Lasiacantha ephemera, 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 : 28-29

Lasiacantha ephemera , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 3a , 5 )

Holotype. ♂, AUSTRALIA: Northern Territory: 10.4 km N of Ross Hwy on Arltunga Claraville Rd, 23.53334 ° S 134.509 ° E, 640 m, 26 Oct 2001, Cassis, Schuh, Schwartz, Silveira, Wall, ex Enchylaena tomentosa R.Br. (Chenopodiaceae) , det. NSW Herbarium NSW 658351, (00193245) ( NTM).

Paratypes. AUSTRALIA: New South Wales: Girilambone, 31.23333 ° S 146.9 ° E, 27 Feb 1981, B. J. Loudon, 6 m (00202880–00202885), 6 f (202886–202891) ( NSWDA). Northern Territory: 1 km E Corroboree Rock, 23.38 ° S 134.16 ° E, 25 May 1978, J. C. Cardale, 2 f (33762, 33763) ( ANIC); ~ 44 km E of Stuart Hwy on Ernest Giles Rd, 24.56668 ° S 132.6815 ° E, 494 m, 30 Oct 2001, Cassis, Schuh, Schwartz, Silveira, Wall, ex Solanum ellipticum R.Br. (Solanaceae) , det. NSW Herbarium NSW 666249, 1 f (13669) ( AM).

Diagnosis. Lasiacantha ephemera ( Fig. 5 ) is recognised by the following combination of characters: mostly bright orange brown dorsal colouration, with weak darker red brown mottling; major setiferous tubercles on pronotum and hemelytra short, terminal seta less than half length of tuberculate base; costal area with setiferous tubercles not extending to posterior hemelytral margin; carinate margins of discoidal area without major setiferous tubercles, posterior angle with clump of setiferous tubercles; pronotum with woolly and hairlike setae; hemelytra with hairlike setae only; woolly setae elongate, curly, bright gold; hairlike setae elongate; abdominal venter with lanceolate to clavate, gold, short, scalelike setae; cephalic spines elongate, medial spine forked; collum columnar, tapering, much higher than medial carina; paranota three areolae wide; costal area three areolae wide, mostly posteriorly; areolae in discoidal and subcostal areas smaller than in sutural area; sternal carinae divergent, metasternal carinae more widely separated.

Description. Moderately large size, macropterous ( Fig. 5 ); males 3.32–3.58, females 3.25–3.78. COLOURA- TION. Dorsum mostly bright orange brown, with some darker red brown patches. Head: red brown to dark brown; cephalic spines orange brown, darker red brown apically; bucculae orange brown; labium orange brown, apex dark brown; antennae mostly orange brown, AI and AII slightly darker than AIII, AIV darker red brown. Pronotum: disc red brown to dark brown, paler orange brown posteriorly; collum orange brown, at least at base, sometimes dark brown above base; paranota and pronotal carinae orange brown, sometimes mottled with red brown, medial carina with a dark brown stripe medially. Thoracic pleura and sterna: dark brown to red brown, supracoxal lobes paler orange brown; sternal carinae pale yellow brown. Legs: mostly orange brown, femur slightly darker basally; tarsi dark brown. Hemelytra: predominantly orange brown, weak orange brown patches sometimes present. Abdomen: red brown. VESTITURE. Head: moderately dense distribution of elongate, bright 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 short major setiferous tubercles, terminal seta less than half length of tuberculate base; keel of collum and carinae without setiferous tubercles; collum, paranota and pronotal carinae with greatly elongate, hairlike setae; disc with dense distribution of elongate, bright gold, woolly setae, same setae as head. Thoracic pleura and sterna: pleura with dense distribution of elongate woolly setae as on dorsum; supracoxal lobes and mesosternum with short, golden, scalelike setae, lanceolate to clavate shape. Legs: dense distribution of minor setiferous tubercles; terminal seta pale, on femora short and thickened, on tibiae elongate and bristlelike. 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, more 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; white microtrichae absent. Abdomen: moderately dense distribution of short, lanceolate to clavate, gold, 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; labium moderate length, extending to anterior margin of metasternum; antennae, AI short and subequal to AII, AIV with compact base before clavate apex. Pronotum: disc slightly convex; collum columnar, tapering, vertically projected, much higher than medial carina; carinae moderately elevated, one areole wide, medial carina with extra one to three areolae medially; lateral carinae slightly thickened; paranota rounded semi-circular, three, rarely four, areolae wide. Thoracic sterna: sternal carinae straight, metasternal carinae wider than mesosternal carinae. Hemelytra: areolae smaller in subcostal and discoidal areas than in sutural and costal areas; costal area three areolae wide, mostly posteriorly; subcostal area two areolae wide; discoidal and sutural areas four areolae wide. Male genitalia: not examined. MEASUREMENTS. Ranges for 4 ♂ and 5 ♀ are given in Table 6.

Host plant. Taken on Solanum ellipticum and Enchylaena tomentosa , both from single specimens. These are likely to be sitting records.

Distribution. Lasiacantha ephemera is a desert species known from three localities in central Australia close to Alice Springs, and one locality in arid, northwestern NSW ( Fig. 3a ). Lasiacantha ephemera has been collected with L. inaquosa at the type locality, and with Inoma arrernte Cassis and Symonds at the other known locality for this species, in the Northern Territory (also on the same host plant).

Etymology. After the ephemeral nature of the creeks and rivers that run through the MacDonnell Ranges around Alice Springs in arid Central Australia. The word ephemeral is from the Greek ephemeros, literally meaning lasting only one day.

Remarks. This species is the largest in body size of all the Clade 3 species and is one of only two species in this group (along with L. luritja ) where the metasternal carinae are wider than mesosternal carinae. This species is most similar in appearance to L. aureolus with bright golden woolly setae, large paranota and mostly orange brown colouration. However, this species may be distinguished from L. aureolus as follows: slightly larger body size, the medial carina is much higher than collum, and the collum is much larger. Also see remarks for L. aureolus .

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.