Cysteocheila stysi, Guilbert & Cnrs & Cp, 2008

Guilbert, Eric, Cnrs & Cp, Département de Systématique et Evolution -, 2008, New data on the Tingidae from Gabon (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 48 (2), pp. 491-495 : 492-494

Cysteocheila stysi sp. nov.

( Figs. 1-2 )

Material examined. HOLOTYPE: 1 J, GABON: Ipassa Res., 18.ix.2006, beating tree (30 m high), E. Guilbert lgt. ( MNHN) . PARATYPES: 6JJ 9♀♀, GABON: Ipassa Res., 23.ix.2006, light trap, E. Guilbert lgt. ( MNHN) ; 1J, Ipassa Res., 23.ix.2006, beating, Guilbert lgt. ( MNHN) ; 2 specimens (carded, sex not examined), Komo , contreforts des Monts de Cristal [= foothill of Cristal Mt.], 400 m a.s.l., 1.-15.x.1969, A. Villiers lgt. ( MNHN) .

Description. Body long and oval, colouration brown with a darker transversal band across the middle of hemelytra and centre of sutural area; head dark brown; apex of head and sternum almost blackish. Body length 3.30 mm; width 1.20 mm.

Head short, pilose on top, armed with five spines; frontal pair and median spine thick at base, straight and raised; frontal spines touching along their entire length; occipital pair of spines thick at base but less so than other spines, curved, convergent, not raised, their apices touching base of median spine; base of frontal pair and median spine starting almost on the same level just behind eyes. Bucculae broad, long, with three rows of areolae, closed in front. Labium reaching middle of mesosternum. Lengths of antennal segments: I, 0.18 mm; II, 0.13 mm; III, 0.75 mm; IV, 0.28 mm.

Pronotum long (1.70 mm), a little more than half as long as body, gibbose, deeply punctate, areolate on hind process, tricarinate, carinae subparalell, raised but narrow and not areolate; median carina prolonged in front by a small tectiform hood not reaching anterior margin of pronotum. Collar with three rows of areolae. Paranota large and wide, as wide as eight areolae at widest part, areolae deep, reflexed and covering part of pronotum, reaching lateral carinae but not covering them. Posterior process sharply prolonged behind; sulcus narrow, widened on metasternum, pro- and mesosternal laminae narrow and almost straight, metasternal laminae slightly wider, curved and open behind.

Hemelytra long and narrow, as wide as pronotum. Costal area narrow, with two regular rows of round and small areolae; subcostal area slightly wider than costal area, biseriate, areolae of the same size as on costal area; length of discoidal area two third the length of hemelytra, as wide as six areolae at widest part, areolae larger than on subcostal and costal area; sutural area longer than half the length of hemelytra, as wide as eight areolae at widest part, areolae as large as on discoidal area.

Differential diagnosis. The genus Cysteochila is diverse and widespread. It includes 80 species in Africa and Madagascar (GUILBERT, unpubl. data) and exhibits a great variety of combination of characters, which makes the systematics of the genus difficult and confused. Cysteochila collarti was until now the only species of the genus known in Gabon.

Cysteochila stysi sp. nov. is mostly similar to C. collarti but differs by the paranota wider and in contact with the lateral carinae (the paranota do not reach the carinae in C. collarti ). Other species can be distinguished from the new one as follows. Cysteochila kalongensis Duarte Rodrigues, 1982 , is close to C. stysi sp. nov. as well but differs from it by the paranota not reaching the lateral carinae and by the two rows of areolae on the costal area not being regular. Cysteochila manselli Duarte Rodrigues, 1981 , has also two rows of areolae on the costal area but its paranota are much wider and cover the lateral carinae. Cysteochila tonkouiana Duarte Rodrigues, 1981 , has also biseriate costal area, but the paranota are in contact with the lateral carinae only near the calli. Cysteochila impressa Horváth, 1910 , has paranota of the same shape but larger and with fewer areolae than in C. stysi sp. nov., and the costal area uniseriate posteriorly on a longer length, while C. stysi sp. nov. has only the very posterior part uniseriate. In addition, the areolae on the costal area of C. impressa are larger than in C. stysi sp. nov. Finally, C. biseriata Schouteden, 1916 , has a biseriate costal area but paranota of a different shape and C. mokuensis Schouteden, 1953 , has paranota surpassing the lateral carinae.

Etymology. This species is dedicated to Pavel Štys (Charles University, Praha), an eminent heteropterist.

Distribution. Gabon.

Figures

Figs. 1-2. Cysteochila stysi sp. nov., habitus. 1 – dorsal view; 2 – lateral view. Scale bars: 1 mm.