Psallus (Phylidea) validicornis Konstantinov 2023, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Konstantinov, Fedor V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Psallus
Psallus validicornis

description: 5.10. Psallus (Phylidea) validicornis (Reuter, 1876) comb. nov.  
Figs 4E, 5F, G, 9A-E, 12B  
Atractotomus validicornis Reuter, 1876: 21.  
Atractotomus putoni Reuter, 1878: 175 (syn. by Reuter 1881: 183; Wagner 1973b: 105).  
Heterocapillus validicornis: Wagner 1975: 123.  
 Heterocapillus niger Wagner, 1966: 217 syn. n.   
Diagnosis.  
Recognized by the structure of antenna in both sexes (Fig. 5F, G), the uniformly dark coloration, the distribution of flattened silver setae, whitish and dark simple setae on dorsum and venter, the narrow genital segment with ventral finely dentate keel, the phallotheca with subapical teeth, and the apex of twin-bladed vesica (Fig. 9A-E).  
 Most similar to several species from the subgenus Psallus Phylidea viz. P. cyprius Wagner, 1968, P. halidi Drapolyuk, 1991, P. henschii Reuter, 1888, P. transcaucasicus Zaitseva, 1966, P. samedovi Drapolyuk, 1991, P. ussuriensis Kerzhner, 1979, and P. cinnabarinus Kerzhner, 1979 in the color-pattern of dorsum, vestiture, shape of the genital segment, subapically dentate phallotheca and the structure of the vesica, but clearly differing in the shape and coloration of antennomeres in both sexes as well as in the shape of inflated portion and blades at the apex of the vesica.   
Redescription.  
 Male. Macropterous, almost parallel-sided (Fig. 4E), total length 3.6-3.9. Coloration: Dorsum uniformly brown to dark brown, without any pale areas; labium, antennomeres I and II dark brown, segment III pale yellow, slightly darkened at base, segment IV uniformly pale yellow; all femora dark brown, tibiae pale yellow, with small diffuse spots at bases of tibial spines, basal half of hind tibia more or less darkened, in the darkest specimens fore and middle tibiae with darkened bases while hind tibia almost entirely brown; tarsi pale, apically darkened; thoracic pleurites and abdomen uniformly dark brown; membrane uniformly brown, sometimes with indistinct pale area near apex of cuneus, veins brown. Surface and vestiture: Smooth, shining; dorsum, thoracic pleura, and abdomen with dense, apically acuminate scalelike silver setae; dorsum also clothed with simple setae, predominantly whitish on head, pronotum, base and inner margin of hemelytron, dark brown in latero-apical part of hemelytron, semierect on vertex and apex of pronotum, adpressed elsewhere; sides of pronotum with contrastingly long semierect bristlelike dark setae; appendages with simple pale adpressed setae, contrastingly dense, long, dark and semierect on antennomeres I and II; tibial spines dark brown. Structure: Body 3.2-3.4 × as long as width of pronotum. Head moderately produced anteriorly in dorsal view, clypeus not visible or barely visible from above, vertex 1.4-1.6 × as wide as eye; antennomere I short and thick, about twice longer than width, segment II somewhat thickened, cylindrical, 0.8 × as wide as segment I, almost twice as wide as segments III and IV, 0.9-1.0 × as long as basal width of pronotum, 1.4-1.5 × as long as width of head, labium reaching to metacoxa. Pronotum 2.0-2.1 × as wide as long, 1.5-1.6 × as wide as head; second and third tarsal segments of nearly equal length, claw with relatively wide base, gradually and rather strongly bent in apical 2/3, pulvillus reaching midpoint of claw, attached to the claw along whole length. Genitalia: Genital capsule about 0.4 of abdomen length, rather narrow, slightly longer than basal width, ventral wall humped, with median finely dentate keel running towards apex. Right paramere lanceolate, left paramere subquadrate in lateral view, with comparatively short, almost straight processes. Apex of phallotheca with small subapical tooth. Vesica S-shaped, gracile, twin-bladed, apically with inflated portion bearing small teeth on outer margin and ending with thin, almost straight tapering blade (Fig. 9A-E); second blade shorter and wider, distinctly sclerotized, sickle-shaped; secondary gonopore subapical, oblong-oval. - Female. Macropterous, elongate-oval, somewhat smaller than male, total length 3.0-3.6. Coloration, surface and vestiture: As in male. Structure: Body 2.6-3.0 × as long as width of pronotum. Head distinctly produced anteriorly, almost triangular in dorsal view, clypeus visible from above, vertex 1.5-1.6 × as wide as eye (Fig. 5G); antennomere I short and thick, obconic, apically wider than in male, 1.6-1.7 × times as long as width, segment II distinctly swollen, fusiform, about twice as wide as segment I, somewhat wider than eye width, 0.9-1.0 × as long as basal width of pronotum, 1.4-1.5 × as long as width of head, labium reaching to metacoxa. Genitalia: Dorsal labiate plate with rather small, elongate oval, apically rounded sclerotized rings; common oviduct basally widened (Fig. 12B); posterior wall with a pair of very finely sclerotized areas at sides.   
