Turrana ejuncida, Tatarnic & Cassis, 2022

Tatarnic, Nikolai J. & Cassis, Gerasimos, 2022, Turrana ejuncida, a new species of Acanthocorini (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Coreidae) from Cape Range, Western Australia, with discussion of its systematic position and host plant associations, Zootaxa 5092 (1), pp. 85-96 : 88-91

Turrana ejuncida sp. nov.

Figures 1–4

http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A20136D2-9CD7-4AA4-A564-CDDDA1276CEB

Type material. Holotype. ♂ AUSTRALIA: Western Australia: Cape Range National Park , rocky ridge adjacent to canyon [L31], 22.169844°S 113.940834°E, 229m, beating, ex. flowering Ipomoea yardiensis A.S. George. McMah, A. & Tatarnic, N. 25/06/2019 WAM ( WAME106179 ).

Paratypes.: 2 ♀♀, same collection data as holotype, WAM ( WAME106178 , WAME106180 ) ; 4 ♂♂, 2 ♀♀, same collection data as holotype ( UNSW) . 2 ♂♂, Cape Range National Park , Charles Knife Canyon Road, on ridge 22.09672ºS 114.005872ºE, 286m, ex. base of Triodia epactia S.W.L. Jacobs. Tatarnic, N. and Wilson, N. , 20/08/2021 ( WAME109822 , WAME109823 ) .

Etymology. This species’ name refers to its slender body shape, from the Latin ‘ejuncida’, meaning rushlike or lean; feminine.

Diagnosis. Turrana ejuncida sp. nov. is recognised by the following combination of characters: body orange brown; body with moderately dense distribution of white scale-like setae; slender, parallel-sided body; male head length less than 2x maximal pronotal length; eyes closer to pronotum than to apex of head; labium reaching beyond midpoint of mesosternum; labial groove extending to posterior margin of mesosternum; midline of scutellum not keeled; parameres with apices weakly recurved.

Description. Colouration (fig 1A–D). Body mid brown to orangish brown, with contrasting darker markings; head with paler midline. Head dull brown, darker on apex of maxillary plates with darker colouring extending laterally in line with the eye. Antennae orange-brown, with AIV darker. Pronotum dull brown, darker on anterior region, and submedially on pronotal disc. Thoracic pleura with irregular dark brown mottling. Metathoracic external efferent system yellow-brown, paler than remainder of thoracic pleura. Hemelytra mostly yellowish brown, with membrane veins dark brown. Femora mid brown, with tibiae paler, yellowish brown. Abdomen dark brown with obscure yellow brown and dark brown banding.

Texture and vestiture (figs 1A–D; 2A–F; 3A). Pale scalelike setae moderately to densely distributed on body and appendages.

Structure. Head (figs 1; 2A–C): males approximately 1.09x and females approximately 1.13x longer than wide; eyes positioned closer to thorax than to apex of head. Labium: extending just beyond middle of mesosternum, LI, LII, and LIV subequal in length, LIII shortest. Thorax (figs 1A–D; 2A–B, D–E): scutellum flat, without keeled midline; pro- and mesosternum with sulcate midline furrow reaching posterior margin of mesosternum to receive labium. Metathoracic scent gland (figs 1B, D; 2F): external efferent system auriculate-type; ostiolar canal depressed, elongate, apically truncate, bound anteriorly by raised, smooth, apically tumose peritreme, posteriorly with round tumescence; with depressed evaporative area, with tightly packed evaporative bodies; auricle-shaped. Male genitalia (fig 3A–C): posterior margin of genital opening greatly thickened, densely hirsute; proctiger divided medially as paired subrectangulate plates; parameres short, weakly arcuate, with crown hirsute, contiguous medially at rest; aedeagus with thickened cylindrical phallotheca; large dorsal conjunctival lobe upright, extending beyond vesica, without sclerotised process; paired lateral conjunctival lobes, anterior portion membranous, each with caudally directed, flattened sclerotised process; paired ventral conjunctival lobes apically membranous, each with two caudally directed sclerotized processes; vesica a helical sclerotized tube enclosing ductus seminis. Female genitalia (fig 4A–C): gonocoxae moderately long, weakly tapered caudally; gonocoxae 9 greatly elongate, around 2.5x longer than gonocoxae 8; laterotergites 8 narrow and elongate, longer than gonocoxae 8.

