Lasiacantha pilbara, Cassis & Symonds, 2011

Cassis, Gerasimos & Symonds, Celia, 2011, Systematics, biogeography and host plant associations of the lace bug genus Lasiacantha Stål in Australia (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Tingidae) 2818, Zootaxa 2818 (1), pp. 1-63 : 41-42

Lasiacantha pilbara , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 3a , 5 )

Holotype. ♂, AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: Pilbara Dist., Rhodes Ridge Camp, 23.10137 ° S 119.3705 ° E, 694 m, 30 May 1999, G.Cassis, R.Silveira, ex Eremophila sp. (Myoporaceae) , det. Field ID (red flowers) (30332) ( WAM).

Paratypes. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: Pilbara Dist., Rhodes Ridge Camp, 23.10137 ° S 119.3705 ° E, 694 m, 30 May 1999, G.Cassis, R.Silveira, Eremophila sp. (Myoporaceae) , det. Field ID (red flowers), 2 f (17425, 17426) ( AM).

Diagnosis. Lasiacantha pilbara ( Fig. 5 ) is recognised by the following combination of characters: mostly stramineous pale brown colouration of dorsum, with small patches of orange brown to red brown; major setiferous tubercles on pronotum and hemelytra short, terminal seta at least half length of tuberculate base; costal area with setiferous tubercles not extending to posterior hemelytral margin; posterior angle of discoidal area with clump of setiferous tubercles; carinate margins of discoidal area without major setiferous tubercles; pronotum with woolly and hairlike setae; hemelytra with few woolly and mostly hairlike setae; woolly setae elongate, curly, creamy gold; hairlike setae elongate; abdominal venter with clavate, creamy, short, scalelike setae; cephalic spines moderately short, medial spine forked; collum columnar, subequal to medial carina; paranota three areolae wide; costal area mostly two areolae wide, occasionally three posteriorly; areolae in discoidal and subcostal areas smaller than in sutural area; sternal carinae parallel, all equal width.

Description. Medium size, macropterous ( Fig. 5 ); male 2.72, females 2.69–2.70. COLOURATION. Dorsum mottled, mostly stramineous pale brown, with small flecks of red brown. Head: dark brown, almost black; cephalic spines unicolourous, yellow brown; bucculae orange brown; labium orange brown, apex dark brown; antennae mostly yellow brown, AIV with distal club red brown and base as remainder. Pronotum: disc dark brown, almost black, diminishing posteriorly to red brown, then pale yellow brown; paranota mostly stramineous pale brown, with few small red brown patches; collum pale brown, sometimes slightly darkened at apex; carinae stramineous pale brown, medial carina with a darker red brown stripe medially. Thoracic pleura and sterna: red brown to dark brown almost black, supracoxal lobes slightly paler; sternal carinae pale yellow brown. Legs: mostly yellow brown, basal three quarters of femur slightly darker orange brown; tarsi red brown. Hemelytra: slightly mottled/patchy stramineous pale brown with darker orange to red browns; darker patches banded on costal area, at posterior angle of discoidal area, medially on carinate margins of discoidal area and medially in sutural area. Abdomen: variable from red brown to pale brown. VESTITURE. Head: dense distribution of elongate, curly, creamy gold, woolly setae; antennae with minor setiferous tubercles, pale colour, AI–AII with single row of setiferous tubercles with moderately elongate curved terminal seta, AIII setiferous tubercles with greatly elongate with straight terminal seta. Pronotum: paranota margins with short major setiferous tubercles, terminal seta at least half length of base; keel of collum and pronotal carinae without major setiferous tubercles; collum, paranota and pronotal carinae with elongate, hairlike setae; disc with dense distribution of elongate, curly, creamy gold, woolly setae, same setae as head. Thoracic pleura and sterna: pleura with dense distribution of elongate woolly setae as on dorsum, less dense and slightly shorter on supracoxal lobes; mesosternum with sparse distribution of short, clavate scalelike setae. Legs: minor setiferous tubercles, terminal seta pale colour, elongate, erect, bristlelike; slightly shorter and thickened at base of femora. Hemelytra: costal margins with major setiferous tubercles as on paranota, not extending to posterior margin of hemelytra; major setiferous tubercles on cubitus + R+M vein, clumped (aggregated) at anterior angle of discoidal area, absent from carinate margins of discoidal area; moderately dense distribution of hairlike setae, same as pronotum, on costal, subcostal and discoidal areas; discoidal area at wing base with few woolly setae; white microtrichae present across subcostal and costal areas at hemelytra base and just anterior to posterior angle of discoidal area. Abdomen: sparse distribution of short, clavate, creamy gold, scalelike setae. STRUCTURE. Head: spines moderately short; frontal spines parallel, slightly longer than AI; medial spine forked; occipital spines strongly curved outwards, extending just to outer margin of eye; labium moderate length, extending to metasternum; antennae, AI short and subequal length to AII, AIV with slightly expanded cylindrical base before clubbed apex. Pronotum: disc slightly convex; collum columnar, uniformly broad, vertically projected, sub-equal in height to medial carina; carinae moderately elevated, one areole wide, medial carina with extra one to three areolae medially; lateral carinae thickened; paranota rounded, narrow semi-circle, three areolae wide. Thoracic sterna: sternal carinae straight, metasternal carinae equal width to mesosternal carinae. Hemelytra: areolae variable, smaller in discoidal and subcostal areas than sutural and costal areas; costal area two areolae wide, sometimes three posteriorly; subcostal area two areolae wide; discoidal area three areolae wide; sutural area four areolae wide. Male genitalia: not examined. MEASUREMENTS. Ranges for 1 ♂ and 2 ♀ are given in Table 6.

Host plant. From an Eremophila sp. with red flowers; no host voucher collected.

Distribution. Known from one locality in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, the only Lasiacantha species recorded from this region ( Fig. 3a ).

Etymology. After the region of Australia, in which the type locality was collected.

Remarks. Lasiacantha pilbara is similar to the Western Australian species, L. nipha , but may be distinguished from it by having a much smaller, unicolourous collum; less dense distribution of microtrichae on dorsum; and less contrasting colouration on hemelytra.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Implied weights phylogeny for Australian Lasiacantha Stål, 1873, with nodes numbered (refer to Table 3 for character state changes at nodes), bootstrap values are given as branch supports, and biogeographic area and host plant mapped next to the species name. Map of areas of endemism, redrawn from Crisp et al. (1995). Abbreviations for biogeographic areas as follows: ED = Eastern Desert; EQ = Eastern Queensland; MM = Macleay-McPherson; P = Pilbara; SE = Southeast New South Wales; SW = Southwest Western Australia; TAS = Tasmania; and, WD = Western Desert.

FIGURE 3. Distribution map of Lasiacantha species. (a) Clade 3 spp. and (b) Clade 1 and 2 spp.

FIGURE 5. Photographs of Australian Lasiacantha species: L. aureolus sp. nov. (habitus and lateral), L. darwini sp. nov., L. dysmikos sp. nov., L. ephemera sp. nov, L. eremophila sp. nov, L. inaquosa sp. nov., L. luritja sp. nov., L. nipha sp. nov. and L. pilbara sp. nov.. Scale = 1mm. Plate 1 of 2.