Lasiacantha eremophila, 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 : 29-31

Lasiacantha eremophila , sp. nov.

( Figs 1 , 3a , 5 , 13a )

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 (30330) ( WAM).

Paratypes. AUSTRALIA: Northern Territory: 51.6 km W of Stuart Hwy on Mount Denison-Coniston Rd, 22.31 ° S 132.8951 ° E, 722 m, 24 Oct 2001, Cassis, Schuh, Schwartz, Silveira, Wall, ex Hakea leucoptera R.Br. (Proteaceae) , det. NSW Herbarium NSW 658331, 1 f (17414) ( AM). 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, 2 m (17405, 17406), 5 f (17408–17412) ( AM); 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 m (13666), 1 f (13667) ( AM).

Other material examined. 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, 1 Larva (17413) ( AM).

Diagnosis. Lasiacantha eremophila ( Fig. 5 ) is recognised by the following combination of characters: mostly dark brown dorsal colouration with some paler mottling, stramineous to orange brown to red brown; pronotal carinae dark brown or only dark brown medially with remainder stramineous; 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, absent from carinate discoidal margins; pronotum with woolly and hairlike setae; hemelytra with hairlike setae; woolly setae elongate, curly, silver or creamy gold; hairlike setae elongate; abdominal venter with pale, short, slightly thickened scalelike setae; cephalic spines moderately elongate, medial spine forked; occipital spines weakly outcurved, not extending past outer margin of eye; collum columnar, higher than medial carina; paranota three areolae wide; costal area mostly two areolae wide, occasionally three posteriorly; areolae large over entire hemelytra; sternal carinae parallel, all same width.

Description. Medium size, macropterous ( Fig. 5 ); males 2.67–2.86, females 2.72–2.85. COLOURATION. Variable from overall dark brown to dark brown with some orange brown mottled patches. Head: dark brown, almost black; cephalic spines bicoloured, basally paler orange brown, apically darker red brown; bucculae bicoloured, edge paler orange yellow brown, base darker red brown or dark brown; labium orange brown, apex dark brown; antennae, AI dark orange brown, AII–AIII orange brown, AIV dark brown. Pronotum: disc uniformly dark brown, almost black; collum dark brown; paranota mostly dark brown, sometimes with orange brown mottling; pronotal carinae variable, usually stramineous and medially dark brown, or unicolourous as either. Thoracic pleura and sterna: variable from red brown to dark brown almost black, supracoxal lobes usually paler yellow brown; sternal carinae yellow brown. Legs: orange brown, basal two thirds of femora slightly darker; tarsi dark brown. Hemelytra: mostly dark brown, sometimes with paler orange brown to stramineous patches anterior and posterior on discoidal area across to subcostal area, and red brown or orange brown bands on costal area. Abdomen: pale brown to red brown. VESTITURE. Head: dense distribution of elongate, curly, silver or creamy gold, woolly setae; 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: paranota margins with moderately elongate major setiferous tubercles, terminal seta less than half length of tuberculate base; keel of collum and pronotal carinae without major setiferous tubercles; collum, paranota and pronotal carinae with elongate, hairlike setae; disc with dense distribution of elongate, curly, silver or creamy gold, woolly setae, same setae as head. Thoracic pleura and sterna: pleura with dense distribution of elongate woolly setae as on dorsum, shorter and scalelike 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, not extending to posterior margin of hemelytra; major setiferous tubercles present only on cubitus + R+M vein, and 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 present across subcostal and costal areas at hemelytra base and just anterior to posterior angle of discoidal area. Abdomen: moderately dense distribution of short, silvery, slightly thickened, scalelike setae. STRUCTURE. Head: spines moderately elongate; frontal spines parallel, longer than AI; medial spine forked; occipital spines weakly curved outwards, not extending past outer margin of eye; labium moderate length, extending to anterior margin of metasternum; antennae, AI short and subequal length to AII, AIV with compact base before clavate apex. Pronotum: disc slightly convex; collum columnar, tapering, vertically projected, higher 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, all equal width. Hemelytra: areolae large, subequal size over entire hemelytra; costal area two areolae wide, occasionally three posteriorly; subcostal area two areolae wide; discoidal area three areolae wide; sutural area four areolae wide. Male genitalia: pygophore subquadrate; narrowing posteriorly; rounded and slightly flattened posterior margin; dorsal opening strongly concave, rounded; parameres with sensory lobe rounded, weakly expanded ( Fig. 13a ); distal ushaped endosomal sclerite with shallow cleft, basal branches elongate. MEASUREMENTS. Ranges for 4 ♂ and 5 ♀ are given in Table 6.

Host plant. Eremophila clavata , at two localities and one sitting record on Hakea leucoptera .

Distribution. This species is known from both the Northern Territory and Western Australia ( Fig. 3a ). The localities in Western Australia straddle the southwest and desert areas of endemism, and in the northern territory L. eremophila is found in Central Australia, east and west of Alice Springs. In Western Australia this species was found co-occurring with L. discordis and L. dysmikos .

Etymology. After the host plant genus on which this species and the majority of Australian Lasiacantha species are found to inhabit.

Remarks. This species is very similar to L. inaquosa but is differentiated from it by the following characters: pronotal disc uniformly coloured (lighter posteriorly in L. inaquosa ); collum is generally more tapered (uniformly broad in L. inaquosa ); colour of collum is mostly dark brown (whereas in L. inaquosa the collum is often just dark brown at apex, or uniformly orange brown); hairlike setae on the pronotum is generally more elongate, and extends to hemelytra ( L. inaquosa with woolly setae only on hemelytra); cephalic spines not as elongate and medial cephalic spine forked medially ( L. inaquosa forked basally); areolae in hemelytra all subequal (smaller in discoidal and subcostal areas for L. inaquosa ); scalelike setae on abdominal venter longer; and, the lack of setiferous tubercles on the carinate margins of discoidal area.

Lasiacantha eremophila is very similar to L. dysmikos and L. quilpie , by the vestiture, dorsal and ventral, a unicolourous pronotal disc, uniformly large size of areolae of hemelytra, and the uniformly dark brown collum. However, L. eremophila may be differentiated from L. dysmikos and L. quilpie by the costal area occasionally with three areolae posteriorly, which is only ever two areolae wide in L. dysmikos and L. quilpie . Also see remarks for L. dysmikos and L. quilpie for further differential diagnoses.

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.

FIGURE 13. Male paramere, dorsal, of seven Australian Lasiacantha species, from the three species groups: (a) L. eremophila; (b) L. aureolus; (c) L. luritja; (d) L. serraseta; (e) L. discordis; (f) L. graminicola. Abbreviations: Ap, apophysis; SL, sensory lobe. Scale = 0.1mm.