Lasiacantha quilpie, 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 : 42-43

Lasiacantha quilpie , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 3a , 5 )

Holotype. ♂, AUSTRALIA: Queensland: 82.6 km NW of Quilpie, 26.3479 ° S 143.6454 ° E, 190 m, 03 Nov 1998, Schuh, Cassis, Silveira, ex Frankenia sp. (Frankeniaceae) , det. NSW Herbarium NSW 427347 (37402) ( QM).

Paratype. AUSTRALIA: Queensland: 82.6 km NW of Quilpie, 26.3479 ° S 143.6454 ° E, 190 m, 03 Nov 1998, Schuh, Cassis, Silveira, ex Frankenia sp. (Frankeniaceae) , det. NSW Herbarium NSW 427347, 1 f (37403) ( QM).

Diagnosis. Lasiacantha quilpie ( Fig. 5 ) is recognised by the following combination of characters: mostly dark brown dorsal colouration, mixed with stramineous pale brown patches; antennae with AI red brown, darker than AII–AIII; femur bicolourous, red brown, dark brown sub-distally; major setiferous tubercles on pronotum and hemelytra moderately elongate, terminal seta less than 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 without setiferous tubercles; pronotum with woolly and hairlike setae; hemelytra with only hairlike setae; woolly setae elongate, curly, silver or gold; hairlike setae elongate; abdominal venter with lanceolate to clavate, pale, short, scalelike setae; cephalic spines elongate, medial spine forked; occipital spines wit dorsal branch; collum columnar, much higher than medial carina; paranota three areolae wide; costal area two areolae wide; areolae large over entire hemelytra; sternal carinae parallel, all equal width.

Description. Medium size, macropterous ( Fig. 5 ); male 2.94, female 2.85.

COLOURATION. Overall dark brown with few stramineous to pale brown patches. Head: dark brown, almost black; cephalic spines bicoloured, red brown with dark brown apex; bucculae bicolourous, dark brown with pale brown edge; labium red brown, darker apically; antennae mixed, AI red brown, AII orange brown, AIII pale yellow brown, AIV base pale yellow brow, distal club dark brown. Pronotum: disc uniformly dark brown, almost black; paranota mottled dark brown and stramineous pale brown; collum dark brown; carinae pale brown, with medial carinae dark brown medially, lateral carinae sometimes also dark brown medially. Thoracic pleura and sterna: red brown to dark brown, supracoxal lobes paler; sternal carinae pale brown. Legs: femur red brown with dark brown patch sub-distally, tibiae pale yellow brown, tarsi dark brown; Hemelytra: mottled stramineous pale brown and dark brown; darker patches banded on costal area, at posterior angle of discoidal area, and medially across discoidal and subcostal areas. Abdomen: red brown. VESTITURE. Head: dense distribution of elongate, curly, silver or gold, woolly setae; absent in longitudinal rows between occipital and medial spines; antennae with minor setiferous tubercles, pale colour, AI–AII with single row of setiferous tubercles with moderately short curved terminal seta, AIII setiferous tubercles with greatly elongate with straight terminal seta. Pronotum: paranota margins with moderately elongate major setiferous tubercles, terminal seta less than half length of tuberculate base; keel of collum and pronotal carinae without setiferous tubercles; collum, paranota and pronotal carinae with greatly elongate, hairlike setae; disc with dense distribution of elongate, curly, silver or gold, woolly setae, slightly longer and more upright than on head. Thoracic pleura and sterna: pleura with dense distribution of elongate woolly setae as on dorsum, less dense and shorter, more scalelike on supracoxal lobes; mesosternum with sparse distribution of short scalelike setae. Legs: minor setiferous tubercles; tibiae with terminal setae pale colour, moderately elongate, erect, bristlelike; femora with terminal setae short, scalelike, thickened. 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; major setiferous tubercles absent from carinate margins of discoidal area; moderately dense distribution of hairlike setae, same as pronotum, on costal, subcostal and discoidal areas; white microtrichae present across subcostal and costal areas at hemelytra base and just anterior to posterior angle of discoidal area; white microtrichae present across subcostal and costal areas at hemelytra base and just anterior to posterior angle of discoidal area. Abdomen: moderately dense distribution of short, lanceolate to clavate, pale silvery, scalelike setae. STRUCTURE. Head: spines elongate; frontal spines parallel, longer than AI; medial spine forked; occipital spines strongly curved outwards, extending past outer margin of eye; occipital spines with dorsal branch; labium moderate length, extending to metasternum; antennae, AI short and subequal length to AII, AIV with slightly extended cylindrical base before clubbed apex. Pronotum: disc slightly convex; collum columnar, tapering slightly, vertically projected, higher than medial carina; carinae moderately elevated, one areole wide, medial carina with extra one to three areolae medially; lateral carinae thickened; paranota rounded, semi-circular, three areolae wide. Thoracic sterna: sternal carinae straight, metasternal carinae equal width to mesosternal carinae. Hemelytra: areolae large, subequal size over entire hemelytra; costal area two areolae wide; subcostal area two areolae wide; discoidal area three areolae wide; sutural area four areolae wide. Male genitalia: not examined. MEASUREMENTS. For 1 ♂ and 1 ♀ are given in Table 6.

Host plant. This species was collected from an undetermined Frankenia sp. However, it is only known from two specimens, and we regard this as a sitting record. It should be noted that Eremophila species were also sampled from the type locality, and although no specimens of L. quilpie were found on them, their sympatry with Frankenia at this site raises doubts about the authenticity of the host record.

Distribution. Known from one locality in semi-arid, southwestern Queensland ( Fig. 3a ).

Etymology. After the type locality.

Remarks. Lasiacantha quilpie is most closely related to L. eremophila , but differs as follows: AI and base of femur being dark red brown, only orange brown in L. eremophila and not significantly darker than AII and AIII and rest of leg; collum much larger; cephalic spines greatly elongate; medial spine forked basally (rather than medially); occipital spines with a small dorsal branch; areolae in hemelytra and paranota larger than those in L. eremophila ; and the costal area being only ever two areolae wide. This species is similar to L. eremophila by having rather dark dorsal colouration, thickened lateral carinae and patches of white microtrichiae on the hemelytra, which distinguish both from L. dysmikos . See also remarks for L. eremophila .

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.