Dicyphus albonasutus Wagner, 1951

Konstantinov, Fedor V. & Neimorovets, Vladimir V., 2021, Bryocorinae Baerensprung, 1860 (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae) of European Russia and the Caucasus: synopsis and key to species, Zootaxa 4920 (3), pp. 301-338 : 308-309

Dicyphus albonasutus Wagner, 1951

Figures 2 , 8 , 10

Dicyphus (Brachyceroea) albonasutus Wagner, 1951: 7 .

Material examined. BULGARIA: Rhodope Mts, Zrantscha, 4♀ 2♂ 5 X 1960, Josifov. CRIMEA: Alushta , 2♀ 1♂ 26 VI 1911, Dyakonov. Yalta distr. , Margala near Gurzuf, 800m, 2♀ 16 VII 1948, Arnoldi . CYPRUS: Yermasoyla , 1♂ 29 Jul 1967, Mavromoustakis . RUSSIA: North Ossetia: Prigorodny distr., Koban , 1♀ 1♂ 21 VII 1925, Kiritshenko . SERBIA: Prejdane , S of Leskovac, 5♂ 8♀ 7–22 VII 1928, Martino . TURKEY: Iskenderum—Adana, Dortyal, 1♂ 23 V 1960, Eckerlein. Ankara, Kecioren , 1♂ 27 V 1960, Eckerlein .

Diagnosis. Recognized by the following combination of characters: always macropterous, total length male 3.0–3.5, female 3.1–3.7; postocular area of vertex brown to dark brown with small subrectangular macula at middle and narrow whitish edging behind eye; dark setae on head with dark brown spots at bases; antennal segment II dark brown with narrowly whitish base, apex and middle one-third; pronotal collar whitish, with four round dark brown spots at bases of setae; pronotum with ivory to whitish yellow midline interrupted between calli and usually not reaching posterior margin; calli whitish to ivory, with brown color pattern composed of dense, variously shaped and confluent stripes, never entirely brown; scutellum whitish, with two dark brown, sometimes apically confluent stripes at sides of whitish midline, in darkest specimens scutellum dark brown with whitish elongate spots at sides and paler apex; tibiae with dark brown spots at bases of tibial spines ( Fig. 2 ); left paramere large, thin and slender, with moderately swollen body; spatulate apex of left paramere attenuating apically, with weakly developed ventral crest ( Fig. 10 ); genital capsule with large transverse crest supporting left paramere ( Fig. 8 ).

This species is most similar in coloration, male genitalia structure, and body proportions (see discussion below) to D. annulatus and D. digitalidis . Differs from the first species in having whitish midline on dark brown clypeus, and in distinctly longer apical process of the left paramere. Dicyphus digitalidis may be distinguished from both D. annulatus and D. albonasutus in the absence of dark brown round spots at bases of setae on head and at bases of tibial spines, larger body size, and distinctive shape of the spatulate apex of the left paramere.

Distribution. Dicyphus albonasutus is known from southern Europe, Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan, and Turkey ( Kerzhner & Josifov 1999; Carapezza 2002; Lodos et al. 2003). Here we report it from Crimea and Caucasus (North Ossetia) for the first time.

Host. Pulmonaria officinalis L. ( Boraginaceae ) ( Wagner 1974), Ononis spinosa L. ( Fabaceae ) (Josifov 1974).

Discussion. Dicyphus albonasutus belongs to the distinctive annulatus -group outlined by Wagner (1974) and currently containing three more species, D. albonasutus Wagner, 1951 (Mediterranean region), D. botrydis Rieger, 2002 (south Germany), and D. digitalidis Josifov, 1958 ( Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Turkey). Dicyphus ononidis Wagner, 1951 , one more species of this group described from southern Europe, was downgraded to subspecies level by Tamanini (1956) who noted the difficulty of distinguishing between ononidis and the nominative form, and subsequently was formally synonymized by Günther & Schuster (1990). This annulatus -group may be easily separated from other Brachyceroea spp. by the head coloration, the long bristlelike setae on the head and pronotum, the notably long left paramere and the characteristic crest of the genital capsule.

Dicyphus annulatus was originally described from Europe ( Wolff 1804) and is currently known from Mediterranean northwestern Africa, southwestern and central Europe, reaching east to Poland, Ukraine, Turkey, Caucasus, and Israel ( Kerzhner & Josifov 1999; Aukema, Rieger & Rabitsch, 2013). Examination of available material allows us to conclude that previous records of this species from the Northern Caucasus ( Konstantinov & Zinovyeva 2017), and Crimea ( Kiritshenko 1951; Putshkov & Putshkov 1996) were based on misidentification and should be referred to D. albonasutus , and the same applies to examined specimens from Serbia. We also noted that the length of the apical process of the left paramere traditionally used as one of the main characters for species determination within annulatus -group (e.g., Wagner 1974: fig. 67) is somewhat variable and related to body length. Taxonomy of D. anulatus -group remains challenging and requires much broader analysis for accurate documentation of species distribution.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Dorsal habitus images of Dicyphus (Brachyceroea) spp. Dicyphus (B.) albonasutus Wagner, 1951, Dicyphus (B.) geniculatus (Fieber, 1858), Dicyphus (B.) digitalidis Josifov, 1958, Dicyphus (B.) globulifer (Fallén, 1829), and Dicyphus (B.) montandoni Reuter, 1888.

FIGURE 8. Images of genital capsule and aedeagus of Dicyphus and Nesidiocoris spp. Dicyphus (B.) albonasutus Wagner, 1951, Dicyphus (B.) geniculatus (Fieber, 1858), Dicyphus (B.) globulifer (Fallén, 1829), Dicyphus (B.) digitalidis Josifov, 1958, Dicyphus (B.) montandoni Reuter, 1888, Dicyphus (D.) epilobii Reuter, 1883, and Nesidiocoris tenuis (Reuter, 1895).

FIGURE 10. Images of parameres of Dicyphus (Brachyceroea) spp. Dicyphus (B.) albonasutus Wagner, 1951, Dicyphus (B.) geniculatus (Fieber, 1858), Dicyphus (B.) globulifer (Fallén, 1829), Dicyphus (B.) digitalidis Josifov, 1958, and Dicyphus (B.) montandoni Reuter, 1888.