Physatocheila explanata, Golub & Soboleva, 2023

Golub, V. B. & Soboleva, V. A., 2023, Descriptions of three new species and one subspecies of Physatocheila (Heteroptera: Tingidae) from China and the Russian Far East, with an identification key to the species of the Russian fauna, Zoosystematica Rossica (Zoosyst. Rossica) 32 (1), pp. 27-42 : 28-29

Physatocheila explanata sp.nov.

( Fig. 1A, C )

Holotype. Male , China, “ Sichuan [Prov.], Tatszinlu. 3. VI [18]93 Potanin [leg.]” [Cyrillic script] ( ZISP) ( Fig. 1E )*.

Paratype. Female, same geographical data as for holotype, 30.V.1893, G. Potanin leg. ( ZISP) ( Fig. 1F ) .

Description. Body oval, rather wide, twice as long as wide, dorsally yellowish brown with rusty tint; costal area of hemelytra with transverse wide darkened stripe.

Head black, with three frontal and two occipital yellow spines. Paired frontal spines thin, rather long, with converging apices; unpaired median frontal spine thicker than frontal ones, rather short, elevated above surface of head, with blunt apex. Occipital spines thin and long, arcuately curved along profile of head surface and adjacent to it, with apices reaching anterior margins of eyes.

Pronotum rather wide, 1.6 (in male) or 1.5 (in female) times as long as wide. Pronotal disc convex. Anterior margin of pronotum produced anteriorly, angulate. Elevated tectiform hood (vesicula) rather long, with six small areolae on each side of median vein. Three longitudinal pronotal carinae rib-shaped, lateral carinae parallel, with one row of extremely small areolae. Areolate paranota completely reflexed on pronotal disc, moderately inflated along almost their entire length, except for anterior margin, more inflated in posterior half; paranota with four longitudinal rows of rather large angular areolae at widest part; veins between areolae rather strongly elevated, areolae deeply depressed, with concave surface. Outer margin of reflexed paranotum pressed to disc, nearly straight over most of its length, slightly sinuate in middle of length, touching or almost touching lateral carina in anterior part only. Apex of posterior pronotal process acuminate.

Macropterous form. Hemelytra considerably protruding beyond abdomen, strongly and sharply rounded externally in middle part of their length, slightly sinuate in apical half. Costal area wide, with two rows of large angular areolae and several areolae of third row in basal third of its length, with 3–4 rows of small darkened areolae in middle part of its length, two rows of large angular areolae posterior to middle part and one row at apex. Subcostal area in male with two rows of areolae over most of its length and with several areolae of third row; subcostal area in female with three rows of areolae in widest part; areolae subequal in size to darkened areolae of costal area in middle. Discoidal area with 10–11 rows of small areolae in widest part. Sutural area with eight rows of areolae in widest part in male, with nine rows in female; size of areolae greatly increasing towards apex of hemelytra.

Thorax ventrally with alternating brownish yellow and black transverse stripes. Abdomen blackish brown on sides, yellowish brown in middle part. Ovipositor and subgenital plate black. Labium reaching base of second abdominal sternite. Metasternal laminae separated from each other, slightly wider than mesosternal ones, parallel throughout most of their lengths. Subgenital plate in female slightly elongate, with straight base and rounded lateral margins and apex. Legs brownish yellow, apices of tarsi blackish.

Length (in mm): body in male 2.80, in female 2.95; head in male and female 0.20; pronotum in male 1.45, in female 1.42; antennal segments (I, II, III, IV) in male 0.12, 0.10, 0.85, segment IV missing, in female 0.12, 0.10, 0.81, 0.28.

Width (in mm): body in male 1.35, in female 1.55; head in male and female 0.43; pronotum in male 0.90, in female 0.95.

Comparison. The new species is morphologically similar to Ph. putshkovi Golub, 1976 ( Fig. 4A, C ) in the more or less inflated reflexed paranota and rather short median frontal spine. Unlike Ph. putshkovi , the paranota in Ph. explanata sp. nov. are inflated along their entire lengths and more inflated in the posterior part. The marginal outer vein of the paranota in Ph. explanata sp. nov. touches the lateral pronotal carina in one point only; this vein in Ph. putshkovi touches the lateral pronotal carina at a distance of about onefifth of its length. The lateral margins of the hemelytra in Ph. putshkovi are not strongly and not sharply rounded in the middle part of the lengths as it is in Ph. explanata sp. nov. The new species is smaller than Ph. putshkovi (body length of the latter is 3.50–3.75 mm).

Physatocheila explanata sp. nov. is similar to Ph. costata (Fabricius, 1794) ( Fig. 3B, D ) in having a rather short median frontal spine, and to Ph. smreczynskii China, 1952 ( Fig. 5A, C ) in having a rather wide costal area of the hemelytra. However, the paranota in Ph. costata and Ph. smreczynskii are not inflated and the hemelytra are externally rounded very weakly. The median frontal spine in Ph. smreczynskii is long, it extends to the bases of the lateral spines. In both species, antennal segment III is much longer than in Ph. explanata sp. nov.: it is 1.85 mm long in Ph. costata and 1.70–1.90 mm long in Ph. smreczynskii .

Etymology. The specific name of this species is a Latin adjective meaning “sprawled” or “flattened”.

Figures

Fig. 1. Physatocheila spp.A, C, E, F, Ph. explanata sp.nov., holotype, male; B, D, Ph. angusta sp. nov. (B, G, holotype, male; D, paratype, female). General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D); labels of holotype (E, G) and paratype (F). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Fig. 4. Physatocheila spp. A, C, Ph. putshkovi Golub, 1976, paratype, female, foothills of Saur Ridge, Kazakhstan; B, D, Ph. marginulata Golub, 1976, female, holotype, southern Primorskiy Territory, Russia. General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Fig. 3. Physatocheila spp. A, C, Ph. distinguenda (Jakovlev, 1880), female, southern Primorskiy Territory, Russia; B, D, Ph. costata (Fabricius, 1794), male, environs of St Petersburg, Russia. General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.

Fig. 5. Physatocheila spp. A, C, Ph. smreczynskii China, 1952, male, southern Primorskiy Territory, Russia; B, D, Ph. orientis Drake, 1942, female, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Island, Russia. General appearance, dorsal view (A, B); head and pronotum, dorsolateral view (C, D). Paranotum shown by arrow. Scale bars: 1 mm.