Aphidura libanensis, Nieto Nafria, Juan M., Blackman, Roger L. & Martin, Jon H., 2014

Nieto Nafria, Juan M., Blackman, Roger L. & Martin, Jon H., 2014, Two more new species of Aphidura (Hemiptera, Aphididae), and a note on variation in Aphidura bozhkoae Narzikulov, ZooKeys 425, pp. 113-130 : 115-117

Taxon classification Animalia Hemiptera Aphididae

Aphidura libanensis sp. n.

Diagnosis.

Siphunculi tapering to apex or slightly swollen in a distal portion. Dorsum of metathorax to abdominal segment 6 with a discal plate (apterae). Mesosternal mammariform processes pale, flat and with spinules (apterae). Abdominal marginal tubercles usually present. Tarsal formula 3.3.3. (sometimes one tarsus with 4 setae)

Apterous viviparous female

from 5 specimens (Figs 1 A–E). Unknown colour in life, possibly shiny black with antennae, legs and siphunculi pale brown. In mounted specimens, antennae, mesosternal mammariform processes, legs, siphunculi, abdominal segment 8 sclerotized band, cauda and genital and anal plates are yellowish brown, with very proximal and distal portions of siphunculi, antennal segment VI and very apical portion of antennal segment V somewhat darker than aforementioned structures, all in contrast with head and dorsum of thorax and most part of abdomen, which are very dark brown. Frons undulated. Head with rugosity lines and spinules (both more abundant on dorsum). Antennal cuticle imbricated. Setae on body dorsum, antennae, and most of those on legs thick, with apices blunt or slightly capitate. Mesosternal mammariform processes pale, flat and with spinules. A discal plate present (from metathorax to abdominal segment 6); prothorax, mesothorax and abdominal segment 7 with wide transverse bands, which are darker than the discal plate, abdominal segment 8 with a band paler than the others. Marginal tubercles usually present on both sides of prothorax and several abdominal segments; they are small, but the abdominal ones are relatively tall. Siphunculi tapering to apex or slightly swollen in the distal quarter, spinulose imbrication, distinct preapical incision and flange. Cauda broadly triangular. Metric and meristic features in Table 1.

Types.

Holotype: apterous viviparous female, collected on Prunus prostrata Labill. ( Rosaceae ), Jabal el Barouk (Lebanon), 2-V-1973, Hille Ris Lambers leg.; paratypes: four apterous females collected at the same time as the holotype.

Etymology.

The specific name of the new species is an adjective that means inhabitant of Lebanon, in feminine.

Discussion.

D. Hille Ris Lambers thought that these Lebanese specimens were conspecific with others found on Prunus in Iran, which were being studied by him and G. Remaudière, and that they all belonged to an undescribed species, which was named in draft “nitens” ( Remaudière's epistolary archive). Certainly these Lebanese aphids do not belong to any previously described species, but they are also not conspecific with the Iranian ones, which we believe to be Aphidura bozhkoae (see next section).

Aphidura libanensis sp. n. resembles Iranian specimens of Aphidura bozhkoae and the East Asian species Aphidura mordvilkoi in the shape of the siphunculi and the extensive and solid discal plate, but there is an important difference in the number of first tarsal setae: four setae on each first tarsal segment in Aphidura bozhkoae and Aphidura mordvilkoi , and three in Aphidura libanensis . Aphidura libanensis and Aphidura mordvilkoi can also be distinguished from one another by the number of accessory setae on the ultimate rostral segment (6-9 in Aphidura libanensis , 2-4 in Aphidura mordvilkoi ) and the relative length of the processus terminalis (3.6-4.9 times base of antennal segment VI in Aphidura libanensis , 2.2-2.7 times in Aphidura mordvilkoi ). Aphidura libanensis and Aphidura bozhkoae are very similar in absolute and relative lengths of most body parts, the setae of Aphidura libanensis (Table 1) are all generally longer than those of Aphidura bozhkoae (Table 2).