Blesingia gularis Carvalho and Gross, 1982

Menard, Katrina L. & Schuh, Randall T., 2011, Revision Of Leucophoropterini: Diagnoses, Key To Genera, Redescription Of The Australian Fauna, And Descriptions Of New Indo-Pacific Genera And Species (Insecta: Hemiptera: Miridae), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 2011 (361), pp. 1-159 : 89-90

Blesingia gularis Carvalho and Gross Figures 14 , 15 D–G , 44P–Q ; plates 5, 8

Blesingia gularis Carvalho and Gross, 1982: 47 , fig. 121 (n. sp., descr., DV).

DIAGNOSIS: Recognized by brown and white coloration of hemelytra (pl. 5), long brown simple setae, elongate head with correspondingly long, flat gula, expanded and laterally compressed basal area of labrum, white profemora, and structure of the male genitalia.

REDESCRIPTION: Male: Macropterous, medium sized, elongate, medially constricted. Total length 3.32–3.76, width pronotum 1.02–1.16, maximum width across hemelytra 1.01–1.04. COLORATION: Brown, pale brown, and castaneous. Eyes deep red to purple. Labium brown. Antennal segment 1 golden, segment 2 brown, antennal segment 3 pale basally for approximately half of length and brown distally, antennal segment 4 completely brown. Dorsolateral margin of metepisternum and scent gland with relatively narrow white band, width equal to about one-eighth of total width of scent gland. Procoxae white, mesocoxae reddish brown, metacoxae dark basally pale distally for over half of length. Profemora golden and sometimes with dark brown anterior margin, meso- and metafemora brown. Pro- and mesotibiae basally dark brown, distally golden, metatibia pale apically at joint with metafemur, dark brown for remainder of length and with parallel rows of dark spicules. Tarsomeres dark brown. Hemelytra brown with transparent transverse fascia on anterior margin of hemelytron occupying most of anterior margin of corium and most of median of clavus, anterior margins of clavus darker brown than corium, with dark brown posterior margin of fascia transversing entire hemelytron (pl. 5). Posterolateral margin of corium darker brown anterior to cuneal fracture. Anterior margin of cuneus and part of lateral margin white with yellowish tinge at lateral margin, occupying less than M total area of cuneus, posterior portion dark brown. Membrane brown, veins with dark brown pigmentation. STRUCTURE: Dorsally clypeus partially visible, surpassing frons anteriorly in dorsal view. Area of head below eyes in anterior view relatively narrow and constricted laterally, width approximately same width as vertex. Vertex weakly concave, with posterior margin raised for medial half and lateral margins declining, forming shelflike appearance, width less than width of eye. Eyes weakly removed from anterior margin of vertex. Eye height greater than K total height of head, obscuring vertex in lateral view, posterior margin of eyes obscuring anterior margin of pronotum. Gula elongate, flat. Length of antennal segment 2 greater than 1.5 times total head width, weakly curving medially. Labrum laterally compressed and bladelike, diameter less than width labial segment 1. Labial segment 1 reaching past posterior margin of head, apex of segment 4 reaching apex of mesocoxa. Pronotum less than two times as wide as long, weakly swollen dorsally on posterior lobe but without dorsal indentation separating anteri- or and posterior lobes, lateral margins narrow anteriorly, widening posteriorly, forming almost a bell shape in dorsal view. Scent gland less than M total area of metepimeron. Metatibia convexly curved near median and weakly laterally compressed medially. Hemelytral posterior margins wider than posterior margin of pronotum, convex in transverse cross section. Cuneus triangular, length approximately equal to M total length of hemelytral membrane, cuneal fracture angled anteromesially, and with partial thickening on lateral margin in area occupied by white. GENITALIA: (fig. 15D–G): Pygophore about one-fifth total length of abdomen. Posterior process of left paramere relatively broad, gently curving dorsally, anterior process stout and with dorsal margin near midline for total height of paramere, dorsomedial margin nearly straight and angled 45 ° relative to base of paramere (fig. 15F).

