Staticobium gmelini Bozhko, 1950

Zanfelici, Luiz Fernando Gonçalves & Murányi, Dávid, 2023, Four new species of aphids (Hemiptera: Sternorrhyncha: Aphididae) for the Hungarian fauna, Ecologica Montenegrina 63, pp. 96-104 : 101

Staticobium gmelini Bozhko, 1950

( Figs 21–22, 25–26 )

Material: Hungary, Pest county, Farmos , dry sodic grassland, Limonium gmelini subsp. hungaricum (Klokov)Soó , 100 m a.s.l., N 47.3703° E 19.8420°, leg. J. Kontschán, D. Murányi, G. Ripka, 2.viii.2017, viviparous apterous females, larvae .

Diagnosis. Brownish green Staticobium with white cauda, striped legs and antennae. Dorsal abdomen with very small and inconspicuous hairs, not placed on individual sclerites. Siphunculi slender and well reticulated, mostly black but with pale base, length 1.8 × cauda; cauda with few hairs. Antennal segment III with longest hairs 0.3 of its width; antennal PT/BASE 5.8.

Distribution and ecology. Of Holartic distribution, Staticobium spp lives without host alternation on Plumbaginaceae . This genera seem to be highly host-specific and is not visited by ants. Staticobium gmelini is present on flower stalks and root collars of Limonium and Goniolimon spp. , and known from Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia and Kazakhstan. Three further East European and Central Asian species are probable synonyms of S. gmelini , according to Kadyrbekov (2003) and Blackman & Eastop (2023). In Hungary, the only aphid reported from the Siberian statice is Staticobium latifoliae ( Bozhko, 1950) , collected on the Great Plain ( Szelegiewicz 1968, 1981). Specimens collected at Hódmezővásárhely are illustrated for comparison ( Figs. 23–24 ) – the two species have clearly different setation. The colony of S. gmelini was not ant attended. Larvae were grouped on the underside of leaves, while adults were alone on the root neck. At the time of the collection, the sodic grassland was extremely dry due to a long, very hot summer season.

Figures

Figures 21–26. Distinctive characters, habitus and habitat of Staticobium gmelini Bozhko, 1950 and S. latifoliae (Bozhko, 1950) — 21: end of abdomen, dorsal side, of S. gmelini aptera, with cauda and sipunculi; 22: antennal III–VI segments of S. gmelini aptera; 23: end of abdomen, dorsal side, of S. latifoliae aptera, with cauda and sipunculi; 24: antennal III–VI segments of S. latifoliae aptera; 25: aptera of S. gmelini; 26: sodic dry grassland with Limonium gmelini subsp. hungaricum (Klokov) Soó — 21–22, 25–26: Farmos; 23–24: Hódmezővásárhely.