Physoderes tricolor, Hwang & Weirauch, 2017

Hwang, Wei Song & Weirauch, Christiane, 2017, Uncovering hidden diversity: phylogeny and taxonomy of Physoderinae (Reduviidae, Heteroptera), with emphasis on Physoderes Westwood in the Oriental and Australasian regions, European Journal of Taxonomy 341, pp. 1-118 : 103-104

Physoderes tricolor sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:079BA84D-2C4E-444D-B57F-8555AD38438B

Figs 8 , 15 , 18–20 ; Appendix

Diagnosis

This species is recognized among congeners by the short and conical head, the scape not reaching the apex of the clypeus, the eye distinctly projecting, the submedian pronotal carina weakly defined, the apex of the scutellar process straw-colored, the parascutellar lobe rounded and skewed towards median, the corium dark brown with the membranous portion basally dark brown, including the external cell, and areas directly adjacent to the medial vein apical extension and first anal vein apex with remaining membrane off-white and translucent, the abdominal dorsal surface dark brown, the apodeme of the anterior opening of the pygophore obsolete with the margin rounded, the cup-like sclerite with rounded apex and paired adjacent subacute protuberances and the dorsal phallothecal sclerite triangular in shape. This species is most similar to P. nigroalbus but can be differentiated from it by size, the coloration of the head, pronotum and scutellar process, and the shape of the eye.

Etymology

The name of this species is based on the Latin adjective “tricolor”, meaning three-colored, to describe the three colors that are visible dorsally.

Material examined

Holotype

MALAYSIA: ♂, Sabah, Sandakan , 5.8333° N, 118.1167° E, 4 m, no date provided, Baker leg. ( UCR_ ENT 00030980 ) ( USNM).

Paratypes

MALAYSIA: 1 ♂, same collection data as for holotype ( UCR _ENT 00031439) ( USNM); 3 ♀♀, same collection data as for holotype ( UCR _ENT 00031440– UCR _ENT 00031442) ( USNM).

Description

Male

BODY LENGTH. Medium, total length 8.66 mm, SD ± 0.16 (Appendix).

COLORATION ( Figs15 , 18 ).Brown, brownish black and off-white.Head anteriorly straw-colored,posteriorly brown. Antenna straw-colored. First and second segment of labium straw-colored, third segment light brown. Anterior lobe of pronotum brown with straw-colored markings, posterior lobe brown, scutellum basally brown, apically straw-colored including scutellar process, pleuron straw-colored with brown patterns, sternum brown to dark brown. Corium of hemelytron dark brown, membrane basally dark brown, including the external cell, and areas directly adjacent to the medial vein apical extension and first anal vein apex with remaining membrane off-white and translucent. Femora and tibiae of legs straw-colored with medial and apical brown annulations, tarsi and claws light brown. Abdomen dorsally dark brown, ventrally straw-colored with brown and dark brown patterns, anterior half of connexivum dark brown, posterior half straw-colored, exposed part of pygophore dark brown.

VESTITURE. Sparsely setose. Head with some curved setae and short, fine, adpressed setae, ventral surface of postocular lobe with sparse, setigerous tubercles, with pair of long, straight setae on postocular lobe posterior to ocelli. Anterior lobe of thorax with irregular row of tuberculated, short, curved setae on lateral margins and curved setae on the anterior portion of dorsal surface, posterior lobe with short, curved setae on humeral angle and sparsely distributed along dorsal surface. Corium of hemelytron with short, curved setae. Legs with two rows of spines and setigerous tubercles, tibia with regular rows of tuberculated, stout, sharp setae. Connexival margin of abdomen with a few clubbed setae on each segment, or connexival margin with no prominent setae.

HEAD. Short conical; maxillary plate rounded apically; scape not reaching apex of clypeus; eye distinctly projecting in dorsal view, less than 1/5 length of head.

THORAX. Antero-lateral paired projections acute, diverging; surface of anterior lobe smooth, ridges almost obsolete; median pronotal depression not contiguous with transverse sulcus; paramedian carina weakly defined; anterior pronotal lobe shorter and slightly narrower than posterior lobe, anterior lobe level with posterior lobe in lateral view; parascutellar lobe rounded, skewed towards median; scutellum rounded triangular, scutellar process long, apex subacute.

HEMELYTRON. Reaching tip of abdomen.

LEGS. Same as genus description.

ABDOMEN. Connexival margin slightly undulating, posterior margin not elevated.

GENITALIA. Anterior margin of mediosternite 8 undulating, without medial apodeme; transverse bridge of pygophore narrow, margin of anterior opening rounded, apodeme absent, apical margin of posterior opening smooth; cup-like sclerite apically rounded, with adjacent paired small subacute protuberances; arms of basal plate parallel to each other; ductifer membranous; endosomal struts tapered, with acute apex, divided into two arms basally; shape of dorsal phallothecal sclerite triangular with angular lateral prolongations.

Female

Similar to males except anterior pronotal lobe (2.17 mm average) distinctly narrower than posterior lobe (2.77 mm average) and median pronotal depression contiguous with transverse sulcus.

Ecology

Nothing is known about the biology of this species.

Distribution

This species is only known from the type locality of Sandakan, northeast Borneo.

Remarks

This species shares the general head and pronotal morphology of P. notata and is placed within the same clade as P. notata in the phylogenetic analysis above.

Figures

Fig. 8. Dorsal view of the male pygophore in species of Breviphysoderes gen. nov., Macrophysoderes gen. nov., Paraphysoderes Villiers, 1962 and Physoderes Westwood, 1845. For an explanation of the colored arrows, see keys on pages 37 and 66.

Fig. 15. Dorsal habitus images for species of Physoderes Westwood, 1845 (partial). For an explanation of the colored arrows, see key on page 66. Scale bars = 2 mm.

Fig. 18. Ventral habitus images for species of Physoderes Westwood, 1845 (partial). Scale bars = 2 mm.

Fig. 19. Dorsal view of the phallus in species of Physoderes Westwood, 1845 (partial).

Fig. 20. Distribution map for species of Physoderes Westwood, 1845 (partial).