Aphidura corsicensis, Nieto Nafria, Juan M., Blackman, Roger L. & Martin, Jon H., 2014

Nieto Nafria, Juan M., Blackman, Roger L. & Martin, Jon H., 2014, Two more new species of Aphidura (Hemiptera, Aphididae), and a note on variation in Aphidura bozhkoae Narzikulov, ZooKeys 425, pp. 113-130 : 117-119

Taxon classification Animalia Hemiptera Aphididae

Aphidura corsicensis sp. n.

Diagnosis.

Siphunculi slightly swollen. Dorsum of thorax and abdomen with setiferous sclerites (apterae). Mesosternal mammariform processes pale, flat and smooth (apterae). Abdominal marginal tubercles absent. Tarsal formula 3.3.3

Apterous viviparous female

from 3 specimens (Fig. 2). Shiny dark green in life. In mounted specimens, head, antennae, legs, siphunculi, cauda, genital and anal plates, and thoracic and abdominal sclerites yellowish brown, with apex of antennal segments III, IV and V, antennal segment VI, very apex of tibiae, tarsi and apex of siphunculi something darker than aforementioned structures. Frons undulated. Head mostly smooth, some rugosity lines are present on dorsum. Proximal section of anten nal segment III and segments IV-VI imbricated. Setae on body dorsum, antennae and most of those on legs thick with apices blunt or slightly capitate. Mesosternal mammariform processes pale, flat and smooth. Setiferous sclerites present on dorsum of thorax and abdomen, mostly with one setae and similar in size to spiracular sclerites; marginal sclerites on abdominal segments 2-4 often coalescent; those on segment 6 forming postsiphuncular sclerites; and those on segment 7 and 8 partially coalescent; sclerites on abdominal segments 6-8 with spinules. Intersegmental sclerites small. Siphunculi slightly swollen (maximal width 1.04-1.10 times minimal width of the stem), with small scales and distinct preapical incision and flange. Cauda tongue shaped. Metric and meristic features in Table 1.

Types.

Holotype: apterous viviparous female, collected on Cerastium soleirolii Ser. ex Duby. ( Caryophyllaceae ), North slope of Mount Cinto, (Corsica, France), noted as more than 1100m, 08-VII-1980, J. H. Martin leg.. Paratypes: two apterous females from the same colony as the holotype.

Etymology.

The specific name of the new species is an adjective that means inhabitant of Corsica, in feminine.

Discussion.

This species was included as Aphidura sp. in the host lists and key to aphids on Cerastium by Blackman and Eastop (2006), but has not previously been formally described.

Aphidura corsicensis can be easily distinguished from other Aphidura species by the abundant dorsal setiferous sclerites, which are not present in any other species of the genus. The host plant is not normally found below 1900m (Arthur Chater, Kew Gardens, pers. comm.) but the plant hosting Aphidura corsicensis was estimated to have been collected at around 1100-1200m (Martin).