Solenotichus circuliferus
Creators: name: Gerry Cassis
name: Loren Vanags
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2006
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Scutelleridae
Solenotichus
Solenotichus circuliferus

description: Solenotichus circuliferus (WALKER 1867) (Figs 3b, 6, 9, 10)
Sphaerocoris circuliferus WALKER 1867: 7 (n.sp.) Solenotichus brevipes MARTIN 1897: 264 (n.sp.); MCDONALD & CASSIS 1984: 545, Figs 24-29 (synonymy; male and female genitalia) Damelia circuliferus: DISTANT 1899: 32 (new combination) Solenotichus circuliferus: SCHOUTEDEN 1904: 7 (new combination); BERGROTH 1908: 139 (de-scription); KIRKALDY 1909: 313 (catalogue); GROSS 1975: 86 (description); CASSIS & GROSS 2002: 586 (catalogue)
Diagnosis: Solenotichus circuliferus is recognised by the following combination of characters: body mostly orange-brown, with brown markings mediolaterally on scutellum (Fig. 3b); endocorium dark; AI-AIII subequal in length; LI and LIV subequal, LII longest segment; male and female genitalia as in generic description (Figs 10 a-d).
Description: Body ovoid; moderately-sized species, males 9.3-10.7 mm, females 8.7-11.8 mm.
Colouration. Body yellow-brown to red-brown, often with lateral pair of arcuate darker markings at half length of scutellum, sometimes with yellow tinge anterior to dark markings; punctures often red; appendages concolorous with body, sometimes with tibiae more red; exocorium sometimes darker at base, endocorium mostly fuscous.
Texture. Body with dense distribution of shallow punctures.
Vestiture. Body almost glabrous; appendages sparsely setose.
Structure. Antennae: segments roughly subequal in length, AIII and AIV a little longer than previous segments. Labium: reaching apices of metacoxae, LII longest segment; and, male (Figs 10 a-d) and female genitalia as in generic description.
Measurements: MCDONALD & CASSIS 1984: Table 2.
Type material examined: Lectotype, ♂, Australia, ‘58-124’, ‘B.M. Hem. Type No. 372’ (BMNH; here designated); Paralectotype, ♂, same data as lectotype (BMNH; here designated). WALKER (1867) described from two male specimens, presumably from the same locality (given as ‘Australia’ in original description and label data).
Other material examined: Queensland: 1♂, Bluff Range, via Biggenden, 1000 m, 16 August 1974, H Frauca (ANIC); 1♂, Bluff Range, via Biggenden, 16 December 1971, H Frauca (ANIC); 1♀, Coast Range, via Boompa, 18 April 1977, H Frauca (ANIC); Southern Australia: 1♀, 51 km NW of Morgan, 33.835S, 140.800E, 150m, G Cassis, RT Schuh & G Gross, 1 November, 1995, Site L95-44, at light (AM); Northern Territory: 2♂♂ 2♀♀, Alice Springs, 5 September 1992, R Patterson, at light (ANIC).
Distribution: Solenotichus circuliferus is broadly distributed across Australia, including Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory (Fig. 6). It is known as far north as Rockhampton in Queensland and Alice Springs in central Australia.
Host plants and biology: This species is relatively rare in collections and its biology remains unknown. Based on specimen locality data, CASSIS & GROSS (2002) recorded it from the Desert Gum, Eucalyptus gongylo-carpa (Myrtaceae). There is no evidence whether this record is a food-preference, overwintering site or sitting record.
Remarks: GROSS (1975) and MCDONALD & CASSIS (1984) redescribed Soleno-tichus circuliferus, with the latter authors documenting the male and female genitalia. A female from Western Australia has not been included in this work. This specimen is significantly larger than all other specimens of S. circuliferus, but the other morphological attributes are consistent with the definition of the species.
description: Published as part of Gerry Cassis & Loren Vanags, 2006, Jewel Bugs of Australia (Insecta, Heteroptera, Scutelleridae), pp. 275-398 in Denisia 19 on pages 319-320, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12996779