metathoracic spiracle small and exposed, thinly surrounded with evaporative bodies; MTG external efferent system broad, swollen and triangular, encompassing lower half of tergite, ostiole prominent and elongate, peritreme tongue-shaped, situated above ostiole in middle of evaporative area, angled rearward parallel to posterior margin of tergite. Hemelytra ( Fig. 4 ): both sexes with brachypterous and macropterous morphs, degree of brachyptery varying across species ( Slater, 1954); length variable in brachypterous morphs but generally covering much if not all of the abdomen, cuneus sometimes differentiated, membrane either absent or vestigial; in macropterous morphs hemelytra extend beyond abdomen, margins gently rounded; membrane with two cells. Legs: long, metafemur not greatly swollen; pretarsi without fleshy pulvilli. Abdomen: elongate-oval. Male genitalia ( Figs 33F–H , 34A–E , 36A–D ): pygophore simple and conical, ventral margin extending slightly caudad, left ventrolateral margin sulcate below left paramere; left paramere either straight or with obtusely angled apophysis, apophysis weakly curved to strongly angled apically, sensory lobe often prominent; right paramere extends caudally out of pygophore, considerably larger than left paramere, with long base, apex with laterally deflected concave club; apex of phallotheca with serrate, plate-like process of variable size projecting from the left of phallothecal opening; ductus seminis elongate, secondary gonopore sclerotized, vaguely bowl-shaped with a prised operculum, with scale-like texturing along opening margin; endosoma with tight bundle of sclerotized needles, sometimes also with other sclerotized processes, including thin strips of sclerotized teeth. Female genitalia ( Figs 34D–G , 35A–B , 36E–G ): sclerotized rings large, elongateelliptical, diagonal, medially subcontiguous, lateral margins somewhat upturned; margin of VLP adjoining rami sclerotized, sometimes medially with paired teeth, lateral-most region of VLP joined with rami to form paired, medially projecting, sclerotized processes, sometimes covered with fields of spines; DLP sometimes with heavily sclerotized, bilaterally ventrally pointed inter-ramal bridge, sometimes reduced to paired pincer-like lateral sclerites, a simple band of

THE HALTICINI OF THE WORLD 611

tissue or completely membranous; posterior wall of bursa copulatrix with bilaterally symmetrical interramal lobes of varying complexity projecting from posterior wall; margins of first gonapophyses symmetrical, swollen, and sclerotized.

Diversity and distribution: Labops is comprised of 12 species and exhibits a Holarctic distribution.

Included species: Labops bami Kulik, 1979 Russia Labops brooksi Slater, 1954 Canada

Labops burmeisteri Stål, 1858 Holarctic

Labops chelifer Slater, 1954 Canada

Labops hesperius Uhler, 1872 * Canada; USA Labops hirtus Knight, 1922 Canada; USA Labops nivchorum Kerzhner, 1988 Russia

Labops sahlbergii ( Fallén, 1829) * Scandinavia; Siberia (Ural)

Labops setosus Reuter, 1891 Russia

Labops tumidifrons Knight, 1922 * Canada

Labops utahensis Slater, 1954 * USA

Labops verae Knight, 1929 USA

Biology and host plant associations: Species of Labops are associated with grasses in arid conditions ( Slater, 1954). In North America, L. hesperius has been recorded on Agropyron cristatum , various range grasses, Rosa arkansana ( Kelton, 1980) , Koeleria cristata , Poa secunda , Stipa comata , Stipa williamsi , Hordeum sp. , Triticum sativum ( Mills, 1939: in Slater, 1954), and wheat ( Mills, 1941), whereas L. hirtus has been recorded on wheat in Montana ( Mills, 1939) . In Yakutia, Vinokurov (1979) recorded the genus on cereals and sedges ( Carex stenophylla , Critesion jubatum , and Leymus sp. ), and suggested that it may decrease productivity of pastures and hay fields ( Table 1).

Remarks: Labops has previously been treated as its own tribe, Labopini, owing to various characteristics unique to the genus ( Knight, 1923). Slater was the first to note the unusual female genitalia of Labops – both the posterior wall (1950, 1954) and the interramal bridge (1954). Slater (1950) questioned whether the sclerotized inter-ramal tumescences on the posterior wall might be homologous to the interramal lobes (i.e. K-structures) found in other Orthotylinae – the absence of which has been considered a synapomorphy for the Halticini ( Schuh, 1974) . However, with the discovery of inter-ramal tumescences in both Anapus and Scirtetellus , we consider these to be homologous in origin. Despite the presence of inter-ramal lobes in Labops , Scirtetellus , and Anapus , our phylogeny instead places Labops as sister to Myrmecophyes based on four unambiguous characters, including one synapomorphy (56–1: apex of phallotheca with a prominent flange).

The inter-ramal bridge ( Kullenberg, 1947; Slater, 1950, 1954) is another interesting structure otherwise absent in the Halticini (although Anapus , Barbarosia , and Euryopicoris possess a sclerotized plate on the DLP, which may be homologous).

Figures

Figure 4. Photographs of Halticini genera: Labops–Strongylocoris. Abbreviations: F, female; M, male.

Figure 33. Scanning electron micrograph images of Labops sahlbergii (male). A, head and pronotum, dorsal view; B, head, anterior view; C, head and thorax, lateral view; D, meso- and metathorax, lateral view; E, tarsus; F, pygophore, posterior view; G, pygophore, ventral view; H, pygophore, lateral view.

Figure 34. Male and female genitalia of Labops sahlbergii. A, aedeagus, phallotheca removed; B, left paramere; C, right paramere; D, apex of phallotheca, ventral view; E, apex of phallotheca, left side; F, first gonapophyses, ventral view; G, bursa copulatrix; H, posterior wall. Abbreviations: IRB, inter-ramal bridge; IRL, inter-ramal lobe; MP, medial process of ventral labiate plate and ramus.

Figure 35. Female genitalia of Labops hesperius. A, bursa copulatrix; B, posterior wall. Abbreviations: IRL, inter-ramal lobe; VLP, ventral labiate plate.

Figure 36. Male and female genitalia of Labops tumidifrons. A, phallotheca; B, aedeagus, phallotheca removed; C, left paramere; D, right paramere; E, bursa copulatrix, dorsal view; F, inter-ramal bridge; G, posterior wall.