Plagiognathus bipunctatus albicans ( Reuter, 1901 )

Çerçi, Barış, 2022, A new species of Plagiognathus (Heteroptera: Miridae) associated with the locally endemic Phlomis leucophracta (Lamiales: Lamiaceae) from Karaman, Turkey, European Journal of Taxonomy 806, pp. 148-160 : 154

Plagiognathus bipunctatus albicans ( Reuter, 1901)

Figs 4C , 5 ; Table 1

Psallus albicans Reuter, 1901: 186 [syn. by Kerhzner (1970) with Plagiognathus bipunctatus , resurrected as subspecies by Linnavuori (2010)].

Material examined

TURKEY • 4 ♂♂, 4 ♀♀; Karaman, Merkez, Elmaşehir ; 28 Jun. 2017; Ö. Koçak leg.; BCIT • 9 ♂♂, 15 ♀♀; same collection data as preceding; 1 Jul. 2017; BCIT • 5 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀; same collection data as preceding; 2 Aug. 2017; BCIT • 2 ♂ 2 ♀♀; Karaman, Kazımkarabekir, Hacıbaba ; 30 Jul. 2017; Ö. Koçak leg.; BCIT .

Remarks

Plagiognathus bipunctatus together with P. tamaninii Carapezza, 1998 , P. fusciloris Reuter, 1878 and P. albus Reuter, 1894 form a group of similar species ( Carapezza 1998). Among them, P. bipunctatus is characterized by the bigger ocular index, slightly bigger second antennal segment/width of head ratio in male and the straight process of the left paramere ( Wagner, 1975). It has two subspecies, nominotypical subspecies and P. b. albicans . Plagiognathus bipunctatus albicans was first described as Psallus albicans from Turkmenistan ( Reuter 1901). It is characterized by almost to completely pale yellow vestiture, pale yellow coloration of dorsum and absence of black spot at the base of each tibia. This taxon was synonymized with P. bipunctatus by Kerzhner (1970) without any comments. Later it was resurrected in the subspecies rank by Linnavuori (2010) based on pale specimens collected from different regions in Iran. The nominotypical subspecies differs from P. b. albicans by the black vestiture, whitish green coloration of body dorsum and the presence of a black spot at the base of at least the hind tibia (or on each tibia in var. picticornis ) ( Fig. 4D ). We examined a long series of specimens collected from different localities at different times in Karaman. The specimens perfectly fit the description of P. b. albicans with whitish yellow coloration, partly to totally pale yellow vestiture and lack of black spots at the base of tibial spines and the femoral-tibial junction. These records greatly enlarge the known distribution this subspecies to the West ( Fig. 5 ). Although Linnavuori (2010) mentions that he has not observed any intermediate specimens among the ones he examined, some of the specimens from Karaman have predominantly black vestiture which very closely resemble the nominotypical subspecies and differ from it by the lack of black spot at femoral-tibial junction of hind tibiae and presence of scarce pale setae.

Figures

Fig. 4. Plagiognathus spp. A. P. ozgurkocaki sp. nov., ♂, paratype (LEMT). B. P. marivanensis Linnavuori, 2010, ♂ (BCIT), Karaman. C. P. bipunctatus albicans (Reuter, 1901), ♂ (BCIT), Karaman. D. P. bipunctatus bipunctatus, ♂ (BCIT), İzmir. Scale bar = 1 mm.

Fig. 5. Distribution of Plagiognathus spp. Star: P. ozgurkocaki sp. nov.; circle: P. marivanensis Linnavuori, 2010; square: P. bipunctatus albicans (Reuter, 1901). Grey color indicates previous literature records, red color indicates new records presented in this paper.