Pulvillophylus angustus, Randall T. Schuh & Michael D. Schwartz, 2016

Randall T. Schuh & Michael D. Schwartz, 2016, Nineteen new genera and 82 new species of Cremnorrhinina from Australia, including analyses of host relationships and distributions (Insecta: Hemiptera: Miridae: Phylininae: Cremnorrhinini), Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 401, pp. 1-279 : 175-176

Pulvillophylus angustus , new species

Figure 76, map 20, table 1, plates 26, 27

DIAGNOSIS: Recognized by relatively small size, compact ovoid body, strongly projecting clypeus and swollen frons, in combination with pale and red coloration (pl. 26); femora with spots on distal half unlike all other Pulvillophylus spp.; endosoma very stout and deep, region distad of secondary gonopore short, dominated by long, hooklike spine (fig. 76, pl. 27). Distinguished from congeners by its compact body form, largely reddish coloration, form of head, and distinct shape of hook on apical endosomal spine. Spots on femora and scattered, woolly, sericeous setae on head, thorax, scutellum, and anteriormost portion of clavus also seen in Halophylus .

DESCRIPTION: MALE: Ovoid; total length 3.85, pronotum width 1.02. COLORATION (pl. 26): Background pale, including appendages, with reddish spots and markings; antennal segment 2 and femora heavily reddish, remaining antennal segments and tibiae pale. SURFACE AND VESTITURE (pl. 26): Body surface with reclining, dark, common setae, pronotum with some erect spinelike setae on anterior process, and head, pronotum, scutellum, and anteriormost portion of clavus also with scattered, weakly flattened, woolly, sericeous setae. STRUCTURE (pl. 26): Body elongate ovoid. Head: Head prognathous, frons swollen, projecting beyond eye by about 1.5 times length of eye, clypeus projecting and visible from above; eyes semicircular and situated laterally on head as viewed from above; eye occupying two-thirds height of head in lateral view; antenna inserted level with ventral margin of eye; labium surpassing apex of metacoxa and reaching onto abdomen. Antenna: Segment 1 strongly elongate, exceeding apex of head by half length of segment, segment 2 moderately long (1.25), 1.84 times width of head. Thorax: Pronotum distinctly campanulate, posterior lobe weakly elevated, posterior margin straight, mesoscutum broadly exposed. Hemelytron: Costal margin convex, body elongate ovoid. GENITALIA (fig. 76, pl. 27): Pygophore: As in generic description. Endosoma: C-shaped, short, stout; ventral strap wide in lateral view, posteroventral margin, opposite of secondary gonopore, broken by cleft; apical portion of dorsal strap subequal to length of secondary gonopore, bifid with a short, straight spine and a long, curved apical spine. Phallotheca: Short, stout; with large ovoid aperture on anterior surface. Parameres: As in generic description.

FEMALE: Unknown.

ETYMOLOGY: From the Latin, angustus , “narrow,” in reference to the elongate, slender head.

HOST: Unknown.

DISTRIBUTION (map 20): Known only from the type locality, near Margaret River, far southwestern Western Australia.

DISCUSSION: We have examined a series of specimens from Hat Head National Park near Kempsey, New South Wales, which are strikingly similar in appearance and coloration to Pulvillophylus angustus . These similarities include the elongate-oval body, the strongly prognathous head, the presence of erect black spines as well as woolly sericeous setae on the head, pronotum, and scutellum, and the long labium reaching to the anterior margin of the pygophore. The host labels indicate the specimens were collected on Leptospermum (Myrtaceae) , whereas there are no definitive host data for any of the species we place in Pulvillophylus . Although the overall appearance might seem a compelling reason to treat this taxon as a Pulvillophylus species, several attributes militate against such a decision. First, the claws, rather than being long, slender, and nearly straight, are only moderately long and strongly bent near the apex. The pulvilli are enlarged, but reach only about two-thirds the length of the claw and appear to be adnate to the claw over most of their length. The endosoma is completely unlike that seen in Pulvillophylus , being much more similar in form to that of Maculiphylus eremophilae (fig. 53, pl. 25), although all remaining aspects of morphology bear no similarity with that taxon. Thus, we conclude that the Hat Head specimens are not members of the Cremnorrhinina and that their similarities with Proteophylus angustus are the result of convergence.

HOLOTYPE: AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: 1 mi E of Jewel Cave, Augusta, 34.26667°S 115.1°E, 22 m, 0 3 Oct 1970, D.H. Colless, 1d (AMNH_PBI 00168850) (ANIC).