Zanchius fragilis, 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 : 76

70. Zanchius fragilis , new species ( fig. 20 , a, b).

Elongate, entirely pale except for eyes and antenna! annulations. Sparsely clothed above with pale pubescence. Surface smooth, shining impunctate.

Head broader than long, 22: 15, the eyes prominent, suboval, less than half as wide as interocular space, 5: 12, located anteriorly on head, the postocular portion of head two thirds as long as an eye. Head strongly declivous in front of eyes, tylus moderately convex. Vertex with a broad, shallow depression on either side near eyes and a faint longitudinal impression between them at middle. Hind angles of head behind eyes broadly rounded, a brief, transverse, rounded carina just before hind margin. Rostrum surpassing hind coxae, proportion of segments one to four as 8: 10: 19: 14. Antennae longer than body to apex of membrane, 137: 120; the first segment thickest, second more slender, cylindrical, third and fourth most slender; proportion of segments 15: 55: 32: 35.

Pronotum as long on median line as head, almost twice as broad across humeri as long, 28: 15, the sides sinuate, roundly converging anteriorly, roundly diverging posteriorly to humeral angles. Front margin distinctly concave at middle, with a minute ledge or collar. Hind margin broadly concave in front of mesoscutum and slightly sinuate at middle. Disk elevated anteriorly, depressed a little behind middle and sublaterally on posterior lobe. Mesoscutum large, half as long as scutellum, the width at base of mesoscutum about equal to length of mesoscutum and scutellum together.

Hemelytra long and slender, the apices of cunei exceeding tip of abdomen. Costa! margins of coria 2.33 times as long as width of pronotum, subparallel, only feebly arcuate on basal half. Cuneus less than one third as long as corium, 20: 66. Membrane long and narrow, extending beyond apex of cuneus for a distance equal to one third the length of cuneus. Clavus, corium, and cuneus subhyaline, scarcely, sparsely, minutely punctured and with very scattered hairs except along costal margins.

Legs long and slender, the tibiae with very fine, long spines. Arolia distinct, flaplike and converging apically.

Right genital clasper of male short and broad, with a short, inward curved spine on upper edge and a slightly curved, slender, tapering apical arm as long as the basal portion of clasper, with acute apex. Left clasper relatively simple, curved. Appendages of aedeagus remarkably complex.

Color entirely pale, testaceous, the eyes pale brown, and with brown at apex of first antenna! segment, at basal fourth and slightly beyond middle of second segment, at apex of rostrum, and at apices of male genital processes. Hemelytra subhyaline, sometimes faintly tinged with green, the membrane faintly clouded, more distinctly so within the areole.

'Size: male, length 3.1 mm ,, width (hemelytra) 0.9 mm.; female, length 3.4 mm., width (hemelytra) 1 mm.

Holotype male, allotype female, and one teneral specimen, Machanao , June 4, on Macaranga, Usinger ; one paratype, Piti , April 30, Usinger ; two paratypes and one damaged specimen, Piti , July 30, on Ipomoea, Swezey ; two paratypes and one teneral specimen, Dededo , May 19, on Terminalia , Usinger ; one paratype, Guam, Fullaway (1431) and one specimen in poor condition, Barrigada, July 22, on Hibiscus, Swezey.

Poppius [Archiv fiir Naturgesch. 80A(8): 59, 1914] redescribed Distant's genus Zanchius (Fauna Brit. India, Rhynch. 2: 477, 1904), and placed it in the Macrolophinae (= Dicyphinae ), probably because the arolia "sind schmal, mit den Klauen verwachsen und etwas iiber die Mitte derselben sich erstreckend." Poppius also mentions the distinct apical stricture of the pronotum. The arolia are of course not visible in Distant's figure and are not mentioned in his description but there is certainly no trace of a collar in Distant's genus. As mentioned above, fragilis has a very small collar, visible only under highest magnification (108 diameters). The arolia are free and convergentapicallyasintypicalOrthotylinae. IreferthisspeciestoZanchiusbecause it agrees so perfectly with Distant's description and figure, differing only in the more slender body form and in the absence of a "cell-like process at apex of corium", though the costal margin widens near the apex. I have seen species of Zanchius from Samoa and Fiji.

Figures

FIGURE 20.-a, b, Zanchills fragilis: a, dorsal view; b, lateral view of last abdominal segment of male showing the right genital clasper broad basally and narrow and curved apically; c, Zanchius piperi: right genital clasper of male; d, Zanchius virescens: last abdominal segment of male showing the clasper short and simply lobelike.