Loricula Curtis 1833
Creators: name: Yasunaga, Tomohide
name: Yamada, Kazutaka
name: Ohno, Tomohide
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Microphysidae
Loricula

description: Genus Loricula Curtis
Loricula Curtis, 1833: 197, type species by monotypy: L. pselaphiformis Curtis, 1833: 197; Henry, 1988: 250 (cat.); Péricart, 1996: 79 (cat.); Yasunaga, 2001: 111 (diag.); Aukema et al., 2013: 75 (cat.); Yasunaga & Yamada, 2017: 1211 (diag.): Yasunaga et al., 2018: 168 (diag.); Aukema, 2018 (online cat.).
Diagnosis: East Asian species of the genus Loricula are recognized primarily by: Moderate to large size (1.5–3.0 mm in total length but females much shorter than 2.4–3.0 mm in macropterous males); basic coloration brownish, partly or sometimes largely reddish; always sexually dimorphic; male adult always macropterous whereas female rounded, either coleopteroid (Figs. 2, 3A), micropterous (Fig. 4K) or staphylinoidy; antennal segment II usually longer than IV; female pronotum trapezoid or campanulate, with more or less projected posterior angle (except for micropterous form with truncate pronotum); scent gland with narrow evaporative area (Fig. 3F); male forewing membrane with corial process (cf. Yasunaga & Yamada, 2017; Yasunaga et al. 2018); and male parameres more or less asymmetrical. Further diagnostic characters were provided by Yasunaga & Yamada (2017).
Distribution. Palearctic and Nearctic regions (mostly temperate and cold temperate climate zones; Nearctic populations are considered to have been introduced) (Yasunaga & Yamada 2017).
Discussion. Loricula species are dominantly recorded from the western Palearctic Region (Yasunaga & Yamada, 2017). Because of its tiny size, restricted distribution and obscure habits, this genus has hardly been studied. The male adults resemble anthocorids, whereas the females have remarkable wing polymorphism. Following a category of heteropteran wing forms suggested by Henry (2012) and Schuh & Slater (1995), most of the female adults of Japanese Loricula species are coleopteroid (only L. nikko is micropterous). In Japan, five congeners are now known. However, two species, L. mikawa sp. nov. and L. nikko, are currently represented only by females.
As suggested by Yasunaga & Yamada (2017), the females of Loricula species appear to complete its whole life cycle in the litter at the forest floor and, therefore, it is usually difficult to collect the female specimens in good number. The females were observed to crawl up on the low vegetation (mostly ferns, cf. Fig. 1D), mossy stones or fungous rotten logs probably for contact with the males during a limited breeding season (from June to July in Japan mainland). Incidentally, the female adults of L. mikawa sp. nov. were found on tree trunks (Fig. 1C) at night.
Careful observation using a tabletop SEM documented significant interspecific differences on the surface structures of the forewing (hemelytron) between four species (Fig. 5). Variation in the pattern of granulate microstructures is noted for L. pilosella and L. yakushima —densely distributed, L. miyamotoi —sparsely distributed, and L. mikawa sp. nov. —absent.
Although little is known about biology and immature forms of microphysid bugs, the eggs are remarkably large-sized as in Fig. 6I, comparing with those of other heteropterans (cf. Yasunaga & Yamada, 2017; Yasunaga et al., 2018).
description: Published as part of Yasunaga, Tomohide, Yamada, Kazutaka & Ohno, Tomohide, 2020, A new species of the genus Loricula Curtis from central Honshu, Japan (Heteroptera: Microphysidae), pp. 98-106 in Zootaxa 4759 (1) on pages 99-101, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4759.1.6, http://zenodo.org/record/3736034