Orbellis nigriapicalis Zambo & Kondorosy 2023, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Zámbó, András
name: Kovács, Szilvia
name: Kondorosy, Előd
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Rhyparochromidae
Orbellis
Orbellis nigriapicalis

description: Orbellis nigriapicalis Zámbó & Kondorosy, sp. nov.
(Figs. 10, 15, 22, 28)
Type material. HOLOTYPE: Madagascar, Tamatave prov. / 19–20. December 1996 / Andasibe (Maromizaha) / Ivo Jenis lgt. / Ex. Collection Z. Jindra, Prague (♂, ZJPC) // HOLOTYPUS. Type locality. East Central Madagascar (Alaotra Mangoro region), Andasibe.
PARATYPE: Madagascar / route d’ Andosibé / ex. coll. Breuning (1♀, RMCA).
Description.
Colour: Head fuscous with middle part of basiflagellum and entire distiflagellum black; scape brown; pedicel yellowish brown; base of basiflagellum, labium except fuscous apex of labiomere IV yellow, apical one-fourth of basiflagellum cream coloured. Thorax brown (anterior lobe of pronotum and sternum slightly darker); apex of scutellum black; anterior margin of pronotum except brown spot in the middle and tarsomere I except brown apex yellow; lateral margin of pronotum, three spots of posterior margin of pronotum, lateral margin of corium and partly veins of hemelytra cream coloured (corium variegated with yellow spots between veins M and Cu and R and M); membrane amber. Abdomen brown.
Structure: Body subshiny. Head very finely transversely striolate with some micropunctures. Labium reaching posterior margin of metacoxae. Widest area of pronotal collar about 2 times as wide as base of pedicel and not forming typical broken V-shape. Pronotum trapezoidal, anterior lobe impunctate except very sparsely punctate calli, posterior lobe moderately densely punctate. Transverse impression of pronotum weak, lateral margin of pronotum straight. Membrane reaching or slightly surpassing apex of abdomen. Mesofemora of males armed with rows of short, strong stiff erect setae anteroventrally and tiny tubercles posteroventrally, latter missing on female. Metafemora similar to mesofemora but slightly (not more than 1.25 times) thicker and armed with slightly longer setae and tubercles (similar to Fig. 25). Metatibiae of both sexes straight. Abdominal venter of male impunctate, of female finely coriaceous.
Male genitalia: Pygophore (Fig. 15): Posterior margin broadly rounded. Dorsal sinus elongated, 0.6 times as long and 0.6 times as broad as ventral sinus; posterior aperture small, 0.6 times as wide as entire width of pygophore.
Paramere (Fig. 22): thick, broadly subtriangular, inner projection broadly, outer outline very broadly rounded, apical process less clearly separated from blade than in other species, tip slightly curved ventrad, more strongly inward. Shank short and thick.
Measurements (holotype male, followed by paratype female): Total body length: 7.04, 7.00; head: length 0.84, 0.84, width 1.08, 1.16, interocular space 0.58, 0.62; length of antennomeres (missing on paratype): I 1.05, II 1.44, III 1.08, IV 1.16; length of labiomeres: I 0.87, 1.07, II 0.90, 1.44, III 0.96, 1.02, IV 0.57, 0.90; pronotum: length 1.24, 1.28, width 2.08, 2.24; scutellum: length 1.12, 1.20, width 1.18, 1.20.
Diagnosis. Orbellis nigriapicalis Zámbó & Kondorosy, sp. nov. is of similar size as most of the congeneric species but the coloration of the dorsal surface is different from any of the other species. Unlike the most other species of the genus, the posterior lobe of the pronotum lacks dark spots, the color of the apex of the scutellum is always black but any other black coloration is absent from other parts of the body. The other species which has black apex on the scutellum is O. polhemi (Slater & O’Donnell, 1999) but this species has a pair of black spots near the posterior margin of pronotum submedially and another one between veins R and M at branching; however, on many specimens of O. polhemi the black scutellar spot is inconspicuous and/or the corium has more blackish spots. The other similar species to O. nigriapicalis is O. guilberti, since both are relatively large (6.63–7.04 mm length), have straight lateral pronotal margin and the metatibiae of the males are straight. O. guilberti in contrast to O. nigriapicalis has unicolorous scutellum (the apex is only slightly darker), the posterior pronotal margin has dark spots and the corium has an oblique dark band from apex of the scutellum subparallel to the margin of the corium, and the metafemora are dark at least in the apical half.
Etymology. The Latin adjective refers to the conspicuous black apex of the scutellum.
Distribution. Orbellis nigriapicalis Zámbó & Kondorosy, sp. nov. is known only from the eastern part of Central Madagascar (Fig. 28).
description: Published as part of Zámbó, András, Kovács, Szilvia & Kondorosy, Előd, 2023, Revision of the genus Orbellis Distant, 1913 (Heteroptera: Rhyparochromidae), pp. 193-212 in Zootaxa 5389 (2) on pages 206-208, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5389.2.3, http://zenodo.org/record/10406905