Lasiacantha dysmikos, 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 : 27-28

Lasiacantha dysmikos , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 3a , 5 )

Holotype. ♂, AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 43 km N of Norseman, 31.85648 ° S 121.6414 ° E, 300 m, 19 Nov 1999, RT Schuh, G Cassis and R Silveira, ex Eremophila clavata Chinnock (Myoporaceae) , det. WA Herbarium PERTH 05670454, (30329) ( WAM).

Paratype. AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 49 km S of Kambalda Road Jct. on Coolgardie-Esperance Hwy, 31.7171 ° S 121.6906 ° E, 300 m, 19 Nov 1999, RT Schuh, G Cassis and R Silveira, ex Eremophila clavata Chinnock (Myoporaceae) , det. WA Herbarium PERTH 05670454, 1 f (13668) ( AM).

Diagnosis. Lasiacantha dysmikos ( Fig. 5 ) is recognised by the following combination of characters: dorsum mottled, stramineous to medium brown colouration; pronotal disc pale brown; major setiferous tubercles on pronotum and hemelytra moderately elongate, terminal seta less than half length of tuberculate base; carinate margin of discoidal area without setiferous tubercles, posterior angle with clump of setiferous tubercles; pronotum with woolly and hairlike setae; hemelytra with hairlike setae only; woolly setae elongate, mostly curly, creamy gold; hairlike setae elongate; abdominal venter with lanceolate, creamy gold, short, scalelike setae; cephalic spines moderately elongate, medial spine forked; collum columnar, tapering, higher than medial carina; lateral carinae not thickened; 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 2.76, female 2.57. COLOURATION. Dorsum stramineous, yellow brown, with some darker medium brown markings. Head: red brown; cephalic spines stramineous, apices darker; bucculae stramineous; Antennae: mostly yellow brown, AII slightly paler than AI–AII; AIV dark brown. Labium: medium brown, distal ½ dark brown. Pronotum: disc pale brown, unicolourous; paranota mottled, stramineous and brown; collum brown; carinae stramineous, medial carina with a brown stripe medially. Thoracic pleura and sterna: medium brown, supracoxal lobes and sternal carinae stramineous. Legs: mostly yellow brown, tarsi dark brown. Hemelytra: mostly mottled stramineous; discoidal area yellow brown with medium to dark brown patches banded medially on posterior angle. Abdominal venter: yellow brown, darker medium brown laterally. VESTITURE. Head: elongate, curly, creamy gold, woolly setae; woolly setae adpressed, absent in longitudinal rows between medial and occipital spines and posterior to frontal spines. 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: paranotal margins with moderately elongate major setiferous tubercles, terminal seta less than ½ length of tuberculate base; keel of collum and pronotal carinae without setiferous tubercles; collum, paranota and carinae with greatly elongate hairlike setae; disc with dense distribution of elongate, creamy gold, erect, woolly setae. Thoracic pleura and sterna: pleura with dense distribution of curly, elongate, woolly setae, as on dorsum, less dense and slightly shorter on supracoxal lobes; mesosternum with setae as on supracoxal lobes. Legs: minor setiferous tubercles, terminal seta pale colour, elongate, erect, bristlelike; slightly shorter and thickened on femora. Hemelytra: costal margins with setiferous tubercles as on paranota, sometimes extending with reduced size to posterior margin of hemelytra; major setiferous tubercles clumped at anterior angle of discoidal area and on cubital and R+M veins, absent from carinate margins of discoidal area; moderately dense distribution of hairlike setae, same as pronotum, on costal, subcostal and discoidal areas; white microtrichae absent. Abdominal venter: moderately dense distribution of short, creamy gold, lanceolate scalelike setae. STRUCTURE. Head: spines moderately elongate; frontal spines parallel, longer than AI; medial spine forked; occipital spines moderately curved outwards, extending just to, or not far beyond outer margin of eye; labium moderately elongate, extending to metasternum; antennae, AI short and subequal length to AII, AIV with slightly extended base, before clubbed apex. Pronotum: disc slightly convex; collum cone-shaped, tapering, vertically projected, higher than medial carina; carinae moderately elevated, one areole wide, medial carina extra one to three areolae medially; lateral carinae not thickened; paranota rounded, semi-circular, three areolae wide. Thoracic sterna: sternal carinae straight, metasternal carinae equal width to mesosternal carinae. Hemelytra: areolae large, sub-equal 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. MEASURE- MENTS. For 1 ♂ and 1 ♀ are given in Table 6.

Host plant. From Eremophila clavata at both know localities.

Distribution. Known from two localities on the eastern edge of the southwest Western Australia botanical province ( Fig. 3a ). It was collected at both localities with the closely related species L. eremophila , also on Eremophila clavata , and also found co-occurring with L. discordis at one of these localities, but which inhabits a different Eremophila species.

Etymology. In reference to the distribution restricted to Western Australia, meaning west in Greek.

Remarks. This species is most closely related to L. eremophila and both species have been collected at the same localities. However, L. dysmikos may be differentiated most easily by the lack of white microtrichiae on the discoidal area, thin lateral pronotal carinae, and overall paler colouration. This species differs from both L. eremophila and L. quilpie by a lack of woolly setae on the head, posterior to the frontal spines.

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.