Reuteria atalayi, Bariş & Serdar & İnanç, 2020

Bariş, Çerçi, Serdar, Tezcan & İnanç, Özgen, 2020, Review of Reuteria Puton, 1875 (Heteroptera: Miridae) species present in Lodos Entomological Museum, Turkey (LEMT), Zootaxa 4878 (1), pp. 159-168 : 165-166

Reuteria atalayi sp. n.

( Fig. 4 )

Type Material: HOLOTYPE: Bursa: Doğanköy , 24. VII. 1977, 1 male (light trap) ( LEMT) ; ALLOTYPE: İzmir: Ödemiş , 16. VIII. 1984, 1 female (on Castanea sp.) ( LEMT) ; PARATYPES: Bursa: Doğanköy , 24. VII. 1977, 1 female (light trap) ( LEMT) ; İzmir: Ödemiş , 16. VIII. 1984, 1 male (on Castanea sp.) ( LEMT) .

Differential diagnosis: Combination of following characters differentiates this species from its congeners; background coloration whitish, with green maculation, clypeus protruding, first antennal segment with two black longitudinal stripes on opposite surfaces, second antennal segment with dark ring basally, pronotum small and 2.5 × as wide as long, posterior margin 2.5 × as wide as anterior one, left paramere with two lateral processes and apical process bent outwards, right paramere with very long lateral process which ends in pronounced hook, vesica with four sclerotized processes as in Fig. 4 E–L.

Description of male:

Coloration: Ground coloration whitish, with green maculation. Head pale, immaculate. First antennal segment pale yellow with two black longitudinal stripes on opposite surfaces, apically with narrow pale ring, second antennal segment with narrow pale ring at very base and black ring adjacent, rest of antennae immaculate. Pronotum pale yellow and immaculate in dry specimens. Scutellum whitish, immaculate. Hemelytra whitish with green staining, membrane pale brown, darker colored patch in middle area between tip of membrane and cuneus, narrow black stripe along distal external margin of membranal cells. Femora yellow with more or less distinct dark green longitudinal stripe along distal half of dorsal surface, tibiae with dark point at femoral joint and dark green longitudinal stripe in basal third.

Vestiture: General vestiture short, semi-erect pale setae. Head, pronotum, scutellum and hemelytra covered with sparse short, semi-erect and pale setae. Antennae covered with very short, adpressed pale setae. Tibial spines pale.

Structure: Length 3.7–4.0 mm, body elongate, 4.5 × as long as width posterior margin of pronotum. Head less transverse, 1.5 × as wide as long and 1.7 × as wide as width anterior margin of pronotum, clypeus protruding, ocular index 1.8. First antennal segment 0.5 × as long as diatone, second antennal segment 3.8 × as long as first one and 1.5 × as long as width posterior margin of pronotum, ratios of antennal segments 13: 50 (last two segments missing). Pronotum small and trapezoid, 2.5 × as wide as long, posterior margin 2.5 × as wide as anterior one. Hemelytra parallel sided, greatly exceeding length abdomen. Genital opening simple, body of right paramere L-shaped, with apical rounded process bent outwards and bears numerous small denticules, short and thick sub-basal lateral process rounded apically and bears small denticules and another short and thick middle lateral process which bears a few denticules apically and a large preapical spine directed basad. Left paramere with two apical processes and very long lateral process which gets narrower at middle and ends in hook. Vesica very complicated, consists of four processes with many branches as in Fig. 4 E–L.

Female: Length 3.5–3.8 mm, very similar to male in coloration, vestiture and structure but body slightly less elongated, 4.2 × as long as width posterior margin of pronotum, ocular index larger, 2.5. Ratios of antennal segments 13: 50: 28 (last segment missing).

Host plant: Specimens from Ödemiş, İzmir were collected from Castanea sp.

Etymology: The name of this species is dedicated to Dr. Ruşen Atalay (1947-1994) who was one of the greatest Turkish entomologists and worked a lot to advance the science of entomology in Turkey and contributed greatly to the knowledge of Heteroptera fauna of Turkey and insect physiology.

Comments: This new species differs from R. riegeri , R. serratis sp. n. and R. jordanica by its dominant whitish background coloration, two black longitudinal stripes on the first antennal segment, transparent membranal cells and more complicated paramere structure. R. atalayi sp. n. differs from all other species of Reuteria with whitish background coloration, two black longitudinal stripes on the first antennal segment and transparent membranal cells (including R. winkelmanni ) by the unique shape of parameres ( Fig. 4 B–D) and unique vesical processes ( Fig. 4 E–L). It most possibly feeds on Castanea sp. Reuteria irrorata ( Say 1832) in North America and R. castaneae in North Korea are known to feed on Castanea sp. but they are geographically very remote from this new species and have totally different genital structures ( Henry 1976; Josifov, 1987). The specimens collected from Bursa were erroneously identified as R. marqueti by Önder et al. (1981).

Reuteria marqueti Puton 1875

Previous records from Turkey: Asia minor ( Wagner & Weber 1964); Bursa ( Önder et al. 1981); Erzurum ( Yıldırım et al. 1999; Yazıcı 2017); Antalya, Mersin ( Lodos et al. 2003).

Comments: Reuteria marqueti is known from most European countries. Although it occurs in western neighbors of Turkey, it is not known from any other Asian country ( Kerzhner & Josifov, 1999; Aukema et al., 2013). As we mentioned above, previous records of R. marqueti from Antalya, Bursa and Mersin were based on specimens belonging to species yet undescribed at the time of recording. Specimens from Bursa proved to belong to R. atalayi sp. n. and specimens from Antalya and Mersin to R. winkelmanni . We could not examine the specimens reported from Turkey as R. marqueti by Wagner & Weber (1964), Yıldırım et al. (1999) and Yazıcı (2017) but it is likely that they too belong to one of the four Reuteria species dealt with in this paper or to other undescribed Reuteria species. Therefore, we consider the presence of Reuteria marqueti in Turkey as doubtful and encourage the specialists who have access to the material cited by Wagner & Weber (1964), Yıldırım et al. (1999) and Yazıcı (2017), to reexamine their specific identity.

Figures

FIG. 4A–L. Reuteria atalayi sp. n. A—Habitus of female (Scale bar = 1 mm), B—Left paramere, C, D—Right paramere from different perspectives, E–H—vesica, from different perspectives, I–L, idem, outline of vesical processes (Scale bars = 0,1 mm) (Numbers in the figures from E to L mark the distinct vesical processes, letters mark the branches of a process, e.g. 2c indicates the third branch of second vesical process).