Scymnus (Pullus) nigrobasalis Yu

Yu, Guoyue, Montgomery, Michael E. & Yao, Defu, 2000, Lady Beetles (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) From Chinese Hemlocks Infested With The Hemlock Woolly Adelgid, Adelges Tsugae Annand (Homoptera: Adelgidae), The Coleopterists Bulletin 54 (2), pp. 154-199 : 174-175

Scymnus (Pullus) nigrobasalis Yu , new species

( Fig. 12)

Description. Male. Length 2.30 mm, width 1.45 mm. Form oval, moderately convex dorsum. Head reddish brown with black eyes. Pronotum reddish brown. Scutellum black. Elytra reddish brown with basal 2/5 dark brown, M­shaped, suture very narrowly darker to apical 1/3. Underside reddish brown, except meso­ and metathoraces, central base of first abdominal sternite black. Interocular distance less than 1/2 head width. Innerocular margins nearly parallel, slightly divergent posteriorly. Frons weakly convex, finely punctate. Clypeus apex weakly incurvate. Antenna 11­segmented, proportions as illustrated ( Fig. 12j), terminal segment truncate distally. Maxillary palpus terminal segment with sides nearly parallel, slightly convergent at ends. Pronotum punctation similar to head. Elytral punctation distinctly coarser, pubescence arranged in S­form. Prosternal carinae moderately separated, slightly convergent anteriorly. Postcoxal line of first abdominal sternite complete, 2/7 sternite length from hind margin; area surrounded by line finely punctate, smooth near line, area outside line coarsely punctate. Hind margin of fifth abdominal sternite nearly truncate; sixth apex slightly emarginate. Genitalia: Sipho ( Fig. 12a) moderately stout, siphonal capsule with indistinct outer process, long inner process; apex of sipho ( Fig. 12g) hook­shaped with long thread­like appendix. Tegmen ( Fig. 12b, c) moderately stout; median piece nearly parallel for basal 2/3, then gradually narrowing to pointed apex in ventral aspect; in lateral view, median piece nearly parallel for basal 1/5, then converging to pointed tip. Length of lateral lobes similar to median piece.

Female. Similar to male except hind margin of fifth and sixth abdominal sternites slightly, but distinctly, arcuate. Genitalia: Receptaculum seminis stout, C­shaped; infundibulum characteristic, two­branched terminally.

Variation. Body length 2.30 to 2.50 mm, width 1.45 to 1.55 mm. Dark basal area of elytra with indistinct shape and border with reddish apical area; suture dark only at basal 1/3.

Distribution. China (Yunnan).

Type Series. Holotype: (Ƌ), Yunnan: Lijiang: Wenbishan (26.8 N, 100.2 E), 18­IX­1997, Yu G. leg. ( BAAF) . Paratypes: (3 total, same data as holotype except) (1 ♀), (1 Ƌ, 1 ♀), Yuefang Temple, 23­IX­1997, Yu G. collected from Picea likiangensis (Ƌ BAAF, ♀ CAF) .

Etymology. The name refers to the color pattern of the elytra.

Remarks. This species resembles a color form of S. (P.) centralis Kamiya described by Pang (1988) as S. (S.) prosericatus Pang and later synonymized with S. centralis by Yu and Pang (1992b). The new species can be easily separated from the latter by the hook­like apex of sipho, the shorter and more slender receptaculum seminis, and elytra without two rows of large punctures near the suture.