Modicarventus kirmani Lariviere and Larochelle E 2022, new species
Creators: name: Larivière, Marie-Claude
name: Larochelle, André
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Aradidae
Modicarventus
Modicarventus kirmani

description: Modicarventus kirmani Larivière and Larochelle, new species
Fig. 38, 62–63, 81
Modicarventus kirmani Larivière and Larochelle, new species. Holotype: female (NZAC) labeled “ NEW ZEALAND ND Pukenui Forest Loop Tk [= Track] 240m -35.70 174.26 17.XI.2017 Larivière, Larochelle (typed) / HOLOTYPE [male symbol] Modicarventus kirmani Larivière & Larochelle, 2022 (red label; typed).” Paratypes: 4 males (1 AMNZ, 3 NZAC,) and 3 females (1 AMNZ, 2 NZAC) from the same locality as the holotype, bearing blue paratype labels.
Description (incrustation removed). Body narrowly subovate (male) to more broadly subovate, nearly pearshaped (female); thorax strongly narrowed anteriorly; length about 2.9 mm (male), 3.5 mm (female). Dorsal color (male) dark reddish brown (overall darker than M. wisei); darker brown to black on collar, margins of main thoracic and abdominal plates, dmtg I–II and VII; yellowish on anterior part of head and posterolateral angles of connexival segments. Female similarly colored. Eyes reddish. Antennae concolorous with main body. Legs, especially tibiae, slightly paler than main body. Ventral color mostly matching dorsal color. Head. About as long as wide across eyes. Antenniferous tubercles subtriangular to narrowly subconical, their apices acutely to obtusely rounded, subparallel. Thorax. Pronotum about 2.6× wider than long medially, including collar (male), 2.8× (female). Anterolateral angles rounded-subquadrate, unproduced or faintly produced. Lateral portions with a large curved plate (sometimes split into inner subrectangular and outer curved plates) and, submarginally, a few small callosities and usually one or two rows of coarse granules along anterior half to three quarters of lateral margin. Lateral margins subrectilinear to faintly convex, subparallel to slightly oblique. Posterolateral angles rounded-subquadrate, unproduced or faintly produced (sometimes more rounded and more produced in female). Mesonotum about 2.5× wider than long medially, including backward projection. Disc bearing a rounded-subquadrate to subpentagonal backward median projection with two anterolateral projections, each divided into a subquadrate plate anteriorly fused to a larger, sinuate-subrectangular plate (Fig. 13a). Lateral portions with one or two small, irregularly shaped submarginal plates next to some small callosities or granules (without well-defined rows of granules). Lateral margins subrectilinear to slightly convex, moderately oblique. Posterolateral angles rounded-subtriangular to rounded-subquadrate, unproduced or faintly produced. Metanotum. Disc slightly elevated near apex of mesonotal projection. Lateral portions with a moderately large subtriangular-oblong to subquadrate plate and, submarginally, one or two smaller, irregularly shaped plates next to some coarse granules (without well-defined rows of granules or granules missing). Lateral margins subrectilinear to slightly convex, oblique (male, female). Posterolateral angles narrowly subtriangular, slightly produced, rather flat (not elevated; male), broadly rounded-subtriangular, unproduced (female). Abdomen. Tergal plate (dmtg III–VI). Lateral margins slightly convex. Dmtg VII moderately elevated posteromedially (male). Connexivum. Posterolateral angles of dltg III subtriangular, barely produced, IV–V subtriangular, moderately produced and slightly reflexed, VI rounded-subquadrate, unproduced, VII narrowly subtriangular, moderately produced, slightly reflexed (male); III–VI rounded-subquadrate, unproduced, VII rounded-subquadrate, thickened, unproduced (female). Male genitalia. Right paramere (Fig. 38, inner lateral view) elongate, shaft moderately wide, slightly sinuate posteriorly, head rounded-subtriangular apically, with anterior margin thickened and notched at base of thinly surfaced subtriangular projection.
Other characters as in M. wisei.
Material examined. 68 specimens (AMNZ, NZAC).
Geographic distribution (Fig. 81). North Island: AK–Mount William (NZAC). ND–Herekino Forest, Kaitaia Walkway (NZAC). Ngaiotonga Reserve Walkway (NZAC). Pukenui Forest Loop Track (AMNZ, NZAC). Puketi Forest, Upper Waipapa River Track, first 1.5 km (NZAC). Ranfurly [Bay] Scenic Reserve (NZAC). Russell Forest, Punaruku Stream, about 1 km SW Russell Road (NZAC).
Biology. Altitudinal range. Lowland (up to 300 m). Habitat. Occurs in broadleaf-podocarp forests and shrublands; can be locally abundant in forests where Beilschmiedia or Beilschmiedia-Dacrydium-Pittosporum are predominant. Collected in groups on the moist, often moldy bark from the underside of fallen rotting branches 3–5 cm in diameter; found in small numbers in leaf litter. Seasonality. Adults: November (abundant), July. Tenerals: November (abundant), April.
Reference. Larivière and Larochelle 2006: 200 (photo; as M. wisei, in error).
Remarks. This species is named after Maurice Kirman (New Zealand) who described two genera and three species of New Zealand Carventinae and provided the first identification key to genera (Kirman 1985, 1989a –b). The main morphological features distinguishing Modicarventus kirmani from M. wisei are as follows: male and female subovate, with thorax strongly narrowed anteriorly; head about as long as wide across eyes; antenniferous tubercles narrower and more acutely rounded apically; lateral margins of pronotum narrowly granulate, margins of mesonotum and metanotum barely granulate (rows of granules well defined on pronotum only); posterolateral angles of dltg IV–V of connexivum less strongly produced (male). Modicarventus kirmani is mostly known from Northland (ND). The record of its occurrence in the Auckland (AK) region, nearly 200 km to the south, is based on two specimens (one male, one female) collected from Mount William (NZAC). This apparent gap in distribution coincides with a generally under collected area for Carventinae. Although the male specimen has a somewhat more rectangular forebody and both specimens show other subtle morphological differences from the Northland populations, they generally conform to M. kirmani.
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 24-25, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7399305