Lasiacantha vittata, 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 : 45-46

Lasiacantha vittata , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 3b , 6 )

Holotype. ♂, AUSTRALIA: Queensland: Charters Towers , 20.07651 ° S 146.2614 ° E, 22 Nov 1967 – 30 Nov 1967, J. and M. Sedlacek (43022) ( BPBM).

Diagnosis. Lasiacantha vittata ( Fig. 6 ) is recognised by the following combination of characters: un-mottled dorsal colouration, mostly stramineous to golden brown, with distinctive dark brown band across costal and subcostal areas; major setiferous tubercles on pronotum and hemelytra short, terminal seta less than half length of tuberculate base; keel of collum and pronotal carinae with major setiferous tubercles; costal area with setiferous tubercles extending almost to posterior hemelytral margin; carinate margins of discoidal area with major setiferous tubercles, posterior angle without clump of setiferous tubercles; head with elongate scalelike setae; pronotum with hairlike setae only on all surfaces; hemelytra with hairlike setae, sparse, restricted to base of wing, costal and subcostal areas; hairlike setae moderately elongate, slightly thickened on pronotal disc; abdominal venter with pale, short, scalelike setae, shaped lanceolate; cephalic spines greatly elongate, medial spine straight; collum subtriangular, just smaller than medial carina; all carinae two areolae wide, mostly; paranota three areolae wide; costal area three areolae wide; subcostal area mostly one areole wide; areolae on paranota and costal area small and uniformly round shaped; areolae small over entire hemelytra; sternal carinae with metasternal carinae convex and more widely separated.

Description. Moderately large size, macropterous ( Fig. 6 ); male 3.4. COLOURATION. Overall pale brown, golden brown to stramineous brown, dorsum with distinctive dark brown banding across subcostal and costal areas Head: red brown; spines red brown; bucculae mostly orange brown, edge stramineous; labium orange brown, apex dark brown; antennae AI–AII red brown, AIII paler orange brown, AIV unknown. Pronotum: red brown, diminishing posteriorly orange brown and then stramineous brown; collum, paranota and pronotal carinae uniformly pale brown to stramineous. Thoracic pleura and sterna: red brown; sternal carinae stramineous. Legs: femora red brown; tibiae paler orange brown; tarsi red brown to dark brown. Hemelytra: mostly uniformly pale golden brown to stramineous; prominent dark brown band across costal and subcostal areas, at 1/3 distance from hemelytral base. Abdomen: red brown. VESTITURE. Head: dense distribution of elongate, straight, lanceolate, cream coloured, scalelike, setae, adpressed; setae absent in longitudinal rows between occipital and medial spines; antennae with minor setiferous tubercles, pale colour, AI–AII with double 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 less than half length of base; two setiferous tubercles either side of apex of collum on anterior pronotal margin; keel of collum and pronotal carinae with major setiferous tubercles; all pronotal surfaces (collum, paranota, carinae and disc) with dense distribution of moderately elongate, creamy gold, hairlike setae; disc with setae very slightly thickened. Thoracic pleura and sterna: pleura with dense distribution of elongate scalelike setae as on head; supracoxal lobes and mesosternum with dense distribution of short, creamy gold, scalelike setae, lanceolate. Legs: minor setiferous tubercles, terminal seta pale colour, elongate, erect, bristlelike; femora with thickened, truncate terminal setae. Hemelytra: costal margins with major setiferous tubercles as on paranota, extending almost to posterior margin of hemelytra; major setiferous tubercles on carinate margins of discoidal area and cubitus + R+M vein, not clumped at anterior angle of discoidal area; setae sparse, hairlike, restricted to a cluster at the wing base and sparse covering of the costal area and to a lesser extent subcostal area; white microtrichae absent. Abdomen: short, scalelike setae as on supracoxal lobes and mesosternum. STRUCTURE. Head: spines greatly elongate; frontal spines slightly curved inwards, longer than AI, projected forwards, straight; medial spine straight; occipital spines projected upwards and weakly curved backwards; labium moderate length, extending to anterior margin of metasternum; antennae, AI short and only slightly longer than AII, AIV unknown. Pronotum: moderately convex; collum sub-triangular, lower in height to medial carina; carinae highly elevated, two areolae wide, uniseriate posteriorly; lateral carinae not thickened; paranota linear semi-circular, three areolae wides, areolae small, uniformly round. Thoracic sterna: metasternal carinae concave, slightly wider than mesosternal carinae, both straight. Hemelytra: areolae small, uniformly round, subequal size over entire hemelytra; costal area three areolae wide, at least medially; subcostal area one areole wide, mostly; discoidal area four areolae wide; sutural area six areolae wide. Male genitalia: unknown. MEASUREMENTS. For 1 ♂ is given in Table 6.

Host plant. Unknown.

Distribution. The only specimen is known from one locality in semi-arid, northern Queensland, just east of the Great Dividing Range ( Fig. 3b ).

Etymology. After the Latin vittatus meaning decorated with a stripe, for the distinctive dark brown band on the hemelytra.

Remarks. Lasiacantha vittata is most closely related to the Queensland species, L. serraseta , but mostly differs in colour characters, including: cephalic spines unicolourous, entirely red brown; pronotal carinae not medially darkened, entirely light brown; discoidal and sutural areas of hemelytra not darkened, light brown, sutural area with only a very slight trace of dark brown. See also remarks on colouration for L. serraseta . Lasiacantha vittata also differs from L. serraseta in the lateral pronotal carinae being two areolae wide (only one areolae wide in L. serraseta ), the minor setiferous tubercles on AI and AII being moderately elongate (as opposed to short and clavate in L. serraseta ), and a greater number of setiferous tubercles adjacent to the apex of the collum on the anterior pronotal margin.

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 6. Photographs of Australian Lasiacantha species: L. graminicola sp. nov. (habitus and lateral), L. gingera sp. nov, L. kosciuszko sp. nov., L. leai sp. nov, L. windorah sp. nov., L. discordis sp. nov. (habitus and lateral), L. vittata sp. nov. and L. serraseta sp. nov.. Scale = 1mm. Plate 2 of 2.