Isometopus (Jehania) bongensis, Krüger, 2018

Krüger, Andreas, 2018, Vehicle-mounted net sampling of airborne micro-Heteroptera in western Liberia, West Africa: 1. Isometopinae (Miridae), Zootaxa 4378 (4), pp. 491-515 : 493-495

Isometopus (Jehania) bongensis sp. nov.

( Figure 3 )

Description. Male. Length 2.6 mm. Maximum width across hemelytra 1.3. Head width across vertex 0.6; dorsal length 0.16; facial length 0.52–0.54; facial width 0.5–0.52. Minimal frontal inter-ocular space 0.15. Dorsal width of eye 0.33; height 0.37. Height of gena 0.08. Ocellus width 0.04; inter-ocellar space including annuli 0.06. Maximum width of pronotum 1.05–1.09; median length 0.3–0.32. Scutellum length 0.62–0.64; width 0.6–0.65. Cuneus length 0.39, width 0.34. Rostrum reaching hind coxa. Antennae (figures 3C–D) II 0.47; III 0.39; IV 0.2.

Elongate oval (figure 3E). Head (figures 3 A –C) from above lunulate, in front somewhat triangular, 1.22–1.29x as broad as high. Vertex and area extending to base of frons dark brown, rugose and pubescent. Frons centrally, apically and on excavated area laterally below ventral margin of eye dark brown, distinctly punctate; remainder of frons, base of tylus, juga and posterior edge of head laterally yellow brown or whitish. Tylus at base confluent with frons. Eyes dark brown; bulging antero-dorsally. Ocellus dark reddish-brown, rather flat, ocellar annulus reddish; interocellar space 1.5x the width of each ocellus (without annuli). Gena 0.22x as high as eye. Antennal segment I basally brown, apically pale; II with about basal 2/3 pale, apically and third and fourth segments dark greyishbrown; II cylindrical, pubescent with semi-erect hairs shorter than segment is thick. Rostrum dark reddish-brown.

Pronotum shiny dark brown with lateral flanges light and translucent; disk densely and coarsely punctate and pubescent with pale reclining hairs; lateral margins slightly convex; posterior margin bisinuate. Mesoscutum concolorous shiny dark brown, punctate and pubescent. Scutellum (figure 3E) with or without whitish vittae located on apical 2/3 of the lateral margin, but apical quarter strongly contrasting white; slightly less punctate as in pronotum, but same pubescence. Hemelytra generally translucent-hyaline, sparsely and shallowly punctate, but distinctly pubescent. Clavus and corium infuscated with dark brown basally; embolium vein slightly infuscated as is corium punctation and hairs apically; cuneus with narrow brown vitta along inner and—less though—outer margins. Membrane hyaline. Venter, sterna and pleura generally dark reddish brown; propleura shiny with short pubescence, distinctly punctate; mesopleura rugose. Legs with coxae and femora dark reddish-brown, fore and mid femora with pale tips; all tibiae and tarsi yellowish.

Genitalia: parameres as illustrated (figure 3F). Everted endosoma of aedeagus (figure 3G) clearly spiculate at base and echinulated apically.

Female. Unknown.

Specimens examined. ♂ holotype, Liberia: Bong county, LRU—Menla, N06°48–56’ W10°21–15’, 30.iii 1989 (leg. Garms) . 1♂ paratype, Liberia, Bong county, LRU—Airfield, 31.v 1989 (leg. Garms) .

Etymology. The new species is named after the Liberian county of origin Bong.

Remarks. The new species shows affinities to I. wacriensis (Smith) ( Ghana) , with which it shares the distinctly punctate frons, a narrow interocellar space, rather low genae, and the uniformly dark pronotum with lighter lateral flanges. It differs in having translucent hemelytra, a shorter and paler antennal segment II with its hairs shorter then thickness of segment. When ignoring the punctate frons, there is also high similarity to I. albifrons (Slater & Schuh) ( Congo) , with which it shares whitish markings on frons and the translucent hemelytra.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Isometopus bongensis sp. nov. male. A—head, frontal view; B—head dorsad; C—head, thorax and antenna, laterad; D—antenna III+IV; E—habitus; F—parameres; G—aedeagus.Scales:A–D = 0.5 mm; E = 1 mm; F–G = 0.1 mm.