Valleriola buenoi
Creators: name: Li, Zihe
name: Jin, Zezhong
name: Polhemus, Dan A.
name: Ye, Zhen
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Leptopodidae
Valleriola
Valleriola buenoi

description: Valleriola buenoi (Usinger, 1942)
Erianotus buenoi Usinger 1942: Bull. Brooklyn Entomol. Soc. 37: 103–106.
Valleriola buenoi: Drake & Hottes 1951, J. Kansas Entomol. Soc. 24: 21–22.
(Figs. 3, 8, 12, 19–21, 31, 40–42, 55, 56)
Material examined. 2 males, 2 females, PHILIPPINES, Luzon, Aurora, Canile Trail, Bayan ng Maria, 13 December 2019, Zhen Ye leg. (NKUM).
Diagnosis. Body length 4.5–4.8, ground color mainly black, with yellowish spots and stripes dorsally (Figs. 3, 8, 12). Head mainly black, clypeus and bucculae yellow; labium short, labiomere I completely hidden beneath bucculae, labiomere II yellowish-white, with four (2+2) spines, labiomeres III and IV black; compound eyes distinctly large, without sparse short, spine-like setae; venter of head with three spines beneath each compound eye (Figs. 19–21). Pronotum densely punctured, mainly black to blackish-brown, posterior margin yellowish; scutellum blackish with yellowish apex (Figs. 3, 8, 12). Hemelytra mainly blackish-brown; clavus medially with a yellowish stripe, apically with a small, yellowish spot; corium with a sub-basal, yellowish spot in cell Sc, usually extend over R+M vein (Fig. 31). Fore femur incrassate, ventrally with six large spines (three spines on outer side and three on inner side) and two rows of dense, small, black spines (Figs. 40–42). Paramere stick-like, simple, apically with dense punctures and interiorly with erect hairs (Figs. 55, 56).
Comparative notes. Valleriola buenoi is similar to V. javanica, but can be distinguished by the following characters: antennomeres III and IV are shorter (Drake & Hottes 1951); the median part of the pronotum lacks yellowish marks (Figs. 3, 8, 12); the stripe on the clavus does not reach the apex of the clavus (Fig. 31); the fore femur has three large spines on the inner side, with one of these distinctly displaced from the inner row of spines (Figs. 40–42); and the paramere is relatively simple and elongate, without the prominent apical hook characteristic of V. javanica (Figs. 55, 56). In contrast, in V. javanica, antennomeres III and IV are much longer; the median part of the pronotum bears a yellowish spot (Figs. 5, 10); the stripe on the clavus is relatively long, reaching the apex of the clavus (Fig. 33); the fore femur bears four large spines forming a regular row on the inner side (Figs. 46–48); and the paramere is strongly hooked apically (Fig. 60).
Remarks. We checked arrangement of spines on the fore femur of Valleriola and found that V. asiatica sp. nov., V. javanica and V. bui sp. nov. possess seven large spines on the ventral side (three spines on the inner side and four on the outer side) (Figs. 37–39, 43–48), whereas V. buenoi has only six large spines on the ventral side (three spines on the inner side and three on the outer side), with one large spine on the inner row distinctly displaced from the others (Figs. 40–42).
Distribution: China (Hainan) (Drake & Maa, 1954), Philippines (Luzon) (Usinger, 1942) (Fig. 61).
description: Published as part of Li, Zihe, Jin, Zezhong, Polhemus, Dan A. & Ye, Zhen, 2023, Two new species of Valleriola (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Leptopodidae) and taxonomic notes on the tribe Leptopodini Brullé, 1836 from East and Southeast Asia, pp. 329-344 in Zootaxa 5256 (4) on pages 332-337, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5256.4.2, http://zenodo.org/record/7755108