Physatocheila potanini Golub & Soboleva 2023, sp.nov.
Creators: name: Golub, V. B.
name: Soboleva, V. A.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Tingidae
Physatocheila
Physatocheila potanini

description: Physatocheila potanini sp.nov.
(Fig. 2A, C)
Holotype. Female, China, “Sy-ch. [Sichuan Prov.], r. [river] Fubyankho, Shintyan-Lamasy Potan. [G. Potanin leg.] 2VIII[18]93” [Cyrillic script] (ZISP) (Fig. 2E)*.
Description. Body oval, rather wide, twice as long as wide. Hemelytra in holotype slightly separated, dorsally brown with a dark rusty tint; Hc, R+M and Cu veins at extreme base of hemelytra, many veins of costal areas and posterior part of lateral pronotal carinae black.
Head black, with five spines; three frontal spines with black-brown base and yellow apex, two occipital spines yellow; paired lateral frontal spines thin and rather short, with pointed converging and contiguous apices; unpaired median frontal spine thicker than paired spines, short, adpressed to head, with blunt apex located at bases of paired spines. Occipital spines long, thinning towards apices, prominent anteriorly over middle of eyes. First three antennal segments brownish yellow, segment IV yellowish brown at base, blackish brown in other parts.
* Editor’s comment. For the exact location of the type locality, see the note at the end of the article (p. 42). The date on the label is in the Gregorian calendar. The modern name of the Fubyankho River is the Fubian River.
Pronotum rather wide, 1.53 times as long as wide. Pronotal disc strongly convex; all three longitudinal pronotal carinae distinctly elevated but without areolae; lateral carinae weakly converging anteriorly. Anterior margin of pronotum strongly angulate, distinctly produced anteriorly, with raised tectiform hood (vesicula). Areolate paranota completely reflexed on dorsal surface of pronotum, slightly inflated in anterior half and rather strongly inflated posteriorly, especially on lateral angles of disc, with seven irregular longitudinal rows of large angular areolae in widest part; veins between areolae of paranota strongly raised. External marginal veins of reflexed paranota touching lateral carinae at a distance of oneeighth to one-tenth of its length only near anterior end. Posterior process of pronotum rather long, with almost acuminate apex.
Macropterous form. Hemelytra considerably protruding beyond abdomen, broadly rounded externally in anterior half, slightly sinuate posterior to middle. Costal area rather wide, with base bearing one row of large areolae on right hemelytron and single small areola forming a second row on left hemelytron, with two rows of large areolae posteriorly, three rows of smaller shaded areolae towards middle, and one row of large areolae and single areola of second row in posterior half. Most areolae of costal area larger than areolae of other areas, except for areolae at apices of hemelytra. Subcostal area with three rows of small areolae in most of its length. Discoidal area with eleven rows of small angular rounded areolae in widest part. Membrane with ten rows of areolae in widest part; areolae noticeably increasing in size towards apices of hemelytra.
Body ventrally brown with reddish rusty tint. Legs rather thin, yellowish brown; apices of tarsi black.
Length (in mm): body 3.95, head from hind margin of eyes to apex of clypeus 0.25; pronotum 1.95; antennal segments (I, II, III, IV) 0.18, 0.12, 1.05, 0.32.
Width (in mm): body 2.0; head 0.54; vertex 0.25; pronotum 1.28.
Note. The presence of the subgenital plate in the holotype was not examined to avoid its damage.
Comparison. Physatocheila potanini sp. nov. is morphologically closely related to Ph. putshkovi; these species share the inflated paranota on the lateral angles of pronotum and rather wide body (Fig. 4A, C). Physatocheila potanini sp. nov. differs from Ph. putshkovi in the much stronger inflated paranota on the lateral angles of pronotum. In addition, female of Ph. putshkovi has shorter antennae than Ph. potanini sp. nov. (length of segment III is 0.85 mm). In addition, a blackish mark near the middle of each costal area, four rows of very small areolae and two complete rows of areolae in almost the entire apical half of this area separates Ph. putshkovi from Ph. potanini sp. nov.
In the inflated reflexed paranota on the lateral angles of pronotum, Ph. potanini sp. nov. is also similar with Ph. angusta sp. nov. (Fig. 1B, D). However, the latter species differs from Ph. potanini sp. nov. in the much narrower body (body width in female of Ph. angusta sp. nov. is 1.22–1.25 mm and the ratio of body length to its width is 2.54–2.60). Moreover, Ph. angusta sp. nov. has a smaller body size (its length is 3.10– 3.25 mm), the narrower costal areas of hemelytra, and larger areolae of the discoidal areas, arranged in eight rows in the widest part in females.
Physatocheila potanini sp. nov. may be related to Ph. costata (Fig. 3B, D), Ph. smreczynskii (Fig. 5A, C) and Ph. orientis Drake, 1942 (Fig. 5B, D), based on the mutual arrangement of the lateral pronotal carinae and the reflexed paranota. The last three species differ from Ph. potanini sp. nov. in the adpressed (not inflated) paranota on the lateral pronotal angles, the slenderer body, and two rows of areolae in the posterior half of the costal area of hemelytra. In addition, the median frontal spine in Ph. smreczynskii is long and thin, its apex is located between the bases of the frontal spines.
Etymology. The new species is named after the eminent Russian explorer of Central Asia G.N. Potanin.
description: Published as part of Golub, V. B. & Soboleva, V. A., 2023, Descriptions of three new species and one subspecies of Physatocheila (Heteroptera: Tingidae) from China and the Russian Far East, with an identification key to the species of the Russian fauna, pp. 27-42 in Zoosystematica Rossica (Zoosyst. Rossica) (Zoosyst. Rossica) 32 (1) on pages 31-34, DOI: 10.31610/zsr/2023.32.1.27, http://zenodo.org/record/10124267