Lasiacantha windorah, 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 : 46-47

Lasiacantha windorah , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 3b , 6 )

Holotype. ♂, AUSTRALIA: Queensland: 33 km E of Windorah , 25.51065 ° S 142.8839 ° E, 200 m, 03 Nov 1998, Schuh, Cassis, Silveira, ex sweeping (37405) ( QM).

Diagnosis. Lasiacantha windorah ( Fig. 6 ) is recognised by the following combination of characters: mostly uniform, pale colouration of dorsum, stramineous and orange brown, small red brown flecks; antennae unicolourous, orange brown; major setiferous tubercles on pronotum and hemelytra moderately elongate, terminal seta equal to length of tuberculate base; costal area with setiferous tubercles extending to posterior hemelytral margin; pronotal carinae and carinate margins of discoidal area with major setiferous tubercles; posterior angle of discoidal area without clump of setiferous tubercles; pronotum and hemelytra with woolly setae only; woolly setae moderately elongate, curly, creamy gold; abdominal venter with straight, pale, short, scalelike setae; cephalic spines short, medial spine straight; paranota two areolae wide, areolae large; costal area one areolae wide, areolae large, quadrate; areolae in subcostal, discoidal and sutural areas small; sternal carinae parallel, all equal width.

Description. Medium size, brachypterous ( Fig. 6 ); male 2.87. COLOURATION. Dorsum pale, mostly stramineous and orange brown with few flecks of darker red brown. Head: dark brown; cephalic spines pale brown; bucculae stramineous; labium base orange brown, mostly dark brown; antennae orange brown. Pronotum: disc red brown, diminishing posteriorly to stramineous; paranota stramineous, rarely with flecks of darker red brown; collum unknown; carinae stramineous, medial carina with a darker red brown stripe medially. Thoracic pleura and sterna: pleura red brown, supracoxal lobes slightly paler, margins stramineous; mesosternum dark brown; sternal carinae stramineous. Legs: mostly orange brown; tarsi red brown. Hemelytra: stramineous to orange brown; costal and discoidal areas sometimes with darker red brown flecks. Abdomen: red brown. VESTITURE. White microtrichiae present latero-ventrally on thorax and head. Head: dense distribution of moderately elongate, curly, creamy gold, woolly 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 moderately elongate major setiferous tubercles, terminal seta equal length to tuberculate base; keel of collum unknown and pronotal carinae also with major setiferous tubercles; disc with dense distribution of elongate, curly, creamy gold, woolly setae, same setae as head; collum unknown, paranota and pronotal carinae with also with woolly setae, sparsely distributed. Thoracic pleura and sterna: pleura with dense distribution of moderately elongate woolly setae as on dorsum, less dense and shorter on supracoxal lobes; mesosternum with sparse distribution of short scalelike setae. Legs: minor setiferous tubercles, terminal seta pale colour, elongate, erect, bristlelike; shorter and thickened on femora. Hemelytra: costal margins with major setiferous tubercles as on paranota, extending to posterior margin of hemelytra; major setiferous tubercles on carinate margins of discoidal area and cubitus + R+M vein, not clumped (aggregated) at anterior angle of discoidal area; moderately dense distribution of woolly setae, same as pronotum, on costal, subcostal and discoidal areas. Abdomen: moderately dense distribution of short, straight, pale, scalelike setae, as on mesosternum. STRUCTURE. Head: spines short; frontal spines parallel, shorter than AI; medial spine straight; occipital spines straight, not extending past outer margin of eye; labium elongate, extending to posterior margin of metasternum; antennae, AI short and only slightly longer than AII, AIV with compact base, before weakly clavate apex. Pronotum: disc flat; collum unknown; carinae moderately elevated, one areole wide; lateral carinae unthickened; paranota expanded, semi-circular, two areolae wide, areolae large. Thoracic sterna: sternal carinae straight, metasternal carinae equal width to mesosternal carinae. Hemelytra: areolae small, subequal size over entire hemelytra, excluding costal area; costal area one areolae wide, areolae large, quadrate; subcostal area three areolae wide; discoidal area four areolae wide; sutural area three areolae wide. Male genitalia: not examined. MEASUREMENTS. For 1 ♂ is given in Table 6.

Host plant. Unknown, but labelled ‘ex. sweeping’ which indicates it may be from grasses.

Distribution. The only specimen is from one locality in the desert region of southwestern Queensland ( Fig. 3b ).

Etymology. After type locality.

Remarks. The holotype is badly damaged. This species is similar to L. leai , but differs from it by having broader paranota, body size being very slightly larger, slightly paler dorsal colouration, short cephalic spines, shorter, woolly setae on dorsum (more elongate and hairlike on L. leai ), and metasternal carinae straight (convex in L. leai )

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.