Female: Macropterous, medium sized, medially constricted. Total length 2.97–3.22, width pronotum 0.80–0.88, maximum width across hemelytra 0.94–1.06. COLORATION: Similar to male but darker brown, larger portion of cuneus white, and profemur sometimes completely dark brown (pl. 5). SURFACE TEXTURE AND VESTI- TURE: As in male. STRUCTURE: Head: Clypeus flush with frons in lateral view, not visible in dorsal view. Vertex convex, width slightly wider than width of one eye. Eyes less than half total height of head in lateral view, dorsal surface of eyes continuous with vertex. Gula elongate and developed, as in male, greater than half total height of head. Antennal segment 2 clublike. Length antennal segment 2 1.2 times total head width. Pronotum more strongly bell shaped in dorsal view than in male. Abdomen parallel sided, anterior half sharply declining ventrally, posterior half of abdomen with ventral surface parallel to dorsal surface.

HOSTS: Mostly Solanaceae ; also on Fabaceae .

DISTRIBUTION: Northern Australia.

DISCUSSION: Blesingia gularis was described based on female specimens ( Carvalho and Gross, 1982). With the recent collecting efforts of Randall Schuh and Gerasimos Cassis, males are now associated with this taxon and both sexes are documented and illustrated. Superficially Blesingia gularis looks like members of Gulacapsus , but the gula in the latter taxon is a defined keel that extends posteriorly past the posterior margins of the eyes, whereas in B. gularis the gula is flat and does not extend past the eyes. Furthermore, B. gularis lacks the flattened pronotal collar of most Gulacapsus species.

HOLOTYPE: AUSTRALIA: Northern Territory: Warlock Ponds , 23.viii.1964, T.E. Woodward. 18 ( QM).

SPECIMENS EXAMINED: AUSTRALIA: Queensland: 8.2 km E of Mungallala, 26.46401 ° S 147.6248 ° E, 560 m, 31 Oct 1998, Schuh, Cassis, Silveira, Solanum cf. nemophilum F. Muell. (Solanaceae) , det. Det: Royal Bot Gard. NSW NSW427370, 78 (00393624– 00393630), 15♀ (00393631–00393645) ( AM), Solanum cf. nemophilum F. Muell. (Solanaceae) , det. Det: Royal Bot Gard. NSW NSW- 427370, 98 (00058600, 00196045–00196051, 00196388), 24♀ (00195664, 00196052–00196053, 00196389, 00196391, 0197199, 00392742– 00392759) ( AMNH). Cape York Peninsula, 24.5 km SE of Laura, 15.68297 ° S 144.59136 ° E, 127 m, 25 May 2006, Cassis, Barrow, Finlay, Symonds, 1♀ (00195667) ( AMNH). ca. 30 km SE of Chillagoe, on Burke Developmental Rd, 17.36519 ° S 144.71405 ° E, 547 m, 01 Jun 2006, Cassis, Barrow, Finlay, Symonds, Tephrosia macrostachya (Benth.) Domin (Fabaceae-Faboideae) , det. RBG staff, 18 (00393779), 2♀ (00393777, 00393778) ( AM). Western Australia: ca. 25 km W of Towrana Homestead, on Pimbee Rd, Pimbee Conservation Park, 25.47776 ° S 115.0497 ° E, 183 m, 04 Nov 2004, Cassis, Weirauch, Tatarnic, Symonds, Solanum lasiophyllum Poir. (Solanaceae) , det. PERTH staff PERTH6989276, 1♀ (00195700) ( AMNH).

Figures

Figure 14. Distribution map of Blesingia spp.

Figure 15. Male genitalia of Blesingia spp. (A–G).

Figure 44. Female genitalia of Aitkenia exocarpos (A–D), Arafuramiris queenslandensis (E–G), Ausejanus albisignatus (H–K), Austrodapus nitens (L–O), Blesingia gularis (P–Q), Collessicoris bellissimus (R–S), and Leucophoroptera quadrimaculata (T–U). Ls5 lateral reduced interramal sclerites; PM–PW5 posterior margin sclerite on the posterior wall; Osp5 ovipositor spine; SR5 sclerotized rings; As 5 anterior sclerite of first gonapophysis; Vg 5 vestibular sclerite of first gonapophysis.