Empicoris minutus, Usinger, 1946

Usinger, Robert L., 1946, Hemiptera Heteroptera of Guam, Insects of Guam II, Honolulu, Hawaii: Bernice P. Bishop Museum, Bulletin 189, pp. 11-103 : 45-46

39. Empicoris minutus , new species.

Head as long as broad, the antenniferous tubercles prominently elevated anteriorly; hind lobe broadly rounded behind, longitudinally impressed along middle. Surface of head minutely pubescent, the hairs appressed to the surface. Antennae nearly half again as long as body, 207: 142; proportion of segments one to four as 82: 82: 30: 13; not swollen near apices of segments. Rostral segments as 8: 5: 7, glabrous, the middle segment moderately enlarged.

Pronotum about as long on median line as head and equally broad across humeri; only moderately constricted, the disk with a fine appressed pubescence interrupted by glabrous areas on anterior lobe. Lateral carinae distinct on anterior half of hind lobe, decreasing in height toward the middle of hind lobe. Hind margin trisinuate, the edge concave and a little elevated at middle, depressed on either side of this. Mesonotum with a well-developed spine projecting at about a 45-degree angle to the longitudinal body axis, usually straight and appearing to be minutely, finely granular-pubescent throughout. Metanotum with an equally prominent, more pubescent spine. Spine of first abdominal tergite prominent, erect, bent slightly backward and slightly globose at apex.

Hemelytra essentially as in rubromaculat1,s (Blackburn), scarcely more than 4 times as long as greatest width and distinctly exceeding tip of abdomen.

Male genital capsule produced posteriorly into two tapering, subapically outwardly bent arms, the distance between apices of these arms three fourths as great as the depth of the emargination thus formed. Claspers large, rounded at apices, as broad as distance across posterior genital arms.

Legs very long, the hind ferriora exceeding tip of abdomen by more than one third their length. Middle and hind legs not swollen except at bases of hind femora. Here at basal eighth, each femur is half again as thick as at middle.

Color brown with ochraceous ill-defined longitudinal carinae on disk of hind lobe of pronotum, pale hind margin of pronotum, white lateral carinae of pronotum, infuscated mesonotal spine, white metanotal spine and dark glabrous spine on first abdominal tergite. Hemelytra predominantly brown, broken up by a network of irregular pale lines, the stigma pale with two brown spots near the middle, the apex usually tinged with reddish or orange. Under surface brown, with very short, pale pubescence, white spiracles, pale genital capsule including arms, and dark brown claspers. Appendages white annulated with brown. Rostrum with 5 brown annulations. First antenna! segment with 11 annulations, the first one at extreme base and the last the longest, subapical; second segment with 10; third with 3; fourth with 2. Front coxae with an ill-defined brown spot at basal third, the apical third almost entirely brown. Front femora brown except for two pale rings just beyond middle and narrowly pale apex. Front tibiae pale at extreme base and just before and just beyond middle. Middle femora with 9 short brown annulations, the tibiae with 14 or 15, those near the apex being indistinct. Hind femora with 14, the one nearest apex about as long as apical pale area. Tibiae with 13 or 14 annulations.

Size: length 3.6 to 3.8 mm.

Holotype male, Inarajan, May 7, Swezey; allotype female, Machanao, June 4, Usinger ; three paratypes, same data as allotype, collected on dead leaves of a fallen tree; one paratype, Machanao, June 30, Usinger ; one paratype, Tumon Beach, May 30, in dead Barringtonia leaves curled by caterpillars, Swezey; one specimen, Piti, Sept. 26, on mango, Swezey.

Three specimens from Hawaii apparently belong here although they have not been included in the paratype series because of possible differences due to insular isolation. One of the Hawaiian examples was collected by Timberlake at Naalehu, Hawaii, August 19, 1919, on ferns, another is from Pupukea, Oahu, Jan. 23, 1929, E. H. Bryan, Jr., and a third, damaged, specimen is from Kewalo, Dec. 8, 1908.

Typical rubromaculatus, which I have collected from the slopes of Mauna Lba, is much larger, 5 to 5.5 mm., with the first antenna! segment usually slightly longer than second, mesonotal spine white and usually bent downward parallel with the longitudinal axis of the body. Thehind femoraare only feebly thickened basally and the annulation nearest the apex is distinctly longer than apical pale area. The arms of the male genital capsule are most distinctive, being shorter and more strongly divergent posteriorly, the distance across apices being greater than the depth of the emargination thus formed.