Measurements. Males (n=3) (holotype followed by range, with mean in parentheses): body length 13.354, 13.354–13.975 (13.587). Head: length 1.198, 1.198–1.339 (1.289), width across eyes 1.103, 1.103–1.208 (1.148), interocular distance 0.724, 0.716–0.785 (0.742). Antennae: AI 1.566, 1.566–1.705 (1.635), AII 1.420, 1.412–1.534 (1.455), AIII 1.570, 1.531–1.673 (1.591), AIV 0.738, 0.738–0.791 (0.765). Labium: LI 0.698, 0.698–0.766 (0.742), LII 0.636, 0.636–0.703 (0.663), LIII 0.429, 0.429–0.494 (0.451), LIV 0.607, 0.607–0.660 (0.636). Pronotum: length 2.284, 2.282–2.452 (2.230), width at collar 0.974, posterior width 1.689. Hemelytra: length 6.606. Females (n=2) (range, with mean in parentheses): body length 16.086 –16.168 (16.127). Head: length 1.335 –1.401 (1.368), width across eyes 1.202 –1.215 (1.209), interocular distance 0.830 –0.831 (0.831). Antennae: AI 1.764 –1.926 (1.845), AII 1.483 –1.562 (1.523), AIII 1.605 –1.644 (1.623), AIV 0.739 –0.797 (0.768). Labium: LI 0.820 –0.826 (0.823), LII 0.746 –0.799 (0.7725), LIII 0.427 –0.560 (0.494), LIV 0.713 –0.744 (0.729). Pronotum: Length 2.648 –2.687 (2.668), width at collar 1.028 –1.125 (1.077), posterior width 1.905 –1.999 (1.952). Hemelytra: length 7.628 –7.966 (7.797).

Distribution. Known only from the two localities in Cape Range National Park, Western Australia ( fig 5 ).

Hosts. Initial series collected from flowering Ipomoea yardiensis A.S. George shrubs ( fig 6A ). This species is narrowly distributed in the Exmouth local government area of northwest Western Australia, where it is commonly found. It is a perennial shrub of about 1.5 metres, with broad grey-green leaves and purple tubular flowers. Additional specimens were subsequently collected from the dried base of Triodia epactia S.W.L. Jacobs ( fig 6B ). This tussock-forming perennial is a “soft spinifex and is coated with sticky resin on its green surfaces.

DNA sequence data. Nucleotide data amplified from the holotype male WAME106179 and paratype female WAME106180 for the mitochondrial gene regions COI (accession numbers OL457614 and OL 457615 ) and 16S ( OL 462857 and OL 462858 ) are available on GenBank .

Remarks. Turrana ejuncida sp. nov. and T. abnormis are similar in morphology, with the new species differing by the longer labial segment which reaches beyond the midpoint of the mesosternum (cf. restricted to procoxae in the type species), the sparser distribution of scalelike setae, the absence of a keeled scutellum. Turrana abnormis is known from tropical Australia, with collection records from northern parts of Queensland, the Northern Territory, and the Kimberley region of Western Australia ( Cassis & Gross 2002) ( fig 5 ). Presently T. ejuncida sp. nov. appears to have a more southwestern distribution, known only from the Gascoyne Region of Western Australia ( fig 5 ).

The erection of T. ejuncida sp. nov. as a new species is based on comparison to the original description of T. abnormis by Distant (1911), observation of the syntype photograph of the species available online through the Coreoidea Species File (CoreoideaSF Team 2021), and observation of a single female specimen collected during a Bush Blitz survey in the Kimberley region of Western Australia (Palmer Creek, 15.956°S 127.57627°E, 5 June 2014, N.J. Tatarnic & J. Karras, WAM), and an additional six specimens from nearby Kununurra, as well as the diagnostic characters, including genital illustrations, given by Brailovsky (2007).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Turrana ejuncida sp. nov. dorsal and lateral habitus images. A, B) holotype male (WAME106179); C, D) paratype female (WAME106180).

FIGURE 2. Scanning electron micrographs of Turrana ejuncida sp. nov. female (WAME106180). A) head, lateral; B) head, dorsal; C) head and thorax, ventral; D) pronotum, dorsal; E) hemelytra, detail; F) metathoracic scent gland. Anterior to left in all images.

FIGURE 3. Turrana ejuncida sp. nov. Micro-CT images of male genitalia (WAME106179). A) pygophore and semi-inflated aedeagus, lateral view; sclerotized portions of conjunctival processes coloured green. B) anterior of aedeagus. C) right paramere. Scale bars = 100 µm.

FIGURE 4. Turrana ejuncida sp. nov. Micro-CT images of female terminalia (WAME106180). A) dorsal, B) ventral, and C) lateral views of tip of abdomen. Scale bar = 100 µm.

FIGURE 5. Map of point localities of Turrana abnormis Distant (triangles) and T. ejuncida sp. nov. (circle). Localities of T. abnormis from Cassis & Gross (2002).

FIGURE 6. Collecting sites of Turrana ejuncida sp. nov. in Cape Range National Park. A) flowering Ipomoea yardiensis (detail in inset) on remote rocky ridge adjacent to canyon. B) Triodia epactia (inset shows dry, brown underside of plant) at side of Charles Knife Canyon Road, on ridge.