Atomoscelis pictifrons, Ribes & Pagola-Carte & Heiss, 2008

Ribes, Jordi, Pagola-Carte, Santiago & Heiss, Ernst, 2008, Two new Phylinae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae) from the Canary Islands, Acta Entomologica Musei Nationalis Pragae 48 (2), pp. 423-431 : 428-430

Atomoscelis pictifrons sp. nov.

( Figs. 4-5 )

Type locality. Canary Islands, Tenerife, Las Cañadas.

Type material. HOLOTYPE: J, ‘25W/HE2255 / Tenerife, Las Cañadas / Fecha: 13-VII-95 / A. Camacho, leg.’ [white, type- and handwritten label] // ‘ HOLOTYPE / Atomoscelis pictifrons n. sp. / J. Ribes, Pagola-Carte / & Heiss, 2008’ [red, typewritten label].

Holotype, in a rather bad condition, mounted on a card with the genitalia and some appendages or parts of them glued on a second card below. Deposited in the collection of J. Ribes ( Barcelona , Spain).

Description. Length: approximately 2.3 mm.

General aspect pale greyish; frons, base of corium and cuneus faintly darker. Pronotal calli brownish red. A bright, purple-red, tear- or horn-shaped spot beside the inner margin of each eye ( Fig. 4c ).

Dorsal vestiture consisting of pale, shining, reclining hairs, which appear darker depending on the angle of illumination.

Head ( Figs. 4 b-c) about 2.0 times as high as long in lateral view, 1.25 times as wide as high in frontal view, and 2.0 times as wide as long in dorsal view. Eyes extending over the upper half of head in lateral view. Vertex smooth and slightly concave; frons vertical. Clypeus nearly vertical and arising between antennal fossae.

Rostrum reaching metacoxae. Segments I, II and III pale, segment IV partly darkened distally; segment II slightly longer than segments III and IV together.

Antennae as in Fig. 4a . Segment I fusiform, darkened in its basal quarter and with two small, dark, subapical dots; segment II gradually thickened apically but not clavate, its diameter near apex approximately equal to that of segment I; segments III and IV slender. Length of antennal segments I-II-III-IV = 0.25-0.65-0.45- 0.30 mm.

Ocular index = 1.8.

Pronotum ( Fig. 4c ) trapezoidal, flattened, with straight lateral sides, 2.4 times as wide as long and 1.35 times as wide as diatone. Antennal segment II 0.88 times as long as pronotum wide.

Legs pale (hind legs missing in the single specimen studied). Fore leg as in Fig. 4d . Femur with a black spot on ventral side. Tibia with scattered black spots, from which dark, nearly black, spines arise; spines longer than or as long as tibial diameter, gradually thickened apically. Tarsi pale except segment III, the latter gradually darkened on its distal half; segment III as long as segments I and II together. Claws slender ( Fig. 4e , middle leg), uniformly curved and narrowed towards apex, and provided with small but distinct pulvilli, about 0.2 times as long as the claw.

Pygophore ventrally beset with stout setae ( Fig. 4f ).

Male genitalia. Parameres small; left paramere ( Fig. 5a ) wide, with two pointed processes, posterior one longer than anterior. Right paramere ( Fig. 5b ) apically truncate and difficult to see due to its transparency. Apical portion of phallotheca as in Fig. 5c . Vesica ( Fig. 5d ) J- to S-shaped, with two apical, subequally long processes and with secondary gonopore located beyond their diverging point.

Female unknown.

Etymology. This species is named for the distinctive red, mask-like spots on the head.

Distribution. Up to date, only the holotype has been collected in Tenerife, Canary Islands.

Discussion. The new species undoubtedly belongs to the genus Atomoscelis , since it fits well all its diagnostic characters (see WAGNER 1975). Particularly noticeable in this genus is the shape of the head ( Fig. 4b ). WAGNER (1965) previously discussed and compared the characters of Atomoscelis and related genera, and LINDBERG (1953) and WAGNER (1965) provided keys to species and/or to the related genera; the keys are now of limited value due to subsequent taxonomic changes (KERZHNER & JOSIFOV 1999).

Atomoscelis pictifrons sp. nov. can be easily separated from all other European and northern African species of the genus by the mask-like pair of purple-red spots on the head and the brownish-red pronotal calli ( Fig. 4c ). It is also distinguished by the relatively small ocular index (1.8 in the male holotype), which is usually larger than 2.2 (males and females) in the remaining species ( WAGNER 1975, TAMANINI 1978).

The most closely related taxon to A. pictifrons sp. nov. is A. onusta . Both species share a similar habitus and the shape of the vesica. However, the apical processes of the vesica have different relative lengths (compare Fig. 5d with Figs. 44b-d in CARAPEZZA (1997)).

In addition, A. galvagnii Tamanini, 1978 , has a different colouration of the dorsal surface, one dark spot on antennal segment I, and a much more slender vesica ( TAMANINI 1978, CARAPEZZA 1997). The vesica is also markedly different in A. atthis Linnavuori, 1971 , and A. noualhieri Reuter, 1902 , being stouter and having more basally located secondary gonopore in both species. Atomoscelis pictifrons sp. nov. also differs from these mainly Maghrebian species by the lack of longitudinal reddish stripes on the pronotum and dark dots on the hemelytra ( LINNAVUORI 1971, WAGNER 1975, TAMANINI 1978, CARAPEZZA 1997).

Figures

Fig. 4. Atomoscelis pictifrons sp. nov., holotype. a – right antenna; b – head in lateral view; c – head and pronotum in dorsal view; d – fore leg; e – claw of middle leg; f – pygophore in lateral view. Different scales.

Fig. 5. Male genitalia of Atomoscelis pictifrons sp. nov. a – left paramere in different views; b – right paramere; c – apical portion of phallotheca; d – vesica in different views. Scale bars: a, b, d = 0.2 mm; c = 0.1 mm.