Ashlockobius bipuntatus, Dellapé, 2003

Dellapé, Pablo Matías, 2003, A new species of Ashlockobius (Heteroptera: Rhyparochromidae: Myodochini) from Venezuela, Zootaxa 289 (1), pp. 1-6 : 1-6

Ashlockobius bipuntatus n. sp.

( Figs. 1–10 )

Description.—Body elongate, slender, nearly parallel­sided, pruinose. Total length 7.85mm. Legs and antennae both extremely elongate.

Head dark brown; vertex slightly convex between eyes; below broadly transversely striate; with white, short, abundant, decumbent setae anteriorly; buccular juncture Vshaped, bucculae joined immediately behind labial base; antenniferous tubercules slightly divergent; jugal ridge poorly developed. Eyes protuberant but not stalked. Ocelli closer to anterior margin of collar than to eyes. Length head 1.28, width 1.27, interocular space 0.68, interocellar space 0.27. Rostrum light brown, last segment darker; pilose, with scattered short decumbent setae and longer, erect setae on segments III and IV. Length labial segments I 0.67, II 0.68, III 0.45, IV 0.42. Antenna: segments I, II, and III light brown, distal ends of II and III darker, segment IV reddish brown with distal end light brown; with short, decumbent setae, more abundant at apex. Length antennal segments: I 1.33, II 2.50, III 2.20, IV 1.67. Head strongly narrowed behind eyes but without a distinct neck.

Pronotal collar and anterior pronotal lobe dark brown, posterior pronotal lobe brown with the posterior lateral angles lighter; pronotum punctate, with most prominent punctures on posterior pronotal lobe; with very short setae; anterior pronotal lobe very elongate ( Figs. 1, 3 ), collar delimited posteriorly by a row of punctures in a groove. Length collar, anterior and posterior pronotal lobe 0.18, 1.00, 0.73 respectively. Width collar, anterior and posterior pronotal lobe 0.77, 1.08, 1.62 respectively. Scutellum dark brown; with a Yshape carina, protuberant medially. Length scutellum 1.08, width 0.90.

Hemelytra light brown, not homogeneously pigmented, corium marked with darker areas as follows: a small spot along lateral corial margin at level of distal third, a small apical spot, a oval brown mark at inner angle of corium, and a thin fringe along margin adjacent to membrane. Clavus with three complete rows of punctures and a partial fourth row on distal half between inner and median rows. Outer margin of corium serrate on anterior half. Length claval commissure 0.88. Midline distance apex clavus­apex corium 1.77. Midline distance apex corium­apex abdomen 1.67. Pleuron dark brown, punctate and pilose.

Legs light brown except coxae, fore trochanter and fore femur orange brown; with scattered and short pilosity more abundant on tarsi; meso and metatibiae with spiniform setae. Procoxa with a spine; profemur elongate, slender, with two rows of spines on ventral surface; protibia with numerous minute tubercles along ventral surface. Shaft of protibia slightly curved. Abdomen brown; with abundant, white, short, decumbent setae. Pygophore ( Figs. 5, 6 ) broad in dorsal view, dorsal aperture relatively small; posterior margin bifid. Claspers ( Figs. 7, 8 ) with a thumb­like exterior projection with two long setae, inner angle of shank with a flange not extending to blade. Phallus and ejaculatory reservoir as in Figs. 9 and 10 .

Types.— Holotype male: VENEZUELA, Falcon, Cerro Galicia , 19­XI­1971, J. & B. Bechyne col. Paratypes.— female: same data of holotype; female: 3­XII­1971, same data ; male: VENEZUELA, Falcon, Curimagra , 30­XI­1971, J. & B. Bechyne col.; male: 1­XII­1971, same data .

The holotype will be deposited in the Universidad Central de Venezuela (Maracay, Venezuela) and the paratypes in Museo de la Plata ( Argentina) and J. A. Slater collections .

Remarks.—The paratypes ( Table 1 ) differ from the holotype as follows: The females have shorter antennae and pronotal lobes ( Figs. 2, 4 ). The fourth antennal segment is reddish brown to dark brown and the collar is dark brown to brown. The corium may have a transverse brown fringe at the level of the distal third, which connects the lateral spot and oval mark; and the clavus a small spot distally between the median and outer rows of punctures.

Etymology.—The name refers to the unusual bifid posterior margin of the pygophore.

Discussion.— A. bipuntatus can be easily distinguished from A. cursorius by the bifid posterior margin of pygophore and the presence of numerous minute tubercles along the ventral surface of the fore tibiae, Slater & Slater (1999) mentioned a rounded posterior margin of pygophore and four small sharp spines in the fore tibia as generic characters. However, I believe A. bipuntatus is congeneric with A. cursorius . Although traditionally the presence or absence of spines on the legs have been used as generic characters, as seen in the generic revision of the tribe by Harrington (1980), I consider the spines to be intrageneric variations.

The presence of a serrated anterior border of corium suggests a stridulatory apparatus, Slater & Slater mentioned an irregular border of corium in A. cursorius but they stated that there is no stridulitrum. The species of Ashlockobius closely resemble Villalobosothignus figueroai , a monotypic species described by Brailovsky (1984), who mentions for the first time the presence of a stridulatory mechanism for the tribe: costal margin­fore femur, shown by a serrated costal margin, and a difficult to recognize plectrum on the fore femora. It is very possible that these two genera will prove to be congeneric, in which case Villalobosothignus will have priority. V. figueroai is characterized by an antenniferous tubercle very developed and projected externally, at least the posterior pronotal lobe shiny and five spines in the fore tibiae.

Unfortunately, I have not been able to determine if Ashlockobius has a stridulitrum and plectrum or not.

Figures

FIGURES 1–4: Ashlockobius bipuntatus, male and female head and pronotum. Male: 1— head and pronotum, dorsal view. 3—head and pronotum, lateral view. Female: 2—head and pronotum, dorsal view. 4—head and pronotum, lateral view.

FIGURES 5–10: Ashlockobius bipuntatus, male genitalia. 5—pygophore, dorsal view. 6—pygophore, lateral view. 7—right paramere, inner view. 8—right paramere, outer view. 9—phallus. 10— ejaculatory reservoir.