Parthenicus wheeleri, HENRY, 2007

HENRY, THOMAS J., 2007, Synopsis of the Eastern North American Species of the Plant Bug Genus Parthenicus, with Descriptions of Three New Species and a Revised Key (Heteroptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae), American Museum Novitates 3593, pp. 1-32 : 24-25

Parthenicus wheeleri , new species figures 40, 41 , 60–77

HOLOTYPE 3: USA: Oklahoma: Dewey Co.: 0.2 km W of jct. Rt. 270/281, 6.8 km SE of Oakwood, 21 May 2001, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Eragrostis curvula Schrad. (Poaceae) (AMNH_PBI 00071072) (USNM).

DIAGNOSIS: This species, known from macropterous males ( figs. 11 , 60 ) and strongly brachypterous, coleopteriform females ( figs. 12 , 68, 69 ), is distinguished by the pale testaceous dorsum ( figs. 11, 12 ), occasionally with a few small red speckles on the head, pronotum, and hemelytra, especially in females, contrasted by the brown first antennal segment, scutellum, and hind femur; the lack of spots at the bases of the tibial spines on the front and middle legs and frequently on the hind legs (or with only very faint reddish spots on some basal spines); and distinctive male parameres ( figs. 74, 75 ), vesica ( fig. 76 ), and phallotheca ( fig. 77 ).

DESCRIPTION: Macropterous male (N 510; holotype in parentheses): Length to apex of membrane 3.05–3.45 mm (3.15 mm), length to base of cuneus 1.95–2.35 mm (2.21 mm), width 1.20–1.25 mm (1.15 mm). Head: Length 0.48–0.53 mm (0.48 mm), width across eyes 0.61–0.64 mm (0.61 mm), width of vertex 0.30–0.34 mm (0.30 mm). Labium: Length 1.33–1.39 mm (1.39 mm), extending beyond metacoxae to base of genital capsule. Antenna: Segment I, length 0.27–0.32 mm (0.27 mm); II, 1.09–1.17 mm (1.12 mm); III, 0.75–0.88 mm (0.80 mm); IV, 0.45–0.50 mm (0.46 mm). Pronotum: Length 0.38–0.43 mm (0.42 mm), basal width 0.88–0.93 mm (0.91 mm). Brachypterous female: (N 510): Length to apex of abdomen 2.15–2.45 mm, length to base of cuneus 1.75–1.90 mm, width 1.22–1.31 mm. Head: Length 0.43–0.45 mm, width across eyes 0.61–0.62 mm, width of vertex 0.34– 0.37 mm. Labium: Length 1.30–1.41 mm, extending to base of ovipositor or slightly beyond. Antenna: Segment I, length 0.29– 0.30 mm; II, 0.96–0.99 mm; III, 0.75–0.77 mm; 0.78–0.82 mm. Pronotum: Length 0.32– 0.34 mm, basal width 0.78–0.82 mm. COLO- RATION: Overall coloration pale yellowish brown, with only a few scattered red spots on dorsum. Head: Pale yellowish brown, vertex between eyes, clypeus, and sides with scattered red spots; frons with five slender, transverse red lines on each side. Pronotum: Pale yellowish brown, area across calli more dusky brown, evenly scattered with diffuse red spots; scutellum pale yellowish brown with only basal angles brown to more completely brown with only the apex paler. Hemelytron: Pale yellowish brown, with red spots ranging from only along borders of lateral margins, cuneus, and sutures along clavus to more evenly distributed; membrane in macropters uniformly smoky brown to fumate but not black, veins pallid, sometimes with a few tiny red spots. Ventral surface: Pale yellowish brown, strongly accented with red along margins of sutures on thorax to dark brown with less red in some specimens; abdomen with scattered irregular red spots and a diffuse, broken red line laterally. Legs: Front and middle femora pale yellowish brown with a few red or brown spots on distal third; hind femur dark brown on distal two-thirds with a few tiny red or darker brown spots; tibiae pale yellowish brown without spots at bases of pale spines; tarsi pale yellowish brown; claws dark brown or fuscous. TEXTURE AND VESTITURE: Impunctate and semishiny. Head, pronotum, and scutellum with long, slender, white simple setae, densely intermixed with silvery sericeous and scalelike setae; hemelytra with recumbent pale yellowishbrown simple setae, intermixed with relatively slender pale yellowish brown to whitish scalelike setae on clavus and corium, with black scalelike setae along basal and inner margin of cuneus and distal margin of corium bordering membrane. STRUCTURE: Males fully macropterous ( fig. 11 ) with well-developed hemelytra. All known females ( fig. 12 ) with hemelytron abbreviated, coleopteriform, with the claval suture absent, forming a smooth beetlelike ‘‘elytra’’; cuneus greatly shortened and rounded apically; wing membrane ranging from only a narrow strip to absent.

