Lampromicra STAL 1873
Creators: name: Gerry Cassis
name: Loren Vanags
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2006
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Scutelleridae
Lampromicra

description: Lampromicra STÅL 1873 (Figs 1d, 21 fh, 28c-e, 39, 40, 41, Table 8)
PHilia SCHIÖDTE 1842: 279 (gen. nov.) (junior homonym of PHilia MEIGEN 1800 [Diptera]); STÅL 1868: 9 (description); LETHIERRY & SEVERIN 1893: 22 (catalogue); SCHOUTEDEN 1904: 28 (description); PHilya STÅL 1865: 33 (incorrect subsequent spelling; key); STÅL 1866: 151 (incorrect subsequent spelling) Lampromicra STÅL 1873: 16 (gen. nov.); KIRKALDY 1909: 299 (synonymy); MCDONALD & CASSIS 1984: 555 (description); CASSIS & GROSS 2002: 595 (catalogue) ScHioedtia KIRKALDY 1905: 79 (nom. nov. for PHil-ia SCHIÖDTE 1842)
Type species: Tetyra senator FABRICIUS 1803, subsequent designation, SCHOUTEDEN 1904: 29
Diagnosis: Lampromicra is recognised by the following combination of characters: moderately sized-body; iridescent colouration Figs 1d, 28 c-e); dorsum and abdominal venter setose (Figs 1d, 28 c-e); lateral margins of jugae weakly sinuate (Fig. 39a); antennae short; AII(a) a little shorter than AI; AI-AII(a&b) rounded; AIII-AIV flattened; AIV longest segment; scutellum with tumescent anterior callus, impunctate, rarely punctate; forewing extending beyond scutellum (Figs 28 c-e); proepisternum weakly explanate (Fig. 39c); external efferent system with a large ostiole; broad, subreniform peritreme, without a medial, longitudinal groove (Fig. 39d); evaporative areas extending to mesepimeron (Fig. 39d); ventral bor-der of pygophore rounded (Fig. 39e) to emarginate; dorsal margin of male genital opening with setal patches (Fig. 40a); parameres with moderately sized hook-shaped apex (Fig 40b); phallotheca with pair of subdistal, thornlike processes (Fig. 40c); ductus seminis distalis S-shaped (Figs 40c, d); ventral conducting canals of ejaculatory apparatus, with ≤ 10 convolutions (Figs 40c, d); CAI absent; CAII bifurcate, CAII(M) basally membraneous, with hook-shaped lobal sclerite (Fig. 40c); CAII(L) membra-neous, with denticulate apex, perpendicular to hook-shaped (Figs 40c, d); vesica Sshaped (Fig. 40c, d); spermathecal fecunda-tion canal elongate; and, spermathecal reservoir broad, oval.
Description: Body elongate-ovoid, strongly tapered caudally (Figs 28 c-e); mod-erately-sized body, males 9-12 mm, females 8.8-13 mm; iridescent colouration, most of-ten dark blue or green (Figs 1d, 28 c-e), sometimes orange, often with contrasting markings on pronotum and scutellum, ei-ther black, orange, bronze or green; body strongly setose (Figs 1d, 28 c-e); dorsum with dense distribution of shallow to moderately deep punctures (Figs 28 c-e), sometimes more scattered on pronotum; ventral surface of body and appendages densely setate, less so on thoracic pleura. Head: subtriangular (Fig. 39a), transverse, weakly declivent; lat-eral margins of jugae weakly excavate (Fig. 39a), subcarinate in profile (Fig. 39b). An-tennae: AII(a) a little shorter than AI; AIAI(a&b) rounded; AIIII-AIV flattened; AIV longest segment. Labium: reaching be-tween the apices of the metacoxae to the mid-point of abdominal sternite IV; LII longest segment; LIII and LIV roughly sube-qual in length. Pronotum: moderately con-vex; anterior margin weakly excavate; an-terolateral margins rectilinear, strongly di-vergent, carinate in profile (Fig. 39b); cal-losite region demarcated posteriorly by transverse trough-like depression, some-times punctate; posterolateral margins weakly convex; posterior margin rectilinear to weakly convex (Figs 28 c-e). Scutellum: V-shaped, strongly tapered posteriorly, strongly declivent beyond connexiva V, posterior margin subtruncate (Figs 28 c-e). Thoracic pleura: anterior margin of proepisternum weakly explanate (Fig. 39c); mesepimeron with evaporative areas (Fig. 39d); external efferent system of metathoracic glands