Aristaenetus (Kmentaenetus), 2019

Kondorosy, Előd, Kovács, Szilvia & Zsalakovics, László, 2019, Kmentaenetus, A New Subgenus Of Aristaenetus (Hemiptera: Rhyparochromidae: Lethaeini) From The Papuan Subregion, Acta Zoologica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae 65 (1), pp. 9-18 : 10-13

Kmentaenetus Kondorosy subgen. n.

Type species: Aristaenetus (Kmentaenetus) diabolicus Kondorosy, sp. n.

Description: Body moderately elongate, punctate except of head dorsally and two spots on pronotum. Body dull, almost hairless.

Head pentagonal, dorsally and laterally impunctate, ventrally strongly transversely rugose, submedially punctate (punctures lacking around eyes, base of antennae, and anteriad of antenniferous tubercles); much longer then wide; dorsal side transversely rugose (except around and anterior to ocelli), midline relatively strongly rugose, reaching clypeus. Head everywhere with hardly visible tiny decumbent setae. Apex of clypeus acute, toothlike. Compound eyes prominent, large, postocular part longitudinally rugose, ventrally with transverse wrinkles. Ocelli at posterior margin of eyes, equidistant from eye and median. Antenniferous tubercle divergent, prominent, almost as long as eye, head almost as wide here as base of head. Base of head with two iridescent spots. Maxillary plates convex, smooth and shining, partly visible in dorsal view. Labium long, reaching middle of abdomen. Scape extending with half beyond apex of head. Antennae with very fine and dense decumbent pubescence and few stronger setae on scape, other segments with some fine semierect setae as well.

Lateral margin of pronotum noticeably concave, apical half narrower. Posterior part of pronotal collar densely punctate, separated from pronotum with punctate furrow, pronotum behind collar slightly elevated. Transverse furrow shallow, inconspicuous, lateral margin of pronotum hardly visible, not laminate. Midline elevated, impunctate, reaching from middle of anterior lobe almost to posterior margin. Anterior lobe of pronotum with partly impunctate but not elevated calli. Humeral angles of pronotum not rounded. Anterior margin of pronotum nearly straight, medially slightly protruding, posterior margin slightly convex. Pronotum without anterolateral trichobothria. Scutellum triangular, largely punctate, with blunt Y-carina. Clavus with four regular rows of punctures, both middle rows united anteriorly near base. Corium between veins Sc and R densely, between R and Cu shallower and sparser punctate. Costal margin slightly S-shaped, apical margin nearly straight. Membrane with two closed basal cells, 4 veins visible. Coxae finely transversely rugose, legs otherwise smooth. Profemur slightly thicker at base than in apical half, anterior margin with three small teeth apically and 5 long thin setae; other femora unarmed, with some short stronger setae only. Tibiae straight, with rows of strong stiff setae, inner side in apical half also with fine semi-decumbent pubescence (on metatibia negligible). Tarsi with very dense short fine semi-decumbent pubescence beneath. Pleura with impunctate or rugose areas between punctures, sternum impunctate and dull except ventral collar, mesothorax ventrally with medial furrow, metasternum with strong medial carina. Mesosternum limited anteriorly and posteriorly with strong arched transverse carina. Ostiolar peritreme on male directed laterad (reaching about 3/4 of metapleuron), then curving posteriorly, terminating in semi-circle directed anteriad or laterad; ostiolar peritreme significantly shorter in females, directed laterally, then slightly posteriad. Evaporatorium large, reaching lateral margin of mesopleuron, occupying majority of metapleuron, almost reaching metepimeroid.

Abdomen with extremely dense micropunctures and tiny setae on ventral side. Median third of sternites III–IV smooth, lateral thirds with long transverse rugae with their lateral extremities curved posteriad submarginally. Surface of abdominal venter uneven, sternite III with median keel and with flat submedial elevation bearing trichobothria; base of sternite VI impressed sublaterally. Posterior margins of sternites III to V narrowly produced posteriorly at midline, lateral portions broadly S-shaped, curved anteriad, abruptly curved posteriad submarginally. Suture between sterna 4 and 5 curving cephalad, not reaching lateral margin; trichobothria and spiracles as usual in Lethaeini . Sternite VI of female strongly narrowed but not divided medially, together with sternite V medially keeled. Tergites shiny, finely rugose and extremely finely punctate transversely (wrinkles of tergite VIII stronger); posterior portions of tergite VIII and hypopleurite VIII connected by a broad, membranous cuticular area. Posterior margin of tergite VIII medially straight, laterally convex, hypopleurite VIII terminating acutely.