Male genitalia: Left paramere ( fig. 74 ) Cshaped with base much broader than slender apical third; right paramere ( fig. 75 ) relatively stout, straight with lateral margins narrowly incurved and apex with a lateral hook; vesica ( fig. 76 ) with one complex spiculum having multiple spines and an elongate, slender apical process; phallotheca ( fig. 77 ) dome-shaped with a broad distal opening.

ETYMOLOGY: I have the pleasure of naming yet another new species after Dr. Alfred George Wheeler, Jr., collector of the entire series of this plant bug. Dr. Wheeler’s tenacity for seeking and collecting rare, uncommon, and new Heteroptera in unique habitats on unusual hosts continues to show that we have much to learn about many areas of the United States.

HOSTS: Weeping lovegrass, Eragrostis curvula (Schrad) Nees (Poeaceae) ; sand lovegrass, E. trichodes (Nutt.) Wood ; Lindheimer’s muhly, Muhlenbergia lindheimeri Hitchc. (Poaceae) ; seep muhly, M. reverchonii Vasey and Schribn. (Poaceae) .

DISTRIBUTION: Oklahoma and Texas.

PARATYPES: USA: Oklahoma: Blaine Co.: Rt. 3/33/270, 13 km W of Watonga, 23 Apr 2002, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Eragrostis curvula Schrad. (Poaceae) , 13 (AMNH_ PBI 00071075) (USNM). Dewey Co.: 0.2 km W of jct. Rt. 270/281, 6.8 km SE of Oakwood, 21 May 2001, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Eragrostis curvula Schrad. (Poaceae) , 273 (AMNH_PBI 00071073, AMNH_PBI 00071076–00071101), 25♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071102–00071126) (AMNH, CNC, USNM). Rts. 270/281, 6.8 km SE of Oakwood, 20 May 2003, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Eragrostis curvula Schrad. (Poaceae) , 1♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071185) (USNM). Garvin Co.: Rt. 76, 4.0 km N of Stephens Co. line (Purdy), 28 Apr 2000 – 30 Apr 2000, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Eragrostis trichodes Nutt. (Poaceae) , 83 (AMNH_PBI 00071127– 00071134), 6♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071135– 00071140) (USNM). Rt. 76, 4.0 km N of Stephens Co. line, NW of Purdy, 20 May 2001, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Muhlenbergia reverchonii Vasey & Scribn. (Poaceae) , 13 (AMNH_PBI 00071146), 3♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071143–00071145) Muhlenbergia reverchonii A.S. Hitchc. (Poaceae) , 23 (AMNH_PBI 00071141, AMNH_PBI 00071142) (USNM). Rt. 76, Purdy, 28 May 2003, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Muhlenbergia reverchonii Vasey &Scribn. (Poaceae) , 1♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071147) (USNM). Johnston Co.: Rt. 99/377, 1.0 km S of Connerville, 11 Apr 2002, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Muhlenbergia reverchonii Vasey & Scribn. (Poaceae) , 13 (AMNH_PBI 00071148) (USNM). Murray Co.: Rt. 77, 2.4 km N of Carter Co. line, 5.0 km S of Turner Falls, 22 Apr 2002, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Schizachyrium scoparium Michx. (Poaceae) , 13 (AMNH_PBI 00071149) (USNM). Texas: Blanco Co.: Rt. 71, 4.9 km SE of Spicewood, 30.43 ° N 98.13 ° W, 1 May 2002, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Muhlenbergia lindheimeri A.S. Hitchc. (Poaceae) , 13 (AMNH_PBI 00071150), 3♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071151–00071153) (USNM). Burnet Co.: Rt. 71, 2 km SE of Spicewood, 30.458 ° N 98.153 ° W, 1 May 