New Genera and Species of Conifer-Inhabiting Phyline Plant Bugs from North America (Heteroptera: Miridae)

-Three new genera of phyline Miridae are described from North America to accommodate two taxa removed from Plagiognathus and five newly recognized species from the western part of the continent. Coniferocoris, new genus comprises the type species C. pinicolus and two additional new species, C. abiesicolus, and C. polhemi; Piceophylus, new genus comprises the type species P. keltoni, new species; and Pinophylus, new genus comprises the type species Plagiognathus rolfsi Knight, Plagiognathus carneolus Knight, and the new species Pinophylus stonedahli. Two new species are placed in Psallovius Henry: P. nigroantennatus and P. dimorphicus, and new distributional and host records for P. flaviclavus (Knight) are given. The male genitalic structures of all species are illustrated, and scanning electron micrographs are presented for the head, dorsal vestiture, and pretarsus of representative species. Habitus views as photographs or illustrations are provided for all species. The conifer-feeding Miridae have been the subject of a number of revisionary works, as for example the mirine genera Platylygus (Kelton and Knight, 1970), Pinalitus (Kelton, 1977), and Dichrooscytus (Kelton, 1972). Stonedahl and Schwartz (1996) described two new genera of conifer-feeding Phylinae and Stonedahl (1990) revised Atractotomus, some of whose members are conifer feeders. Nonetheless, the taxonomy of conifer-feeding Phylinae in general remains inadequately studied and several species remain undescribed. In the present paper we recognize additional monophyletic groups of conifer-feeding North American Phylinae and document the species diversity, host associations, and distributions of those groups. The species included in this paper have come to light in part through the ongoing work of the junior author on Plagiognathus Fieber and the recently published work of Stonedahl (1990) on Atractotomus Fieber. Although in the final analysis we were able to assemble a reasonable sample of specimens, this was made possible only through the sorting of large amounts of material from existing collections and through our own extensive field work in the western United States. None of the taxa described here are common in collections, and in particular, the small, somber-colored species of Coniferocoris are inconspicuous when mixed in with large numbers of similarly sized and colored specimens of Plagiognathus. The three new genera described below share certain attributes that may suggest a close relationship among them. First is the conspicuous sexual dimorphism, most NEW GENERA OF CONIFER-INHABITING PHYLINI particularly in antennal segment 2, which in the male is cylindrical and of conspicuously larger diameter than in the female. Similar dimorphism is found in all species of Campylomma Reuter and Rhinacloa Reuter and in some species of Atractotomus, among other genera, but on the basis of other attributes, these groups seem to share little in common with the conifer feeders described in this paper. Second, and possibly more important, is the form of the head, wherein the males in particular have the posterior margin of the eyes weakly to conspicuously removed from the anterior margin of the pronotum and distinctly transverse in appearance. In the females of some species the eyes are not so strongly removed from the pronotum as in the males, and the head is more strongly produced anteriorly, with the consequent loss of the transverse aspect found in the males. In spite of these and other similarities, the male genitalia show substantial variation and on that basis we have chosen to assign the species to three distinct genera. We dedicate this work to our long-time friend and colleague John T Polhemus, in recognition of his substantial contributions to our knowledge of the Heteroptera. John has devoted much of his life to the study of Heteroptera, particularly the aquatic and semiaquatic families. His tireless efforts in the field have produced, in addition to aquatic bugs, large numbers of specimens of Miridae, some of them belonging to the taxa discussed herein. It is with great pleasure that we name one of the new species in John's honor. All measurements are given in millimeters. When available, five specimens of each sex were measured with the mean and range reported for each species. The authors of the host plants recorded follow the nomenclature of Fernald (1950) or Munz and Keck (1970). Coniferocoris, new genus Figs. 1-6 Type species. Coniferocoris pinicolus Schwartz and Schuh, new species. Diagnosis. Recognized among other Phylini by the following suite of characters: small body, coloration ranging from tan to nearly black, sometimes with pale markings; evenly distributed, moderate length, reclining, black or brown simple setae on dorsum; prominent or short anteocular portion of head; antennal segment 2 cylindrical and of greater diameter in males than females; labium reaching from apex of hind coxa to middle of the abdominal sternum; pretarsus with claw relatively broad basally, slender distally, pulvillus small, parempodia setiform and short (Figs. 5D, 6E); vesica J-shaped, with two, very short apical spines (Fig. 2A, B, F), secondary gonopore only slightly removed from apex and moderately large; and left paramere with relatively long, nanrow anterior lobe (Fig. 2C). Coniferocoris can be distinguished from from other small, conifer-inhabiting western Phylini by the presence of simple, short, dark, dorsal setae (Figs. 5C, 6D). The dorsal vestiture of Atractotomus, Knightomiroides Stonedal and Schwartz, Phoenicocoris Reuter, and Pinomiris Stonedahl and Schwartz species includes either silvery white, silky setae or white, flattened scale-like setae; small, conifer-feeding Plagiognathus species have obviously longer and more densely distributed dorsal setae than Conifericoris spp. The structure of the vesica will separate Conifericoris from other 1999 205 206 JOURNAL OF THE NEW YORK ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY Vol. 107(2-3) Fig. 1. Dorsal habitus photograph of Coniferocoris abiesicolus Schwartz and Schuh, female. phyline genera, and the sexually dimorphic second antennal segment will easily distinguish its species from the males of Plagiognathus. Description. Male. Head: frons strongly declivent or gently sloping (Figs. 5A, 6A); clypeus either strongly produced or small, barely visible in dorsal view (Fig. 3C); sometimes frons with faint transverse striations; posterior margin straight; vertex slightly convex, basal carina obsolete; mandibular and maxillary plates not produced, maxillary plate slightly sunken, gena and gula small; buccal cavity large, ovoid; eyes large, subequal to head height in lateral view, dorsal margin produced dorsal to vertex, posterolateral margin slightly but distinctly removed from anterolateral margin of pronotum, emarginate anteriorly; antennal insertion subcontiguous or contiguous with anterior margin of eye, slightly dorsal to ventral margin of eye; antennal segment 1 not thickened, short, segment 2 linear, thickened, of uniform diameter (Fig. 4), length greater than width of head across eyes; segments 3 and 4 of much smaller diameter than segments 1 and 2; reaching from apex of hind coxa to abdominal sternum 6. Thorax: pronotum trapeziform, as wide as long, lateral margins nearly straight, posterior margin slightly concave; disk flattened, without distinct anterior and posterior lobes; calli slightly convex, sometimes subconfluent medially; mesoscutum broadly exposed; scutellum slightly convex; thoracic pleura subglaborus; metathoracic scent-gland evaporatory area as in Fig. 6C. Hemelytra: moderately elongate, subparallel-sided; cuneus shorter than width of head across eyes, longer, than broad, slightly deflexed, apex just exceeding apex of genital segment, in lateral NEW GENERA OF CONIFER-INHABITING PHYLINI