Boxia, CHINA, 1943

Namyatova, Anna A. & Cassis, Gerasimos, 2016, Systematic revision and phylogeny of the plant bug tribe Monaloniini (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae: Bryocorinae) of the world, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 176 (1), pp. 36-136 : 85-86

BOXIA CHINA

Figures 8, 11C, 13F, 14 M-O, 22

Boxia China, 1943 b: 287 (gen. nov.; type species: Boxia khayae China, 1943 by monotypy); China, 1944: 179 (key to gen.); Carvalho, 1952: 60 (cat.); Carvalho, 1955: 42 (key to gen.); Carvalho, 1957: 143 (cat.); Lavabre, 1977a: 50 (key to gen); Schuh, 1995: 526 (cat.); Schuh, 2002 –2013 (cat.); Namyatova et al., in press (phylogeny).

Boxiopsis Lavabre, 1960: 715 (gen. nov.; type species Boxiopsis madagascariensis Lavabre, 1960 by monotypy); Lavabre, 1960: 716 (key to gen.); Decazy, 1977: 124 (disc.); Lavabre, 1977a: 52, 60 (key to gen., descr.); Schuh, 1995: 526 (cat.); syn. nov., this work.

Diagnosis: Boxia belongs to the Odoniella -group (see discussion for the tribe), and can be separated from other genera of this group by the following characters: ASII straight; ASIII incrassate towards apex; ASIV only slightly clavate, spotted coloration ( Fig. 8); pronotum and scutellum impunctate, with dense longitudinal and transverse raised wrinkles ( Fig. 11C); posterior margin of pronotum almost straight; body clothed with very small rounded setae ( Fig. 13F); spermathecal gland placed near middle of posterior margin of DLP.

Redescription: Male: Length 7–8 mm. COLORATION ( Fig. 8). Mainly yellow, orange or pale brown with brown to dark brown markings, sometimes with reddish tinge; pronotum and hemelytron with dense brown to dark brown markings, hemelytron also with large dark brown marking posteriorly. TEXTURE. Body without tuber- cles; flattened areas or on vertex absent, head without wrinkles laterally; pronotum and scutellum impunctate, with dense longitudinal and transversal upraised wrinkles ( Fig. 11C); pair of punctures between mesoscutum and scutellum, punctures on clavus and on R + M absent; striations on lateral margins of scutellum present; semicircular depression between scutellum and mesoscutum absent. VESTITURE. Head, pronotum anteriorly, thoracic pleura and hemelytra clothed with short rounded setae ( Fig. 13F), most part of pronotum without setae, those on thoracic pleura very rare; appendages clothed with short, adpressed dark simple setae, not very dense; black spinules on femora and tibiae present, irregularly distributed. STRUCTURE. Head. Distance between eye and pronotum very short, distinctly shorter than eye diameter (as in Fig. 10H); occipital region not delimited with depression; longitudinal depression on vertex absent or very short; eyes stylate (as in Fig. 10H), directed outwards, c. 0.2–0.25× as wide as head; distance between antennal fossa c. 1.5–2× as long as antennal fossa diameter; frons distinctly swollen, without ridges, outgrowths or longitudinal depression; anterior view of head c. 1.7× as wide as high; eye c. 1.2× as high as distance between eye and apex of clypeus; antennal fossa oval, diameter subequal to half of eye height, not raised (as in fig. 3B in Namyatova et al., in press); inferior margin of fossa placed near inferior margin of eye; base of clypeus placed slightly above inferior margin of antennal fossa, distinctly delimited with depression; head flat in lateral view; gula shorter than buccula, straight or convex. Labium. Reaching posterior margin of mesosternum; LS I c. 4× as long as wide; LSII c. 5× as long as wide, subequal to LSII in length; LSIII c. 4× as long as wide, slightly longer than LSII; LSIV c. 6× as long as wide, c. 1.5× as long as LSIII. Antenna. Reaching base of cuneus; ASI c. 1.5× times as long as wide, subequal to quarter of head width, widened basally (as in fig. 8E in Namyatova et al., in press); ASII c. 5–6× as long as ASI, as long as head and pronotum combined, slightly widened towards apex; ASIII c. 0.6–0.7× as long as ASII, incrassate towards apex, without swellings basally or medially; ASIV 0.7–0.8× as long as ASIII, clavate. Thorax. Collar distinct, contiguous with calli posteriorly, flat; calli separated, flat (as in Fig. 10H); depression delimiting callosite region absent; humeral angles of pronotum rounded, not dilated (as in Fig. 10H); posterior margin of pronotum straight or sinuate (as in Fig. 10H); scutellum moderately swollen, triangular, not covering posterior margin of pronotum, acute apically, without outgrowth, ridge or medial depression ( Fig. 11C); metepimeron enlarged, twice as high as long, angulate, subtriangular (as in Fig. 13E); metasternum with medial projection to abdominal segment II (as in fig. 17A in Namyatova et al., in press). Hemelytron. Costal margin slightly rounded, slightly concave anteriorly; claval commissure c. 0.5–0.7× as long as scutellum, straight (as in fig. 12E in Namyatova et al., in press); R + M distinct only anteriorly, not reaching middle of corium (as in fig. 12E in Namyatova et al., in press); medial fracture strongly inclined towards midline; corium without swelling posteriorly; cuneus c. 1.2–1.3× as long as wide, as long as half of pronotum, medial margin almost straight (as in fig. 13B in Namyatova et al., in press); membrane cell slightly surpassing apex of cuneus, forming right angle, c. 0.7– 0.8× as long as pronotum (as in fig. 13B in Namyatova et al., in press); auxiliary vein absent; distance from cell to apex of membrane c. 0.8× as long as cell. Legs. Forecoxae contiguous (as in fig. 17A in Namyatova et al., in press); femora only indistinctly swollen apically, straight; foretibia shorter than head and pronotum combined; swellings on tibiae absent; segment I of hind tarsus slightly longer than segment II and subequal to segment III; claw broadly rounded (as in fig. 10C in Namyatova & Cassis, 2013b); basal tooth on claw short and triangular (as in fig. 10B in Namyatova & Cassis, 2013b). Genitalia ( Fig. 14M, N). Genital capsule as long as wide, without outgrowth(s), its ventral wall not shortened anteriorly; left paramere distinctly r-shaped; phallobase sclerite of primary gonopore subtriangular, straight apically, without outgrowths supporting ductus seminis; ductus seminis not sclerotized basally or apically, slightly longer than phallotheca, with coils, forming wide tube, attached to phallobase medially; sclerotized part of phallotheca wide, occupying entire dorsal part, rounded apically, with subtriangular uprising basally, without ridge or outgrowths; endosoma with two elongate spicules and two fields of small spicules, one of them placed close to secondary gonopore.

Female: Length varying from 6 to 10 mm. Coloration, texture, vestiture and structure as in male ( Fig. 8). Genitalia. DLP without sclerotized bands, with distinct paired areas of striations at sides; lateral oviducts attached at middle of striated areas, widely separated, placed near lateral margin of DLP, at half way of DLP; spermathecal gland placed in posterior part half of DLP, at equal distance from each lateral oviducts.

Distribution: Ghana, Madagascar ( Fig. 22).

Host plants: Both species are known to feed on cocoa ( Lavabre, 1960; Leston, 1970; Decazy, 1977; Entwistle, 1977). Boxia khayae is also affiliated with Khaya grandifoliola C.DC. ( China, 1943) and Entandrophragma sp. ( Meliaceae ) ( Piart, 1977).