well-developed (Fig. 39d); ostiole large, hooded; peritreme raised, broadly subreniform (Fig. 39d); evaporative areas of metepisternum extending little beyond peritreme (Fig. 39d). Pregenital Abdomen: posterolateral angles without tubercles (Figs 21 f-h). Male Genitalia: pygophore with ventral surface concave, ventral margin rounded (Figs 39e, f, 40a) to excavate; genital opening with dorsal setal patches (Fig. 40a); parameres with columnar base, and relatively short, hook-shaped apex (Fig. 40b); phallotheca box-like, with pair of small, subdistal, thorn-like processes (Fig. 40c); ejaculatory apparatus with elongate ventral conducting canals, ≤ 10 convolutions (Fig. 40c, d); ejaculatory chamber elongate (Fig. 40c); dorsal conducting canal broad; ductus seminis and vesica distalis Sshaped (Fig. 40c); CAII bifurcate, CAII(M) basally membraneous, with hook-shaped lobal sclerite (Fig. 40c); CAII(L) membraneous, with denticulate apex, perpendicular to hook-shaped (Figs 40c, d). Female Terminalia: paratergites VIII moderately-sized, subtriangular; paratergites IX moderately-sized, subelliptoid; gonocoxae I large, subtriangular, outer surface concave. Spermatheca: fecundation canal elongate; spermathecal reservoir broad, oval; pump well-developed, with proximal and distal flanges.
Diversity and distribution: Lampromicra comprises 17 species, three of which occur in Australia (aerea, regia and senator). It also occurs in Indonesia (6 species), New Guinea (7), Philippines (2), New Caledonia (4), and the Solomon Islands (2), with a number of these species occurs in at least two of these countries. Two of the Australian species have restricted distributions, whereas L. senator is in tropical north Australia, extending on the eastern coast as far south as the Northern Rivers of New South Wales (Fig. 41).
Included species:L. aerea(DISTANT 1892) AustraliaL. balteata(WALKER 1867) New GuineaL. cuprina(STÅL 1873) New GuineaL. caledonica(DISTANT) New CaledoniaL. distinguenda(WALKER 1868) IndonesiaL. ditissima(VOLLENHOVEN 1863) Indonesia, New GuineaL. elegans(MONTROUZIER 1861) New CaledoniaL. fastuosa(VOLLENHOVEN 1863) Indonesia, New GuineaL. festiva(GERMAR 1839) PhilippinesL. geminata(DISTANT) New CaledoniaL. geniculata(STÅL 1871) PhilippinesL. jactator(STÅL 1854) Indonesia, New GuineaL. leucocyanea(MONTROUZIER 1855) New Caledonia, New Guinea, Solomon IslandsL. regia(BERGROTH 1895) AustraliaL. senator(FABRICIUS 1803) Australia, New Guinea, IndonesiaL. vulcanica(LE GUILLOU 1841) IndonesiaL. woodfordi(DISTANT 1899) Solomon Islands
Remarks: There has been no modern comprehensive systematic treatment of Lampromicra. MCDONALD & CASSIS (1984) redescribed the genus on the basis of the Australia species, highlighting the importance of the male genitalia. LYAL (1979) mentioned the diagnostic proximity of Lam-promicra with CallipHara and CHrysopHara. Lampromicra differs from CallipHara in having a strongly setose dorsum (Fig. 1d), trough-like posterior margin of the callosite region of the pronotum (Figs 28 c-e), round-ed connexival angles (Figs 21 f-h), the CAI absent (Figs 40a, d), CAII(L) perpendicular to hook-shaped with denticulations (Figs 40a, d), and the vesica is S-shaped (Figs 40a, d). The setose dorsum is not useful for generic boundaries, as it occurs in other scutellerine taxa, such as species of BracHaulax, Procilia, Scutellera and TetratHaria, as well as the Australian species, Cantao parentum.
The species taxonomy of Lampromicra is exceedingly complex, with high intra-population variation in body colour and shape of the male conjunctival appendages. The lobal sclerite of CAII(L) exhibits continuous variation; particularly in the ubiquitous species, L. senator.
description: Published as part of Gerry Cassis & Loren Vanags, 2006, Jewel Bugs of Australia (Insecta, Heteroptera, Scutelleridae), pp. 275-398 in Denisia 19 on pages 369-371, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12996779