Trachypeplus Horváth, 1926

Dang, Kai, Guilbert, Eric & Bu, Wenjun, 2013, New species and records of the genus Trachypeplus Horváth (Hemiptera: Tingidae) from China, Zootaxa 3669 (4), pp. 531-550 : 532

Genus Trachypeplus Horváth, 1926

Trachypeplus: Horváth, 1926: 329 ; Drake and Ruhoff 1960: 86; Drake and Ruhoff, 1965a: 417; Jing, 1981: 313; Péricart, 1986: 652; Péricart and Golub, 1996: 76; Guilbert, 2007: 11.

Type species: Trachypeplus jacobsoni Horváth, 1926 , by original designation.

Diagnosis. Body oblong-ovate, or elongate, nearly parallel-sided. Head short, slightly extended in front of eyes, armed with five spines. Bucculae broad, areolate. Antennae long, slender, first segment short, second shortest, third longest, pubescent.

Pronotum moderately convex, tricarinate, calli deeply impressed, covered with dense pruinosity. Lateral carinae originating at calli. Paranota strongly reflexed on pronotum, with outer margins not tightly rested on pronotal disc; part opposite pronotal humeri elevated, and here usually forming a transverse crest. Apical part of pronotal posterior process areolate. Scent gland ostioles elongate.

Hemelytra longer than abdomen. Costal area narrow, uniseriate, or relatively broad, bi- to quadriseriate. Subcostal area biseriate. Discoidal area extending beyond middle of hemelytra, six to nine areolae broad. Hypocostal laminae uniseriate.

Abdominal sternites IV to VIII (male) and IV to VII (female) marked by a transverse furrow at their entire width.

Comments. The genus Trachypeplus is closed to Heissiella Péricart, 1984 and Pseudurentius Péricart, 1992 in general aspect. According to Péricart (1984), Heissiella differs from Trachypeplus by its paranota along the lateral margins of pronotum forming a longitudinal ridge which divides the paranota into a dorsal part and a ventral part, the tip of the female abdomen being trilobed with each paratergite IX bilobed apically. However, the condition of paranota forming a longitudinal ridge also occurs in the species Trachypeplus wapi Guilbert, 2007 , whereas its tip of the female abdomen is not trilobed and without the bilobed paratergite IX. Therefore, despite the character of trilobed tip of the female abdomen, the genera Trachypeplus and Heissiella are closely related and may be congeneric. According to Péricart (1992), the difference between Trachypeplus and Pseudurentius is based mainly on the size of the tubercle-spines (tubercle apically armed with a short spine) on the pronotum and hemelytra. In Trachypeplus , the pronotum and hemelytra are armed with short tubercle-spines or not, whereas in Pseudurentius the pronotum and hemelytra are armed with long tubercle-spines and the tubercle is much longer than that of Trachypeplus . However, Guilbert (2007) points out that the variation of the size of the spines within Pseudurentius and Trachypeplus make the difference between these two genera difficult and blurred. For these reasons, Trachypeplus , Heissiella and Pseudurentius may be congeneric and generic revisions are needed to clarify such a possibility.

Trachypeplus is also similar to Cysteochila Stål 1873 and Physatocheila Fieber, 1844 , in having the paranota strongly reflexed on the pronotal disc. However, it differs from the last two by its paranota opposite the pronotal humeri being distinctly elevated and usually forming a transverse crest, its outer margin not tightly rested on pronotal disc.

Distribution. China, Philippines, India, Bhutan, Indonesia, Viet Nam, Greater Sunda Islands, Laos, and New Guinea.