Malgadrymus Zámbó & Kondorosy, 2022

Zámbó, András, Baňař, Petr, Kovács, Szilvia & Kondorosy, Előd, 2022, Drymini of Madagascar, with description of a new genus and three new species (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Rhyparochromidae), Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 62 (1), pp. 211-223 : 212-214

Malgadrymus Zámbó & Kondorosy , gen. nov.

Type species. Malgadrymus pameroides Zámbó & Kondorosy , sp. nov., here designated.

Description. Head inconspicuously convex in lateral view, about 1.3 times as wide as long, with rather deep punctures both dorsally and ventrally. Eyes moderately large (head 3.17–4.28 times as wide as width of eye), protruding laterally, almost reaching anterior margin of pronotum, with single trichobothrial seta at inner margin. Ocelli relatively small and situated medioposteriad of eyes; distance between eyes 1.6–2.3 times as long as distance between ocelli. Antennae about 0.6 times as long as body; scape widened in distal 2/3 (its apex 1.42–1.53 times thicker than base), 1.6–1.8 times thicker than most parts of pedicel, and surpassing clypeus in about 1/3 of its length; pedicel subcylindrical, slightly widened apically and narrower than other antennomeres; basi- and distiflagellum almost fusiform, distiflagellum acute. Length of antenniferous tubercles about half the length of eyes in dorsal view and slightly divergent anteriad. Maxillary plates inconspicuously protruding. Labium bearing few short erect setae and mostly reaching mesocoxae (sometimes slightly shorter but never surpassing mesocoxae), labiomere I thicker than others, not reaching base of head.

Thorax. Pronotum wider than long, anterior lobe densely punctate, posterior lobe slightly sparser. Collar well limited, punctate, at least as wide as diameter of pedicel. Callar area elevated both in dorsal and lateral views. Transverse impression of pronotum complete and strong. Anterior margin of pronotum hardly concave; lateral margin almost absent, pronotum laterally more or less rounded in anterior part, markedly concave at level of transverse impression and more or less straight in posterior part; humeral angles more or less rounded. Scutellum convex, about as wide as long or hardly longer than wide, with variably developed Y-shaped elevation. Scutellum relatively densely punctate with deep punctures; those on lateral part forming more or less regular rows. Clavus with three dense rows of punctures. Both inner rows (along claval furrow and middle one) very dense, middle row in posterior half more or less suddenly approaching corial row, row along scutellum often very sparse, sometimes vestigial, denser only at scutellar apex and along claval commissure. Punctation of corium deep, veins hardly detectable, indicated by rows of punctures. Two dense regular rows of punctures parallel with vein Cu along entire length, punctures closer to each other than their diameter, similar to rows along corial fracture and costal area.Area between Cu and corial fracture punctate, leaving large area free in apical part. Corial fracture well visible, limited with punctures at least on costal side; area between that and costal row in anterior half impunctate, in posterior part with dense, irregular punctures. Anterior fifth of laminate lateral margin of corium more or less straight, narrower than base of pedicel, from anterior fifth to almost middle strongly widening, at half-length at least as thick as scape (body widest here as well); lateral margin in posterior half slightly convex. Straight apical margin of corium bordered by vestigial row of punctures, apex of corium acute. Membrane with four well visible veins reaching at least apex of abdomen. Sternum coarsely punctate with well separated punctures, except for shiny, markedly elevated middle area of mesosternum (being very densely punctate with extremely fine shallow punctures). Ostiolar peritreme short, oriented slightly posteriad. Evaporatorium of moderate size, lateral margin convex, hardly separable from other parts of sternum. Coxae unarmed. Profemora of equal structure in both sexes, strongly thickened, much thicker than others (1.6–1.8 times as thick as mesofemora) and armed anteroventrally with 1 large strong tooth in middle region (about as long as half width of eye and about 0.25 times as broad as width of eye) and short strong teeth (3.2–3.8 times shorter than length of large single tooth) in two parallel (anteroventral and posteroventral) rows (7–11 teeth in one row) in entire length. Width of meso- and metafemora subequal, metafemora slightly thicker. Meso- and metafemora usually armed with one short, strong tooth on proximal one third and metafemora mostly bearing very tiny hardly visible tubercles in rows. Tibiae straight and mostly bearing very tiny tubercles in four rows along their entire length. Tarsomere I of metatarsi 1.31–1.47 times as long as tarsomere II and tarsomere III combined.

