Alphocoris asper Rédei & Tsai & Jindra 2018, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Rédei, Dávid
name: Tsai, Jing-Fu
name: Jindra, Zdeněk
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Scutelleridae
Alphocoris
Alphocoris asper

description: Alphocoris asper Rédei, Tsai & Jindra, sp. nov.
Figs. 13–18, 25–27, 32–33, 41–43, 46, 49–50, 57–58
Alphocoris lixoides (non Germar, 1839): Dallas (1851: 41) and subsequent authors. Misidentification.
Alphocoris lixoides (misidentification): Dallas (1851: 41) (record), Walker (1867: 59) (record), Atkinson (1884: 166) (distribution), Atkinson (1887: 187) (redescription, distribution), Distant (1902: 67) (redescription, habitus, figures, distribution), Maxwell-Lefroy (1909: 673) (habitus).
Type material. Holotype: ♂, “ INDIA OR. \ RAMANDOROG \ KATONA 1919”; mounted on card, intact (HNHM). Paratypes: same label as in holotype (1 ♂ HNHM); “ INDIA occ., Maharashtra state \ 3–6 October 2005, Wai enV. \ 70 km S of Pune, F. Kantner lgt.” (1 ♂ 1 ♀ ZJPC).
Diagnosis. Similar to A. naso sp. nov. in size and habitus, but it can be distinguished from the latter species by the conspicuously coarse punctation of the dorsum and the concaVe lateral margins of the posterior third of scutellum (Fig. 13). The male genitalia (Figs. 29–30, 38–40, 43, 51–52) and female terminalia (Figs. 57–58) offer seVeral diagnostic characters for separation of the two species.
Description. Colour, integument and vestiture as in A. naso sp. nov. but with the following differences: punctures of dorsum conspicuously coarser and deeper; midline of dorsum lacking distinct unpunctured, smooth band; dark longitudinal bands on pronotum and scutellum formed by dark punctures obscure, rather indistinctly delimited; abdominal Venter almost continuously dark except of lateral margins and a narrow median Vitta interrupted at intersegmental sutures.
Structure. Body elongate, about 2.7 times as long as its humeral width, similar in shape to A. naso sp. nov. but less strongly constricted posteriorly. Head (Figs. 25–26) similar to that of A. naso sp. nov., about as wide as long, width across eyes about 1.55 times as long as interocular distance; distance from anterior margin of eye to leVel of apex of mandibular plate measured along longitudinal axis of body about 2.0 times as long as length of eye in dorsal View; apical, protruding portion of clypeus about half as long as distance from anterior margin of eye to leVel of apex of mandibular plate measured along longitudinal axis of body; mandibular plates with a strong longitudinal carina laterally anteriad of Ventral margin of eye, Visible in dorsal View. Labium slightly surpassing apices of hind coxae. Thorax. Pronotum about 1.5 times as broad as its median length; lateral margins Very finely granulate in their anterior halVes, slightly concaVe posteriad of leVel of calli. Scutellum about 1.5 times as long as its greatest width, posterior portion less strongly tapering than in A. naso sp. nov., with conVerging lateral margins distinctly concaVe, apex broad, transVersely truncate, distance between paired protruding terminal angles more than two times as long as width of anterior portion of clypeus, not surpassing apex of abdomen (occasionally leaVing extreme apex of abdomen exposed in dorsal View). Pregenital abdomen broader, less strongly tapering apically than in A. caudatus sp. nov., Ventrite VII of male relatiVely short and broad (Fig. 27), posterolateral angles of Ventrites III–IV each produced into a minute but distinct spine exposed laterad of scutellum in dorsal aspect.
External male genitalia. Genital capsule (Figs. 32–33, 41) with Ventral rim distinctly conVex in dorsal View (Fig. 32), posterior portion weakly produced (Fig. 33). Paramere as in Figs. 42–43. Phallus (Figs. 46, 49–50) with second pair of conjunctiVal processes (cp-II) subdiVided into 3+3 branches, dorsal branch (cp-II1) membranous, relatiVely short, Ventral branches (cp-II2, cp-II3) sclerotized, elongate, apex slightly dilated, club-like; conjunctiVal pad (Fig. 49: cpd) much broader than in A. naso sp. nov.; aedeagus moderately dilated subapically, distalmost portion elongate, relatiVely narrow, membranous.
External female genitalia. Terminalia as in Figs. 57–58. Ovipositor: dorsomesal margin of laterotergite IX obliquely truncate around postgenital abdomen; ValVulae and ValVifers of oVipositor much similar to the condition found in A. naso sp. nov.: ValVulae VII as in A. naso sp. nov.; ValVulae IX membranous, but rami IX can be traced as a Very fine, thin, weakly sclerotized and pigmented line along anterior margin of ValVulae IX; distinct, sclerotized gonangulum lacking. Inner ectodermal genital tracts: gynatrium and spermatheca highly similar to the condition found in A. naso sp. nov. therefore not illustrated.
Measurements (in mm; N = 3 ♂♂ / 1 ♀). Body length 7.00–7.74 / 7.60; length of head 1.68–1.72 / 1.69, width across eyes 1.68–1.76 / 1.70, interocular distance 1.08–1.23 / 1.16; lengths of scape 0.32–0.39 / 0.38: basipedicellite 0.27–0.34 / 0.32: distipedicellite 0.24–0.25 / 0.26: basiflagellum 0.39–0.44 / 0.42: distiflagellum 0.55–0.59 / 0.56; median length of pronotum 1.70–1.86 / 1.81, humeral width 2.60–2.84 / 2.80; median length of scutellum 3.92–4.41 / 4.13, greatest width 2.56–2.84 / 2.80.
Discussion. The species illustrated by Distant (1902: 67, fig. 30) and Maxwell-Lefroy (1909: plate LXXII: fig. 10) as A. lixoides was likely A. asper sp. nov., but its identity cannot be unambiguously elucidated; no specimens from the localities listed by Distant (1902) (Bombay, Khandala) were found in the BMNH where W.L. Distant’s collection is currently deposited.
Etymology. The specific epithet is the Latin adjectiVe asper, -a, -um (‘rough’, ‘coarse’), giVen in allusion to the coarsely punctured dorsum.
Distribution. Only known from Ramandorog [= Ramdurg], Goa State, and Wai, Maharashtra State, of western India. PreVious record of A. lixoides from Maharashtra (Bombay, Khandala) (Distant 1902) possibly at least partly pertain to this species.
description: Published as part of Rédei, Dávid, Tsai, Jing-Fu & Jindra, Zdeněk, 2018, The genus Alphocoris in the Indomalaya (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Scutelleridae), pp. 299-320 in Zootaxa 4382 (2) on pages 307-310, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4382.2.5, http://zenodo.org/record/1182057