Mesopsallus fagi Drapolyuk, 1990

Fig. 11A

Material examined

TURKEY – Artvin Province • 1 ♂; Borçka, Murgul; 5 Sep. 1971; F. Önder leg.; LEMT .

Comments

The genus Mesopsallus Wagner, 1970 was recently erected to genus level and re-diagnosed by Konstantinov (2023). Several species that previously were placed in three different genera were brought together in this genus by Konstantinov (2023) due to shared J-shaped vesica equipped with a large, round and distinctly sculptured secondary gonopore located almost at the apex of the vesica, and straight apical blade. The genus now contains following ten species: M. ambiguus (Fallén, 1807), M. tibialis (Reuter, 1894), M. fagi (Drapolyuk, 1990), M. holomelas (Reuter, 1906), M. samdzijonicus (Josifov, 1983), all previously in Psallus; M. amygdali (Wagner, 1960), M. mali (Meyer-Dür, 1843), M. rhodani (Fieber, 1861), all previously in Atractotomus; M. pici (Reuter, 1899) and M. validus (Reuter, 1901), both previously in Heterocapillus (Konstantinov 2023) . Mesopsallus tibialis is endemic of the Iberian Peninsula and distinguished from other species of Mesopsallus that were previously placed in Psallus, by unicolorous black hemelytra, including cuneus (Wagner 1975). Both M. ambiguus and M. fagi are variable in coloration, the latter is paler in coloration and has yellowish-brown to yellow-colored legs whereas the legs of the former are brown (Drapolyuk 1990; Wyniger 2004). More importantly, the apical process of vesica is longer and claw-like in M. ambiguus (see Rizzotti Vlach 2000: figs 1–6) but much shorter and hook-like in M. fagi (Fig. 11A). This species was described from Zakatala and Kuba districts of Azerbaijan and has never been recorded in the literature since its original description (Drapolyuk 1990). It lives on Fagus orientalis and feeds on psyllid larvae (Drapolyuk 1990).