Distribution.  
 Psallus validicornis is currently known from southern France, Spain, and Morocco, while P. niger was described from Crete.   
Hosts.  
 Quercus coccifera (Ribes 1978; Linnavuori 1994), Quercus ilex (Wagner 1973b). According to Wagner (1975), several specimens collected by H. Lindberg in Sierra de Cordoba (see material examined) were sampled from Genista hirsuta, but this single occurrence probably represents a sitting record.   
Remarks.  
 Reuter (1876) described Atractotomus validicornis from females sampled in Avignon and provided by Puton for investigation. Subsequently he (Reuter 1878) described A. putoni known only from males from the same locality and collection. Three years later Reuter (1881) synonymized the latter species with the former, referring to Puton’s personal communication and additional observations. Wagner & Weber (1964), apparently unaware of above-mentioned synonymy, treated both species as distinct until Wagner (1973b) again synonymized A. putoni with A. validicornis. Since 1960 the species has been treated within Heterocapillus, originally erected by Wagner (1960) as a subgenus of Atractotomus and raised to generic rank by Kerzhner (1962). Stonedahl (1990) in the monographic treatment of Atractotomus correctly pointed out that H. validicornis appears to have affinities with " Psallus complex."   
 Careful investigation of the male and female genitalic characters allowed me to conclude that the species undoubtedly belong to the subgenus Psallus Phylidea of the genus Psallus. This is mainly confirmed by the structure of the apical portion of the vesica and features of the genital capsule, phallotheca, and vestiture mentioned in the diagnosis, although females of Psallus validicornis strikingly differ from congeners in having unusually dilated and swollen antennomere II. Host plant associations are also congruent with the accepted generic assignment of the species.   
 Wagner (1966) described Heterocapillus niger from two males collected in Cyprus. According to the original description and subsequently published key (Wagner 1975), males of the species differ from those of H. validicornis in having thinner antennomere II (12-15 × as long as wide in H. niger and 11-12 × as long as wide in H. validicornis) and some unnamed distinctions in the vesica structure. Comparison of the holotype of H. niger with the available material and lectotype of H. validicornis allows for conclusion that they are conspecific. No distinctions were found in the sizes and measurements (see Table 1), color-pattern, vestiture, structure of antenna and vesica (Fig. 9A-E). On the grounds of the above discussion, I am treating Heterocapillus niger Wagner, 1966 as a synonym of Psallus validicornis (Reuter, 1876).   
Material examined.  
 Lectotype of Atractotomus validicornis: FRANCE: Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur: Avignon, 43.953°N 4.812°E, ♀ (AMNH_PBI 00337990) (MNHN). - Lectotype of Atractotomus putoni: Avignon, 43.953°N 4.812°E, 1906, coll. A. Puton, ♂ (AMNH_PBI 00337989) (MNHN). Holotype of Heterocapillus niger: CYPRUS: Yermasoyia River, 35.11337°N 32.53349°E, Jan 1965, G. Mavromoustakis, ♂ (AMNH_PBI 00184016) (ZMUH). - Other specimens: France: Provence-Alpes- ’ôte d’Azur: La Ciotat, 43.17694°N 5.60861°E, Jun 1900, Payan, 1♀ (AMNH_PBI 00336833) (ZMUH). SPAIN: N avarra: Yesa Reservoir, 42.6167°N 1.2°W, 26 Jun 1967, Eckerlein, Quercus ilex L. (Fagaceae), 1♂ (AMNH_PBI 00336828), 1♀ (AMNH_PBI 00336830) (ZMUH). Sierra de Cordoba, 10 Apr 1926 - 11 Apr 1926, Lindberg, 1♂ (AMNH_PBI 00336829), 1♀ (AMNH_PBI 00336831) (ZMUH). Valldoreix (Valles Ocid.), 41.45°N 2.03°W, 23 May 1992, J. Ribes, Quercus ilex (Fagaceae), 1♂ (AMNH_PBI 00240966) (ZISP).
description: Published as part of Konstantinov, Fedor V., 2023, Plant bugs with swollen antennae: a morphology-based phylogenetic analysis of Heterocapillus Wagner, 1960 and related genera (Hemiptera: Miridae: Phylinae), pp. 845-879 in Arthropod Systematics & amp; Phylogeny 81 on page 845, DOI: 10.3897/asp.81.e104396