Kunungua boxi Carvalho 1951
Creators: name: Bolshakova, Darya S.
name: Konstantinov, Fedor V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Kunungua
Kunungua boxi

description: Kunungua boxi Carvalho, 1951
Figs 6 B, 7 F
Kunungua boxi Carvalho, 1951: 108.
Kunungua boxi: Carvalho (1957: 107) (catalogue).
Material examined.
Holotype. ♂, Ghana: Gold coast, Amentia, 6.22 ° N, 1.17 ° W, 15 Sep 1943, H. E. Box, Aframomum sp. (Zingiberaceae) (AMNH_PBI00340367) (NHM).
Paratypes. Ghana: Gold coast, Amentia, 6.22 ° N, 1.17 ° W, 15 Sep 1943, H. E. Box, Aframomum sp. (Zingiberaceae), 2 ♂ (AMNH_PBI00340368, AMNH_PBI00340369) (NHM). Gold coast, Asuansi, 5.3 ° N, 1.23 ° E, 15 Dec 1942, H. E. Box, Aframomum sp. (Zingiberaceae), 1 ♀ (AMNH_PBI00340370) (NHM).
Revised diagnosis.
Recognised by the following combination of characters: antennal segment I terracotta, segment II dark brown, basally terracotta, segment III brownish yellow, segment IV sandy; head reddish yellow; pronotum ochraceus; hemelytron dark brown, with dirty yellow costal margin; femora reddish yellow. Parameres similar to those of K. ornata.
Kunungua boxi is most similar to K. cinnamomea (Fig. 6 A) in the structure, body proportions, and colouration, differing from the latter species in the comparatively sparsely distributed, pale brown setae on tibiae, especially fore tibia, as well as in the colouration of antenna, head, and femora. Refer to the discussion section of the genus for additional details.
Redescription.
Male. Colouration (Figs 6 B, 7 F). Head reddish; antennal segment I terracotta, segment II dark brown, basally terracotta, segment III brownish yellow, segment IV sandy; eyes brownish scarlet; labium pale yellow, apex dark brown; collar, calli, and pronotal disk ochraceus, calli with reddish tinge; clavus and cuneus dark brown, corium dark brown with dirty yellow, gradually darkening apically costal margin; membrane fuscous, cinnamon, semitransparent; coxae pale yellow; femora reddish yellow, apically with reddish tinge; fore tibia brown, reddish basally; middle tibia brownish yellow; hind tibia brownish yellow basally, gradually darkening towards apex; tarsi pale yellow; abdomen uniformly brown.
Vestiture. Body covered with comparatively long simple setae, subequal to width of antennal segment I at middle, adpressed on hemelytron, semierect elsewhere, goldish on dorsum, pale brown on legs and antennal segment I.
Structure. Total length 3.2–3.5 mm; body 3.7–3.8 times as long as basal width of pronotum.
Head. Eye peduncle short, oblique, with longer posterior margin; antennal fossa large, removed from inner eye margin by about half of fossa width, located at the level of inferior eye margin; frons short, swollen; vertex about 1.0–1.2 times as wide as length of antennal segment I; segment I 0.5 times as long as pronotum; labium short, slightly surpassing fore coxa.
Thorax. Pronotum comparatively narrow, 1.0–1.1 times as wide as long, 1.0–1.2 times as wide as head; pronotal disk, calli, and collar 0.6 times, 0.3 times, and 0.1 times as long as entire pronotum, respectively; calli and collar together about 0.4 times as long as pronotum; posterior margin straight, not concave (Fig. 6 B).
Hemelytron. Opaque, long, cuneus distinctly surpassing the apex of abdomen; cuneus narrowly triangular, with slightly concave inner margin, about 1.5 times as long as wide at base (Figs 6 B, 7 F).
Legs. Relatively short, robust, femora cylindrical, of about the same diameter along entire length (Fig. 6 B).
Genitalia. Parameres. Left paramere falciform (Odhiambo 1962: figs 62–63), tapering toward the apex, apex hook-like from the inner side; right paramere (Odhiambo 1962: figs 64–65) somewhat S-shaped, with relatively wide sensory lobe and with needle-shaped, upturned apex in lateral view. Aedeagus C-shaped, apically with single large membranous lobe (Odhiambo 1962: fig. 66).
Female. Colouration, structure, body proportions, and vestiture as in male.
Distribution.
The species was originally described and is still known from two localities in Ghana, which are ca. 130 kilometers apart from each other.
Host.
Aframomum sp. (Zingiberaceae).
description: Published as part of Bolshakova, Darya S. & Konstantinov, Fedor V., 2024, Revision of the genus Kunungua (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae) with descriptions of three new species and new generic synonymy, pp. 219-239 in Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 71 (1) on pages 219-239, DOI: 10.3897/dez.71.122735