Elasmognathus laosensis, Guilbert, Eric, 2007

Guilbert, Eric, 2007, Tingidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) from Laos: new species and new records, Zootaxa 1442, pp. 1-18 : 3

Elasmognathus laosensis sp. n.

(figs. 2, 3, 4)

Material examined: 1 ɗ, 1 fifth instar, Laos, Vientiane, light trap, 24.VI.1960, S. Quate & L. Quate coll., Bishop.

Adult description: body rather stout, shiny, uniformly clear brown to yellowish, paranota darker, fourth antennal segment and hind tarsi dark brown, body beneath yellowish to whitish. Legs with white spinous process at base of femora. Body length, 4.37; width, 1.60.

Head short, armed with five long slender spines, directed forwards; antenniferous processes spiny, bucculae long, wide, closed in front; antennae long, slender, antennal segment measurements: I, 0.20; II, 0.17; III, 1.5; IV, 0.43; rostral sulcus widened, open posteriorly; rostrum reaching middle of mesosterum.

Pronotum long, tricarinate, median carina raised, uniseriate, lateral carinae six areolae wide, raised, curved inwards, divergent on top of pronotum to form a heart, almost completely concealed by paranota; hood raised, tectiform, eight areolae long, produced forwards above head, less high than top of median carina; paranota well developed, raised, forming two auricles above pronotum, concealing all lateral carinae except posterior extremity, and following their form, but not covering median carina, inner margin curved inwards on margin of lateral carinae.

Hemelytra slightly widened medially, slightly wider than pronotum; costal area bent upwards, irregularly biseriate, posteriorly uniseriate, areolae large; subcostal area uniseriate, with some small additional areolae along; discoidal area more than half length of hemelytra, seven areolae wide at widest part; sutural area narrow, five areolae wide at widest part.

Fifth instar description: Body shiny, clear brown, except body beneath, head, calli, dorsal scent glands area darker, dorsum covered with tiny bulbous processes. Body length, 2.83; width, 1.67; spine maximal length, 0.47.

Head armed with five long, spiny, erect tubercles; antenniferous processes long, spiny; antennal segment measurements: I, 0.17; II, 0.13; III, 0.97; IV, 0.43.

Pronotum wide, anterolateral margins regularly rounded, armed with five long spiny tubercules regularly spaced; posterior margin without tubercles; median pair of two spiny tubercles near anterior margin, tubercles shorter than marginal ones.

Mesonotum with median pair of short and spiny tubercles near posterior margin; hemelytral pads armed with short basal spiny tubercles and four long, spiny, erect tubercles regularly spaced.

Metanotum with median pair of short and spiny tubercles near posterior margin.

Fourth to ninth abdominal terga armed with a long, spiny and erect tubercle on each side of posterolateral margin; first abdominal tergum with median pair of short, spiny tubercles; second, fifth, sixth terga each with median long spiny tubercle; eighth tegum with median tubercle reduced to bulbous protuberance.

Etymology: The name refers to the country from where is described this species.

Comments: This species is close to E. helferi Fieber but has a discoidal area seven areolae wide, not nine, and a costal area irregularly biseriate, not triseriate. The paranota have the same shape, and the median carina is higher. It is also close to E. auriculatus Péricart in having the costal area irregularly biseriate, but it has different paranota. The spinous process at the base of the femora is sharper in E. auriculata and this species than in E. fieberi Stål and E. helferi . The genus Elasmognathus includes three species, one inhabiting South Africa, the others inhabiting the Oriental region. This is the first immature of the genus described.