Pseudophacopteron nigritulum Malenovský & Burckhardt 2009, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Malenovský, Igor
name: Burckhardt, Daniel
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2009
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Phacopteronidae
Pseudophacopteron
Pseudophacopteron nigritulum

description: Pseudophacopteron nigritulum sp. nov.   
(Figs. 9–10, 47, 75, 130–132, 201–202, 242, 258)  
 Description. Adult. Colour (ethanol preserved specimens). Head and thorax uniformly dark brown to black; metapostnotum pale yellow. Antenna with segments 3–8 uniformly pale yellow and segments 1–2 and 9–10 dark brown to black. Legs dark brown, tibiae apically and tarsi dirty yellow. Fore wing membrane clear, transparent, with dark brown pattern consisting of a continuous band covering whole wing basal third and distally extending along wing posterior margin to wing apex in cell r 2, leaving small transparent areas at wing margin in cells cu 1, m 1 and m 2 (Fig. 47). Veins uniformly pale yellow in the transparent part and dark brown in the dark part of fore wing; two dark spots on anal vein. Hind wing membrane infuscated in basal two thirds; vein C+Sc and anal vein brown. Abdominal tergites dark brown, laterally more or less narrowly pale yellow, last tergite entirely pale yellow. Sternites uniformly pale yellow except for the first visible sternite which is basally and laterally dark brown. Male and female terminalia pale yellow.   
 Morphology. Head, in frontal view, about twice wider than high; vertex smooth and shiny, lacking distinct microsculpture, flat dorsally, lacking distinct median ridge; lateral ocelli lying in the plane of vertex; vertex regularly rounded down in front, lacking anterior tubercles or bulges; eyes subglobular; genae with tubercles below toruli relatively small and acute (Figs. 9–10). Antenna relatively long and slender, segments weakly widening to apex; terminal setae subequal, short, the longer terminal seta shorter than segments 9 and 10 together (Fig. 242). Fore wing elongate, apex narrowly rounded; surface spinulation present in cells cu 1, cu 2, m 1, m 2, and r 2 (Fig. 75). Mesotibia with subapical comb on outer margin consisting of 3–7 stout setae. Hind legs relatively long and slender; metatibia with eight relatively sparsely arranged apical spurs and two or three similar spurs laterally; metabasitarsus short, slightly longer than broad. Male proctiger, in lateral view, relatively short and broad (Fig. 130). Paramere as long as or slightly shorter than proctiger, in lateral view, relatively slender, straight and nearly parallel-sided, apical part narrowly rounded, with apex forming a small tooth (Fig. 131). Distal segment of aedeagus with relatively short shaft and large apical dilation which is slightly hooked and broadly rounded apically (Fig. 132). Female proctiger and subgenital plate with moderately long apical extensions; dorsal margin of proctiger concave; circumanal pore ring with two rows of pores, pores of outer row spaced; subgenital plate, in lateral view, blunt apically (Fig. 201); in ventral view, broad basally with narrower and truncate apical extension (Fig. 202). Dorsal valvulae with 3–6 distinct lateral teeth subapically (Fig. 201). Measurements and ratios in Tabs. 2–4.   
Fifth instar larva (Fig. 258). Uniformly pale yellow. Body elongate. Dorsum of body with distinct tubercular microsculpture. Body margin with short simple setae; caudal plate margin on each side with 1 + 1 slender pointed lanceolate setae subapically and ca. 10 simple setae slightly longer than setae on cephalothorax and wing pads; caudal plate dorsum with three rows of short simple setae. Antenna straight, long, with nine segments; a single rhinarium apically on each of segments 7 and 8. Tarsal arolium small, distinctly smaller than claws. Abdomen dorsally weakly sclerotised, with five free sclerites and fused caudal plate; margin of caudal plate slightly concave subapically; apex truncate. Anus in terminal position. Circumanal ring large, sinuate, situated laterally, slightly extending onto ventral surface of abdomen. Measurements and ratios in Tab. 5.  
 Host plant. Vepris (= Teclea) nobilis, probably also Vepris simplicifolia (Rutaceae).   
 Biology. Unknown. The larval morphology and the fact the larvae were collected by canopy fogging, suggest a free-living species.   
 Distribution. Kenya, South Africa.   
 Material examined. Holotype, ♂, KENYA: Kakamega Forest, 0°22’N 34°50’E, 1600 m, 7–11 February 1999, rain forest (Guineo – Congolian type), Teclea nobilis, canopy fogging (T. Wagner). Dry-mounted [NHMB]. Paratypes: KENYA: 189 ♂, 109 ♀, 5 larvae, same data as holotype; 2 ♂, 4 ♀, Nairobi, Langata, ICIPE-Property Forest, 1°20’S 36°46’E, 1650 m, 12–14 January 1999, dry forest, Teclea simplicifolia, canopy fogging (T. Wagner). SOUTH AFRICA: 2 ♂, Mpumalanga Province, Nelspruit, 20 November 2005 (E. Głowacka). Dry- and slide-mounted and preserved in ethanol [BMNH, MAKB, MMBC, MHNG, NHMB, SIUK].   
 Etymology. Diminutive from the Latin adjective nigritus = black, dark, referring to its body colour and small size.   
 Comments. P. nigritulum appears close to P. wagneri (see comments under latter). Both species differ from other known Afrotropical species of the P. zimmermanni- group in the absence of the median ridge on vertex and the elongate and apically narrowly rounded fore wing. The structure of male (paramere shape, hooked dilation of the distal segment of aedeagus) and female terminalia resemble those of several species with a median ridge on vertex and a broader fore wing (e.g. P. pusillum, P. eastopi, P. bicolor, P. nothospondiadis). Their fore wing pattern (dark markings fused into a continuous brown band along posterior wing margin) show a similar resemblance. The fifth instar larva associated here with P. nigritulum is similar to P. pusillum (also collected on Vepris) in the body shape, the antenna length and segmentation, the small arolium, the circumanal pore ring structure, and the presence of 1+1 lanceolate seta on the caudal plate margin. It differs from P. pusillum in the coarser microsculpture of the dorsal body surface and the presence of more simple setae on the caudal plate.
description: Published as part of Malenovský, Igor & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2009, A review of the Afrotropical jumping plant-lice of the Phacopteronidae (Hemiptera: Psylloidea), pp. 1-74 in Zootaxa 2086 (1) on pages 31-32, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.2086.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5310382