Waucoris tricolor Chérot & Malipatil, 2016

Chérot, F. & Malipatil, M. B., 2016, A review of Adelphocoris - Creontiades - Megacoelum complex (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Mirini), with descriptions of two new genera and four new species, Zootaxa 4126 (2), pp. 151-206 : 193-194

20.3. Waucoris tricolor Chérot & Malipatil n. sp.

( Figures 73 , 82–83 )

Material examined. Type specimen: Holotype ♀: PAPUA NEW GUINEA: NORTHERN PROVINCE: Kokoda, iv.1933, Cheesman L. E. leg., 1200 feet (NHM).

Diagnosis. Body elongate ovate, black, with contrasting yellow scutellum, and two orange spots on pronotal disk behind shinning black callosities. Vertex yellow, brown medially and apically, not carinate, sulcus short and thin. Antennal segments black to dark brown, first basally yellow, second stramineous medially, third and fourth stramineous basally. Labium reaching hind coxae. Pronotal collar yellowish with dark brown elongate triangle medially. Pronotal disk very narrowly and shallowly punctate. Legs and tibial spines orange. Hemelytra slightly exceeding abdomen, black.

Description. Body elongate ovate, black with contrasting yellow scutellum, and two orange spots on pronotal disk, hemelytra with short, recumbent, white setae. Head rounded, yellowish brown with reddish-brown pattern, eyes touching pronotum, blackish. Mandibular plates yellowish, maxillary plates blackish. Clypeus reddish-brown. Tylus vertical, black. Frons yellowish, slightly striate laterally, with candelabra-like reddish-brown stripe. Vertex yellow, brow medially and apically, not carinate, sulcus short and thin. Antennae thick, first segment slightly more incrassate than other, slightly club-like near apex, black, except yellow base; second segment black basally, then stramineous and black on apical half; third segment stramineous on basal third, dark brown apically; fourth segment stramineous basally, dark brown apically. Labium reaching hind coxae, first segment black, other segments dark brown. Pronotum posterior margin laterally straight, medially slightly concave, humeral angles rounded. Pronotal collar narrow, yellowish with dark brown elongate triangle medially. Callosities reddish-brown, rounded, reduced, totally separated and separated from pronotal lateral margins. Pronotal lateral margin ecarinate. Pronotal disk very narrowly and shallowly punctate, black with a pair of orange spots behind shining black callosities and two small yellowish patches along apical collar. Legs orange. Tibial spines orange. Scutellum slightly swollen, yellow, mesoscutum almost covered, black. Hemelytra slightly exceeding abdomen, black, membrane brownish, veins raised, brown. Sternites and pleurites black, evaporative area yellow. Anterior sac thin, with pair of glandular epidermal patches. Parieto-vaginal rings wide, almost contiguous, with ventral margin sigmoid, elongate, latero-inner margin convex, dorsal margin convex, latero-outer margin sickle-like, reinforced dorsally. Ventro-labiate plate (VLP) elongate, dorsal margin reinforced laterally ( Fig. 82 ). Dorsal wall apparently devoid of sclerite. Sclerite connecting the parieto-vaginal rings and fibulae reduced. Posterior wall elongate, with elongate interramal sclerite and interramal lobes (A and E-structures), devoid of H-structures. Median process and associated sclerites complex, so-called posterior plate of dorsal structure beak-like in lateral view ( Fig. 83 ).

Measurements. Total length 8.10; maximum width 2.98. Head: width across eyes 1.55; interocular space 0.50; eye width 0.50; antennal segments length: I: 1.05; II: 3.20; III: 1.95; IV: 1.25. Labium: length of segments: I: 0.9, II: 0.75, III and IV: not measured. Thorax: pronotal length: 1.50; width of posterior margin: 2.25; scutellum length: 1.60; width: 1.30. Length of hemelytra: 5.70; length of corium 3.70; length of cuneus: 0.60; width of cuneus: 0.50. Male unknown.

Discussion. Waucoris tricolor n. sp. is easily separated from the other species of the genus by its contrasting dorsal coloration, black, orange and yellow, the yellowish to orange legs, the black hemelytra and the black pronotal disk with two orange spots behind the callosities and a pair of small yellowish patches along the apical collar. The female genitalia are relatively similar to that of W. keyensis (Chérot et al., in prep.), particularly the shape of parietovaginal rings and the ventral labiate plate. They differ mainly by the complex structures of median process and associated sclerites.

Figures

FIGURES 68 – 73. Habitus of ACMc members: 68. Tricholygus hirsutus Poppius, 1910 (original combination reinstated), male non-type specimen studied by Poppius from Tanzania (MZHF). 69. Waucoris keyensis (Poppius, 1915), female holotype from Papua New Guinea (MZHF). 70. Waucoris papuanus (Poppius, 1915), female holotype from Papua New Guinea (MZHF). 71. Waucoris poppiusi Chérot & Malipatil (nomen novum and n. comb.), male holotype from Papua New Guinea (MZHF), 72. Waucoris solomonensis n. sp., female paratype from Solomon Islands. 73. Waucoris tricolor n. sp., female holotype from Papua New Guinea (NHM). Scales = 1 mm.

FIGURES 82 – 83. 82 – 83. Waucoris tricolor n. sp. 82. Right parieto-vaginal ring of the female holotype in dorsal view. VLP: ventro-labiate plate. 83. B-structure of posterior wall in lateral view. Scales = 0.1 mm.