Agaveocoris rostratus Henry and Menard 2020, new species
Creators: name: Henry, Thomas J.
name: Menard, Katrina L.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Agaveocoris
Agaveocoris rostratus

description: Agaveocoris rostratus Henry and Menard, new species
(Figs. 35–37, 91–93, 126)
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: EE8B3298-5088-4980-B9DF-3D8F8CDBE1E9
DIAGNOSIS. This species (Figs. 35–37) is recognized by the small size, the dull dark brown hemelytra sometimes tinged with red, the distinctive dark brown marks on the frons and interocular area, the dark spotted calli, the extremely long labium that extends to the genital capsule in males and beyond the base of the ovipositor in females, the C-shaped left paramere (Fig. 92) with a tapered apex, and the elongate right paramere (Fig. 93) with a strongly upturned apex.
Agaveocoris rostratus keys to couplet 9 with the similar-appearing A. dimidiatus based on the small size, the dark brown hemelytra, the strong dark marking on the frons and interocular area, the dark calli, and the relatively long labium. It can be distinguished from A. dimidiatus by the proportionately longer antennal segment I that is subequal to the interocular distance (versus shorter than the interocular distance) and the much longer labium (A. rostratus: 1.87–1.92 mm in males, 1.95–1.98 mm in females versus A. dimidiatus: 1.28–1.44 mm in males, 1.41–1.49 mm in females).
DESCRIPTION. Male: (n = 1; holotype measurements in parentheses): Length from apex of head to cuneal fracture 2.53 mm (2.62 mm); length from apex of head to apex of membrane 3.49 mm (3.71 mm); widest point across hemelytra 1.28 mm (1.33 mm). Head: Width across eyes 1.06 mm (1.09 mm); interocular width 0.61 mm (0.66 mm). Labium: Length 1.87 mm (1.92 mm), extending well onto genital capsule. Antenna: Segment I length 0.45 mm (0.50 mm); II, 0.69 mm (0.75 mm); III, 0.56 mm (0.58 mm); IV, 0.51 mm (0.53 mm). Pronotum: Median length 0.53 mm (0.58 mm); posterior width 1.18 mm (1.18 mm).
Macropterous, small, weakly ovoid. General color pale yellowish gray and brown, sometimes tinged with red. COLORATION. Head: Pale yellowish brown, vertex with two dark brown transverse stripes, frons with a row of short, transverse stripes on either side of middle; clypeus and labrum often dark brown. Labium: Pale brown. Antenna: All antennal segments brownish black. Pronotum: Pale yellowish brown anterior to and just behind calli and narrowly along posterior margin, disc darker brown, calli with dense dark brown spots. Mesoscutum: Yellowish orange. Scutellum: Yellow. Hemelytron: Dark brown, weakly shiny, apical half of corium sometimes tinged with rosy red; membrane pale translucent brown, veins dark brown. Ventral surface: Thorax pale yellowish brown, sometimes tinged with reddish orange; abdomen pale yellowish brown, with posterior margins of segments dark brown, apex of genital tubercle genital opening darker brown. Legs: Coxae pale yellow; pro- and mesofemora pale yellowish brown, metafemora basally pale yellow, distally pale brown, all femora with anterior brown spots; tibiae and tarsi pale yellowish brown; claws dark brown. SURFACE AND VESTITURE. As in generic description. STRUCTURE. Antennal segment I length greater than one-half length of segment II, length segment II less than width of interocular distance; apex of labium extending to genital capsule; posterior margin of pronotum weakly concave; remaining structures as in generic description.
Male genitalia: Endosoma (Fig. 91) as in generic description. Left paramere (Fig. 92) small, C-shaped, with the apex tapered. Right paramere (Fig. 93) elongate, slender, and shallowly C-shaped, with blunt, upturned apex.
Female (n = 2): Length from apex of head to cuneal fracture 2.56–2.62 mm; length from apex of head to apex of membrane 3.71–3.78 mm; widest point across hemelytra 1.82–1.86 mm. Head: Width across eyes 1.10–1.14 mm; interocular width 0.64–0.66 mm. Labium: Length 1.95–1.98 mm. Antenna: Segment I length 0.50–missing; II, 0.67–missing; III, missing; IV, missing. Pronotum: Median length 0.56–0.58 mm; posterior width 1.23–1.28 mm.
Similar to male in size, shape, and coloration. Genitalia as in generic description.
ETYMOLOGY. The specific epithet “rostratus” is used to denote to long labium that extends well beyond the hind coxae to the genital capsule in males and onto the ovipositor in females.
HOSTS. Taken “on small Agave sp.”
DISTRIBUTION. Puebla, Mexico.
TYPE MATERIAL. Holotype ♂, MEXICO: Puebla: 3 km NW Tecalzingo, 1980 m., 18° 43.9N, 97° 41.0W, 29 Jul 1995, T. J. Henry and E. Barrera, taken on small Agave sp. (USNM). Paratypes: 1♂, 2 ♀♀, same data as for holotype (1♀, UNAM; 1♂, 1♀, USNM).
description: Published as part of Henry, Thomas J. & Menard, Katrina L., 2020, Revision and Phylogeny of the Eccritotarsine Plant Bug Genus Caulotops Bergroth, with Descriptions of Four New Genera and 14 New Species (Hemiptera Heteroptera: Miridae: Bryocorinae) Associated with Agave (Agavoideae Asparagaceae) and Related Plant Genera, pp. 201-252 in Zootaxa 4772 (2) on pages 224-225, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4772.2.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3816462