Sasajiscymnus nigritus Iqbal, Nasir & Bodlah 2020, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Iqbal, Zafar
name: Nasir, Muhammad Farooq
name: Bodlah, Imran
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Coleoptera
Coccinellidae
Sasajiscymnus
Sasajiscymnus nigritus

description: Sasajiscymnus nigritus Iqbal, Nasir & Bodlah sp. nov.
(Fig. 2 a–f)
Type material. Holotype, male, PAKISTAN: Islamabad, Kachnar Park, 33°40’32.99”N 73°4’39.15”E, 419m, No. PMAS-AAUR 1018, 31.IX.2016, leg. Z. Iqbal. Paratypes, 2 males with same data as holotype (PMAS-AAUR).
Diagnosis: This species externally is similar to the Chinese species Sasajiscymnus sternalis (Pang & Gordon) in general appearance, but it can be differentiated by its penis capsule with inner arm as long as outer arm and apex of penis strongly curved inward. In S. sternalis the penis capsule has a long inner arm and short outer one, and the penis apex is simple.
Description: TL: 1.78 mm, TW: 1.25 mm, TH: 0.66 mm, HW: 0.59 mm, TL/TW: 1.42; PL/PW: 0.55; EL/TW: 1.06.
Body (Fig. 2a) elongate oval, moderately convex, dorsally covered with whitish pubescence. Head, antennae, mouthparts and clypeus yellow. Pronotum yellow to brown. Scutellum small, brown. Elytron black with basal 1/7 and apical 3/7 yellow. Prothoracic hypomeron and prosternum yellow. Mesoventrite and metaventrite yellowish brown. Elytral epipleuron yellow brown with margins dark brown. Legs yellow.
Head small, 0.67× pronotal width (HW/PW= 0.59/0.88). Head with frontal punctures fine, each equal in diameter to eye facet, 0.5–1 diameters apart. Antenna composed of 10 antennomeres. Eye finely faceted, with small densely distributed interfacetal setae, interocular distance 0.5× head width (Fig. 1a). Pronotum 0.7× elytral width (PW/EW=0.88/1.25), pronotal punctures sparsely distributed, similar to those on head, separated by 1–2 diameters. Surface of elytron with punctures much coarser than those on pronotum, separated by 1–2 diameters. Prosternal intercoxal process rectangular, 2× as long as its width at base, with lateral carinae parallel, extending to anterior margin, (Fig. 1b). Abdominal postcoxal line incomplete laterally, extending to 5/6 length of ventrite 1, gently recurved at the end (Fig. 2b).
Male genitalia. Penis slender (Fig. 2c). Penis capsule with inner arm as long as outer arm. Apex of penis strongly curved inward, with thin and blunt tip (Fig. 2d). Tegmen stout (Fig. 2 e–f). Penis guide in lateral view parallel-sided in basal 2/3, then abruptly convergent to blunt tip (Fig. 2e); in ventral view, penis guide slightly constricted at base, sides rounded and then tapering to a blunt apex (Fig. 2f). Paramere short, about 1/3 length of penis guide, apex sub-rounded, with long dense setation (Fig. 2f).
Female. Not studied.
Etymology. The species name is derived from Latin (nigritus = black) and refers to the black elytra.
Prey. This species is predatory on Diaspididae (Hemiptera).
Host Plant. Sasajiscymnus nigritus was collected on Ficus palmata (Rosales: Moraceae).
Distribution. Pakistan: Islamabad.
description: Published as part of Iqbal, Zafar, Nasir, Muhammad Farooq & Bodlah, Imran, 2020, A new species of Sasajiscymnus Vandenberg (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae) from Pakistan, pp. 379-390 in Zootaxa 4759 (3) on page 382, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4759.3.4, http://zenodo.org/record/3741226