Male genital capsule ( Fig 4D ) subglobose, with fine decumbent pubescence, posterior aperture nearly rhomboidal, anterior half with two acute and a blunt teeth on each side, cuplike sclerite large, reaching about halfway of aperture, with a blunt apex medially and with sinuous arches on both sides. Paramere broad, subtriangular, inner projection very broad, terminating in a tooth orientated to base; outer projection elongate apically in a tooth (as Fig. 4A ); base of blade dorsally with a strong hump ( Fig. 4C ).

Spermathecal duct of female extremely long and tortuous (several times longer than body length), apical part after an oblique ring suddenly broadened to subglobular apical receptacle, significantly impressed lengthwise ( Fig. 2 ).

Etymology – We named the new subgenus after the excellent heteropterologist Dr. Petr Kment who brought our attention to these specimens, was kind enough to loan them to us, and helped also with sending much old and new literature. The ending of the name is in reference to the genus Aristaenetus .

Remarks – This new subgenus is erected to include the two new species described in this paper. On the Eastern Hemisphere species of 9 genera of the Lethaeini have closed cells on the base of the membrane, similar to Kmentaenetus. The largest genus, Lethaeus Dallas, 1852 lacks a collar on the pronotum. Five further genera, like Neolethaeus Distant, 1909 have a convex or straight lateral margin on pronotum (lateral margin is mostly narrowly laminate). Species of two of the remaining genera with concave pronotum ( Aristaenetoides Kondorosy, 2006 and Lethaeograndellus Scudder, 1962 ) have among others punctate head ventrally, only Aristaenetus has similar striate head ventrally as Kmentaenetus. Furthermore, Aristaenetoides has only 3 rows of punctures on clavus (contrary to 4 of Aristaenetus and Kmentaenetus). Lethaeograndellus has lamellate lateral margin of pronotum, punctate pronotal collar forming a V, and rugose head, callar area of pronotum and abdomen, while Aristaenetus and Kmentaenetus have weakly carinate lateral margin of pronotum, impunctate and slightly arched pronotal collar, and smooth or punctate head, callar area of pronotum and abdomen.

The anterolateral trichobothria of the pronotum are often missing e.g. in Neolethaeus , as in N. cantrelli Woodward, 1968 or N. cheesmanae Woodward, 1968 (discussed by WOODWARD 1968), so presence or absence of the pronotal trichobothrium is not always a constant feature in a genus. One of the most unique features is the elongate and strongly curved ostiolar peritreme of the males, which is characteristic only for the species of Aristaenetus Distant, 1901 and three species of Neolethaeus : N. cantrelli , N. cheesmanae and N. descriptus Walker, 1872 , and in somewhat less developed form for the American genus Bubaces Distant, 1893 (see O'DONNELL 2006). Neolethaeus is not very closely related to the new species because of the different pronotum (they have lateral carina and at most slightly concave lateral margin) and shape of the paramere ( Fig. 3A ). So, we concluded that our species are most closely related to the genus Aristaenetus but because of the important differences we suppose it is appropriate to create a new subgenus.

O'DONNELL (1991) investigated the male genitalia of most lethaeine genera, including both Aristaenetus species. The paramere of A. woodwardi sp. n. is unique ( Fig. 3A ) and similar to the paramere of A. similis Woodward et O'Donnell, 1988 .

The main differences between the two subgenera are that the species belonging to Aristaenetus s. str. have anterolateral trichobothria on the pronotum, however, in Kmentaenetus these are missing; also, the shape of the pronotum is different, the anterior half of the pronotum is wider in Aristaenetus s. str., while it is much more slender in Kmentaenetus species. Furthermore, Kmentaenetus species have transversely rugose heads while Aristaenetus s. str. species have punctate heads. The eye-antenna distance is in Kmentaenetus nearly as long as eye length, species, however, in Aristaenetus s. str. it is about half as long as eye length. In Kmentaenetus the eye is delimited by radial wrinkles, while in Aristaenetus s. str. the surface delimiting the eyes is smooth. Pronotal collar is impunctate in Aristaenetus s. str. and with punctures in Kmentaenetus. The pronotal humeral angles are angular or tooth-like in Kmentaenetus, not rounded as in Aristaenetus s. str. The abdomen is ventrally only sparsely punctate in Aristaenetus s. str. and not extremely densely.

Figures

Fig. 4. Aristaenetus (Kmentaenetus) woodwardi Kondorosy et Zsalakovics holotype male, dor- sal view

Figs 2–3. 2 = Spermatheca of A. diabolicus Kondorosy. 3 = Male genitalia of Aristaenetus (Kmentaenetus) woodwardi Kondorosy et Zsalakovics; A–C: paramere, A = dorsal view, B = ventral view, C = lateral view, D = pygophore, dorsal view