Abdomen. Venter of males densely punctate with tiny shallow punctures and sometimes also slightly coriaceous, abdominal venter of females slightly coriaceous (very fi- nely transversely striate) and sometimes also with sparse punctures, as well.

Differential diagnosis and systematic placement. Malgadrymus gen. nov. – although this new genus resembles many Myodochini taxa – belongs to the tribe Drymini based on the arrangement of the abdominal trichobothria and spiracles. However, it is clearly distinguishable from most known Drymini genera. The most characteristic feature is the Myodochini-like shape of the pronotum: almost as long as wide, clearly divided and strongly concave at the transverse furrow, with not or hardly carinate lateral margin. This feature is similarly present only in four out of the 56 genera of Drymini ( Mizaldus Distant, 1901 , Neomizaldus Scudder, 1968 , Notochilaster Breddin, 1907 , and Udalricus Distant, 1903 ). In some other genera ( Dudia Bergroth, 1918 , Esinerus Scudder, 1969 , Rhodiginus Distant, 1901 , and Sinierus Distant, 1901 ) the lateral margin of pronotum is also hard to distinguish but the pronotum is rather short; in many more genera ( Bexiocoris Scudder, 1969 , Carvalhodrymus Slater, 1995 , Entisberus Distant, 1903 , Heissodrymus Kondorosy, 2006 , Hirtomydrus Scud- der, 1978, Ibexocoris Scudder, 1963 , and Retoka China, 1935 ) the shape of the pronotum is more or less similarly strongly concave at the transverse furrow but the lateral margin is clearly carinate. The fusiform basiflagellum is also different from most Drymini ; it is mostly (sub)cylindrical in Drymini (strongly fusiform in Appolonius and Malipatilius Kondorosy, 2013 ; also, more or less fusiform in Brentiscerus Scudder, 1962 , Latidrymus Kondorosy, 2017 , Notochilus Fieber, 1864 , Pseudodrymus Gross, 1965 , Rhodiginus and in some Retoka , Salaciola Bergroth, 1906 and Scolopostethus Fieber, 1860 species). The armature of the profemora is less unique, being similar in Appolonius , Bexiocoris , and Udalricus .

A very rare feature is the presence of a tooth on basal part of ventral side of meso- and metafemora but this tooth is missing in several specimens. This feature is known only in 3 Oriental and Australian Drymini genera, namely in: Grossander Slater, 1976 , Notochilaster Breddin, 1907 and Retrodrymus Gross, 1965 .

From the genera with a similar shape of the pronotum, Malgadrymus gen. nov. differs as follows: the genera Mizaldus and Neomizaldus have a special U-shaped keel on the scutellum, very concave apical margin of corium and unarmed femora. Notochilaster has always a small ventral tooth on the head at each side of the labium; profemur is also unarmed. Esinerus and Sinierus have unarmed profemora and stouter pronotum (and body): pronotum width 1.7–2.1 times larger than length while in Malgadrymus this ratio is between 1.1 and 1.6. The very concave apical margin of the corium, the unarmed profemora and the much shorter pronotum are also characteristic for Rhodiginus . The Indian ( Myanmar) Udalricus is the most similar genus, having also similar armature on the profemur. However, its scutellum is elongate, ending in an erect spiniform process, the eyes are very small and located far from the anterior margin of the pronotum and, the antenniferous tubercle is very long.

The relationships within the very diverse and variable Drymini are not clear yet; among the Afrotropical genera none seems to be close to Malgadrymus . Concerning the key of Sඅൺඍൾඋ (1993, modified in 1995), Malgadrymus runs to the couplet 13, the genus Salaciola . However, Salaciola species are more oval, and have a sometimes slightly but mostly clearly laminate lateral margin on the pronotum. Material for molecular studies is very needed to clarify affinities within this generic complex.

Etymology. The first part of the scientific name refers to the Malagasy people of Madagascar, the second one refers to the type genus of the tribe, Drymus Fieber, 1860 . Masculine.