Leuraptera Usinger and Matsuda 1959
Creators: name: Larivière, Marie-Claude
name: Larochelle, André
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Aradidae
Leuraptera

description: Genus Leuraptera Usinger and Matsuda, 1959
Fig. 17, 25, 35, 52–53, 78
Leuraptera Usinger and Matsuda, 1959: 158.
Type species. Leuraptera zealandica Usinger and Matsuda, 1959, by original designation.
Description (incrustation removed). Apterous. Body subrectangular (male) to ovate (female); length about 3.6 mm (male), 4.8 mm (female). Head. Eyes moderately large in relation to head, granulate. Postocular tubercles subtriangular, slightly reflexed, moderately produced laterally. Rostrum arising from a closed atrium. Thorax. Pro-, meso-, and metanotum separated by distinct sutures (deeper between pro- and mesonotum). Pronotum deeply and broadly incised on each side of collar (more shallowly and narrowly incised in other genera). Doublering collar distinctly set off from anterior margin, with lateral tubercles and posteriorly produced subtriangular plate. Disc bearing two moderately large, rounded to subtriangular plates, one on each side of a broad median sulcus extending from subtriangular plate behind collar to a small,rounded callosity at posterior margin. Mesonotum and metanotum. Disc of both segments covered by forward projection of dmtg I–II. Posterolateral angles of metanotum unproduced. Legs. Coxal lobes rugose. Trochanters and femora demarcated from each other. Femora granulate, slightly shorter than tibiae. Protibiae with fine ventral spines and apical comb. Abdomen. Dmtg I–II broadly fused with metanotum and mesonotum medially, separated from metanotum and from each other by a distinct suture laterally; disc strongly produced into a forward subtriangular projection reaching anterior margin of mesonotum (disc without a forward projection in other genera); lateral portions smooth in front and behind lateral suture. Tergal plate (dmtg III–VI) completely fused, without sulci or carinae around apodemal markings. Dmtg IV–VI without a plate around scent gland openings. The latter (or scars thereof) three in number; first opening moderately developed, displaced posteriorly on dmtg IV, second very small, third evanescent. Connexivum. Dorsal and ventral surface coarsely and uniformly granulate (more finely and irregularly granulate and rugose in other genera). Dorsal laterotergites (dltg) with a pair of distinct, rounded, smooth apodemal spots, posterior one larger. Dltg II–III fused, subtriangular, extending forward to posterolateral angles of metanotum; IV–VI subquadrate (male), subrectangular (female). Spiracles II–IV ventral (not visible from above), V–VII lateral (visible from above). Pattern of apodemal markings 2:1:1 (dorsal; ventral). Male genitalia. Pygophore trilobate (Fig. 17, posterodorsal view); dorsal lobes ear-shaped dorsolaterally, carinate along lateral margin, depressed medially, with an oblique carina between dorsal margin and swollen ventral portion of inner margin, the latter meeting swollen portion of opposite lobe to form a bulbous backward projection; ventral lobe with rounded-subquadrate convexity medially, moderately produced; dorsal opening moderately wide; paramere heads slightly visible as rounded setose structures; posterior rim with a large, anteriorly directed, sinuate-subrectangular projection on each side of median suture. Paratergites VIII (Fig. 25, outer lateral view) with a narrowly rounded head bearing a short ventral flange; spiracle apical.
Remarks. The genus Leuraptera is unique among New Zealand genera in having a forward subtriangular projection stemming from the fused discs of the mesonotum, metanotum, and dorsal mediotergites (dmtg) I–II of abdomen, and a 2:1:1 pattern of dorsal and ventral apodemal markings on the abdomen. The male pygophore is also highly characteristic especially with regards to the shape of the dorsal lobes and the large forward projections from the dorsal rim. The male paratergites show similarities with those of Carventaptera. Two species were previously known in Leuraptera, L. zealandica and the more recently described L. yakasi which is synonymized below, returning the genus to its original monotypic status. No additional Leuraptera species could be identified despite the relatively rich material seen for this study. Leuraptera is found in northernmost areas of the North Island from Northland (ND) south to the Auckland region (AK), and then further south along the east coast in the Coromandel (CL) and northern Bay of Plenty (BP) regions.
description: Published as part of Larivière, Marie-Claude & Larochelle, André, 2022, Synopsis of the subfamily Carventinae in New Zealand (Heteroptera: Aradidae), pp. 1-54 in Insecta Mundi 2022 (961) on pages 13-14, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7399305