Platycranus concii Tamanini, 1987

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 : 230

Platycranus concii Tamanini, 1987

Figure 58

Platycranus concii Tamanini, 1987: 475 [n.sp.]; Schuh, 1995: 182 [cat.]

Diagnosis. Distinguished by the pale coloration, relatively long first antennal segment, 0.4–0.5 × as long as width of head, strongly tapering right paramere ( Figs. 4–6 in Tamanini (1987). Apparently not separable from P. metriorrhynchus (see below).

Host associations. Genista salzmannii de Candolle ( Tamanini 1987)

Distribution. Rifugio Passo Del Bocco, Borzonasca, Genova prov., Italy ( Tamanini 1987)

Discussion. The species is known exclusively from the type series and unfortunately all our attempts to get the specimens of Platycranus concii were unsuccessful. We refrain from repeating the highly detailed and perfectly illustrated original description here.

Tamanini suggested that P. c o n c i i is most similar to P. metriorrhynchus in the relative length of the first antennal segment. He also stated that P. c o n c i i differs from P. metriorrhynchus in the smaller body size of a male and the shape of the right paramere. We carefully observed the original description ( Tamanini 1987) and conclude that P. c o n c i i might be a junior synonym of P. metriorrhynchus Reuter, 1883 . No distinctions were found in the color-pattern, vestiture, sizes, measurements, and the shape of parameres between P. concii and pale forms of P. metriorrhynchus . However, as we were unable to examine the type material of P. concii , no synonymy is proposed at this time.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 11. Dorsal habitus of Platycranus speices: 1 – 2, P. e r b e r i: 1 — female, 2 — male; 3 – 4, P. hartigi: 3 — female, 4 — male; 5 – 6, P. lindbergi: 5 — female, 6 — male; 7 – 11, P. p u t o n i: 7 — female (Libya), 8 — female (Egypt), 9 — male (Libya), 10 — male (Morocco), 11 — male (Algeria).