Metoisops popovi Kim, Taszakowski, and Jung, 2023

Kim, Junggon, Taszakowski, Artur, Herczek, Aleksander, Zmarzły, Marzena & Jung, Sunghoon, 2023, New species of mirid insects and their importance for the higher classification of plant bugs, Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 68 (1), pp. 75-83 : 79-81

Metoisops popovi Kim, Taszakowski, and Jung sp. nov.

Figs. 1B , 3 .

Zoobank LCID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:9143B0B3-926B-469E-A372-E8491E48C37B

Etymology: Named after the late Professor Yuri A. Popov, a specialist of fossil taxa and the one of the authors of the genus Metoisops ; a noun in the genitive case.

Holotype: CNU CNUHHMF005 , female in a 25×39 × 15 mm in piece of Baltic amber, with the curatorial museum code.

Type locality: Unknown locality on Baltic Sea Coast, Poland or Russia.

Type horizon: Baltic amber, mid-Eocene (ca. 44.1±1.1 Ma according to Wappler 2005).

Material.— Holotype only.

Diagnosis.—Differs from other congeners by the following combination of characters: body size large, more than 3 mm, deeply punctate, covered with densely golden pubescence ( Fig. 3A 1 ); head extremely transverse, wider than 3× longitudinal length; vertex wide, as wide as 1/4 head; compound eye as wide as 1.6× vertex; second antennal segment as thick as first segment; third segment longer than fourth segment; fourth antennal segment not divided; second labial segment shortest; third labial segment longest ( Fig. 3A 1 –A 4 ); posterior pronotal width shorter than 2 times longitudinal length; mesoscutum narrow ( Fig. 3A 5); embolium impunctate.

Description.—Female body elongate-oval, length 3.31 mm. Mostly dark brown, partly pale brown. Head mostly pale brown; vertex and frons dark; clypeus and juga dark brown; antennae mostly dark brown; fourth antennal segment somewhat paler; labium mostly brown, apex of fourth labial segment dark brown. Thorax pronotum entirely dark brown; scutellum paler, brown; hemelytron mostly dark brown; embolial margin paler; membrane grayish, subhyaline; legs entirely pale brown. Abdomen entirely dark brown.

Body generally glossy, mostly punctate, densely covered with golden pubescence; frons and clypeus impunctate, covered with relatively short pubescence; antennae with short and dense erect setae; pronotum with large and dense punctures except for calli region, densely covered with golden pubescence; scutellum with small punctures and with somewhat short pubescence; mesoscutum impunctate; hemelytra with large punctures, covered with dense golden pubescence; embolial area impunctate; cuneus impunctate.

Head hypognathous, elongate in lateral view, anterior margin straight in dorsal view, less than pronotum height in lateral view; vertex relatively wide, 1.68 times as wide as single compound eye; compound eye slightly prominent in frontal view; ocelli large, positioned near compound eye, not close to each other; fovea antennalis positioned below compound eyes; antennae shorter than the body, four segmented, cylindrical; first segment shorter than the fourth segment, as thick as second segment; second segment longest, shorter than the third and fourth segments combined; third segment longer than 2 times fourth segment; proportion of first to fourth antennal segments 0.27: 1.01: 0.77: 0.3; frontal-clypeal part rather elongate; labium somewhat thick, exceeding hind coxae, reaching third abdominal segment. Thorax pronotum trapezoid, midline length longer than anterior width and /2 posterior width respectively, posterior margin weakly convex in middle, lateral margin straight, posterior angle slightly carinate; pronotal collar narrow; calli region weakly swollen; scutellum large, midline the same as pronotal midline length, width more than anterior pronotal width; mesoscutum narrowly developed; lateral margin of hemelytra rounded; commissure as long as scutellum length; cuneus broad, inner margin straight, cuneal fracture weakly developed; membrane with two cells (large and very small); legs moderately long; hindfemur not reaching the apex of abdomen; tarsus two segmented. Abdomen elongate, exceeding apex of cuneus. Genitalia not examined.

Measurements (in mm).—Body length 3.31; head length 0.18; head width including compound eyes 0.65; vertex width 0.16; first antennal segment 0.27; second antennal segment 1.01; third antennal segment 0.77; fourth antennal segment 0.3; first labial segment 0.56; second labial segment 0.21; third labial segment 0.6; fourth labial segment 0.33; pronotal midline length 0.52; basal pronotal maximal width (straight) 0.96; anterior scutellar width 0.80; scutellar midline length 0.60; commissure length 0.61; outer embolial margin length (straight) 1.47; maximal width across hemelytron 0.64; hindleg (femur: tibia: tarsus) 1.28: 1.44: 0.35.

Stratigraphic and geographic range. — Type horizon and locality only.

Figures

Fig. 1. Baltic ambers with specimens of mirid insects. A. Metoisops michalskii Kim, Taszakowski, and Herczek sp. nov., holotype male, DZUS HE44- 451-1-001, from the Baltic Amber (Vistula Spit, Gdańsk Bay, Poland), mid-Eocene. B. Metoisops popovi Kim, Taszakowski, and Jung sp. nov., holotype female, CNU CNUHHMF005, from the Baltic Amber (unknown locality on Baltic Sea Coast), mid-Eocene.

Fig. 3. Mirid insect Metoisops popovi Kim, Taszakowski, and Jung, sp. nov., holotype female, CNU CNUHHMF005, from the Baltic Amber (unknown locality on Baltic Sea Coast), mid-Eocene. Dorsal habitus.Arrow points to deep incision between calli (A1), lateral habitus (A2), head in dorsal view (A3), head in lateral view (A4), scutellum (A5), hindfemur with trichobothria (A6).

Fig. 4. Photographs (A1, A3) and drawings (A2, A4) of femoral trichobothria in mirid insect Metoisops akingbohungbei Herczek and Popov, 2014, holotype male, CEHI BB M HE 4, from the Baltic Amber (unknown locality on Baltic Sea Coast), mid-Eocene. Five mesofemoral trichobothria (A1, A2); six metafemoral trichobothria (A3, A4). Scale bars 0.1 mm.