2002, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Muhlenbergia lindheimeri A.S. Hitchc. (Poaceae) , 2♀ (AMNH_ PBI 00071154, AMNH_PBI 00071155) (USNM). Callahan Co.: I-20 Frontage Road, ar CR-119, ca. 7 km E of Clyde, 32.405 ° N 99.418 ° W, 20 May 2004, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Eragrostis curvula Schrad. (Poaceae) , 53 (AMNH_PBI 00071180– 00071184), 5♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071220– 00071224) (USNM). Gillespie Co.: Rt. 16, 15 km NE of Fredericksburg, 30.36 ° N 98.75 ° W, 27 May 2001, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Muhlenbergia lindheimeri A.S. Hitchc. (Poaceae) , 13 (AMNH_PBI 00071156), 2♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071157, AMNH_PBI 00071158) (USNM). Kerr Co.: Rt. 16, 7.0 km NE of Kerrville, 30.09 ° N 99.08 ° W, 27 May 2001, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Muhlenbergia reverchonii Vasey & Scribn. (Poaceae) , 13 (AMNH_PBI 00071159) (USNM).Mills Co.: Farm Road 574, 5.0 km W of Goldthwaite, 31.45 ° N 98.62 ° W, 26 May 2001, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Schizachyrium scoparium Michx. (Poaceae) , 123 (AMNH_PBI 00071168– 00071179), 24♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071074, AMNH_PBI 00071197–00071219) (AMNH, CNC, USNM). Rt. 16, 9 km SW of Goldthwaite, 31.3977 ° N 98.6438 ° W, 30 May 2001, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Muhlenbergia lindheimeri A.S. Hitchc. (Poaceae) , 83 (AMNH_ PBI 00071160–00071167), 5♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071187–00071190, AMNH_PBI 00071196) (USNM); 2 May 2002, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Schizachyrium scoparium Michx. (Poaceae) , 4♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071191–00071194) Muhlenbergia reverchonii Vasey & Scribn. (Poaceae) , 1♀ (AMNH_PBI 00071195) (USNM). Tarrant Co.: Fort Worth Nature Center, Fort Worth, 32.84382 ° N 97.47879 ° W, 31 May 2001, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Schizachyrium scoparium Michx. (Poaceae) , 13 (USNM). Travis Co.: Ranch W of Briarcliff, 30.4 ° N 98.057 ° W, 29 May 2001, A.G. Wheeler, Jr., Muhlenbergia lindheimeri A.S. Hitchc. (Poaceae) , 3♀ (USNM).

Figures

Figs. 32–41. Habitus figures of Parthenicus spp. 32, P. taxodii, male (Kentucky, Fayette Co., Lexington, University of Kentucky, 17 June year). 33, P. taxodii, female (same data as for male). 34, P. vaccini, male

Figs. 60–67. Scanning electron photomicrographs of adult male Parthenicus wheeleri. 60, Lateral aspect (30.0X). 61, Head and pronotum, dorsal aspect (72.5X). 62, Head and pronotum, lateral aspect (109X). 63, Head, frontal aspect (126X). 64, Scalelike setae on head (635X). 65, Scalelike setae on head (1800X). 66, Ostiolar evaporative area (232X). 67, Genital capsule, caudal aspect (156X).

Figs. 68–73. Scanning electron photomicrographs of adult female Parthenicus wheeleri. 68, Dorsal aspect (41.2X). 69, Lateral aspect (38.8X). 70, Head and pronotum, dorsal aspect (70.5X). 71, Head and pronotum, lateral aspect (106X). 72, Head, ventral aspect (107X). 73, Ostiolar evaporative area (218X).

Figs. 74–77. Male genitalia of Parthenicus wheeleri. 74, Left paramere. 75, Right paramere (a, caudal aspect; b, anterior aspect). 76, Vesica. 77, Phallotheca.

Figs. 1–12. Habitus figures of Parthenicus spp. 1, P. cruentus, male (Nebraska, Johnson Co., nr. Vesta,