Kunungua Carvalho 1951
Creators: name: Bolshakova, Darya S.
name: Konstantinov, Fedor V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Kunungua

description: Kunungua Carvalho, 1951
Figs 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Kunungua Carvalho, 1951: 107. Type species by original designation: Kunungua boxi Carvalho, 1951.
Kunungua: Carvalho (1957: 107) (catalogue), Odhiambo (1962: 269) (discussion).
Revised diagnosis.
Head hammer-shaped, 0.2–0.4 times as long as wide; vertex longitudinally sulcate at middle; eyes distinctly pedunculate; collar and pronotal disk deeply punctate, punctures dense, spacing between punctures smaller than punctures diameter, rarely fusing; posterior angles of pronotal disk rounded; calli prominently raised, divided by deep longitudinal depression; scutellum very small, only about 0.3 times as wide and 0.3–0.4 times as long as pronotum, strongly pointed at apex; membrane with thick vein, apical angle acute, membranal cell nearly reaching apex of cuneus.
Redescription.
Male. Colouration. Antenna usually with entirely or partly darkened segments I and II; head and pronotum from ochraceus to dark brown; clavus brown to dark brown, corium cinnamon or whitish with brown bands or spots apically or medioapically, cuneus from pale brownish yellow to dark brown (as in Fig. 6 A – D, F – H).
Surface and vestiture. Body shining, covered with dense pale erect to semierect setae; pronotum deeply punctate, punctures dense, rarely fusing, the distance between punctures less than puncture’s size; punctures on calli smaller, sparse, but more dense at sides; scutellum wrinkly.
Structure. Body elongate, 3.4–4.1 times as long as width of pronotum; total length 3.5–4.3 mm.
Head. Strongly transverse, short in dorsal view, 0.3–0.4 times as long as wide, triangular in frontal view; eyes pedunculate, distinctly projecting above vertex in frontal view, kidney-shaped in lateral view; vertex about 1.0–1.3 times as wide as length of antennal segment I; antennal segment I 0.4–0.6 times as long as pronotum and 0.4–0.5 times as long as its width; clypeus swollen; mandibular plate subquadrate, maxillary plate trapeziform; labium relatively short, reaching from middle of fore coxa almost to hind coxa.
Thorax. Pronotum campanulate, 1.0–1.2 times as wide as long, 1.1–1.3 times as wide as head; collar 0.5–0.9 times as long as calli; calli prominently raised, divided by a deep longitudinal depression, 0.3–0.6 times as wide as pronotum; collar and calli combined length 0.3–0.4 times as long as pronotum, with deep depression behind calli extending at sides of pronotum; pronotal disk, calli and collar 0.6–0.7 times, 0.2–0.3 times, 0.1–0.2 times as long as entire pronotum, respectively; posterior angles of pronotum rounded, posterior margin straight to moderately concave; mesoscutum entirely covered with pronotum; scutellum small, 0.3–0.4 times as long as pronotum, triangular, equilateral, apically tapering.
Legs. Femora cylindrical, usually gradually thickening distally, less than two times as wide as tibiae; tarsus three-segmented, segment II almost twice as long as segment I, segment III slightly longer than segment I.
Hemelytron. Long, apex of cuneus far surpassing apex of abdomen, from semitransparent to opaque; membrane with one cell, membranal vein strongly curved apically, nearly reaching apex of cuneus; cuneus about 2.0–2.5 times as long as wide at base.
Genitalia. Genital capsule wider than long; aperture large, dorsoposteriorly oriented; apex of ventral wall with lobe-shaped sclerotised processes forming paramere sockets; supragenital bridge absent (Fig. 9 A – E).
Aedeagus tubular, C-shaped, with strongly sclerotised basal part and entirely membranous, non-eversible, single-lobed apical portion, without clear demarcation between phallotheca and endosoma, sometimes with a dorsal outgrowth at base (Fig. 8); ductus seminis entirely membranous, apically terminating with barely recognisable secondary gonopore devoid of distinctive sculpture.
Parameres subequal in size, left paramere more or less falciform, right one somewhat S-shaped, sometimes with a flattened sensory lobe (Fig. 10).
Female. Similar to male in colouration, surface, vestiture, structure, and measurements. Sexual dimorphism not apparent.
Genitalia. Bursa copulatrix membranous, vulvar region and posterior wall devoid of any distinctive sclerotisations; sclerotised rings of dorsal labiate plate very thin and weakly sclerotised, with medially oriented outgrowth (Fig. 9 F).
Discussion.
Kunungua appears to be most closely related to Prodromus due to the hammer-shaped head with distinctly pedunculate eyes, deeply punctate pronotum, and elongate body. However, Kunungua can be unambiguously distinguished from Prodromus on the basis of the following combination of characters: head only 0.24–0.39 times as long as wide, eyes strongly pedunculate, calli prominently raised, scutellum small, only about 0.3 times as wide and 0.3–0.4 times as long as pronotum, and parameres subequal in size.
Kunungua resembles New World genera of the Prodromus complex e. g., Sinervus, Sinervaspartus, and Spartacus, possessing the distinctively stalked eyes, sulcate vertex, strongly elevated calli, distinctly convex pronotal disk, and more or less falciform left paramere. The colouration of K. ukerewensis (Fig. 6 G), K. atramentomaculata sp. nov. (Fig. 6 C), K. gemina sp. nov. (Fig. 6 F), and K. ornata sp. nov. (Fig. 6 D) with specific bands is similar to that of some Sinervus species, in particular S. baerensprungi Stål, 1860 and S. minezi Carvalho, 1990. However, these genera differ from Kunungua spp. in having a long and slender, sickle-shaped cuneus, a narrower collar, and confluent calli that are distinctly separated posteriorly from the pronotal disk with a deep constriction dorsally and at sides.
The external characters of Kunungua, specifically colouration, suggest that two groups can be recognised within Kunungua, the first one comprising K. boxi and K. cinnamomea, and the second one including the remaining species. Kunungua boxi (Fig. 6 B) and K. cinnamomea (Fig. 6 A) share the brown hemelytra, a fuscous membrane, distinctly swollen clypeus and frons, an extremely short labium, reaching procoxa only (Fig. 7 F, G), antennal segment I reddish, short, 1.3–1.6 times as long as head, a comparatively short eye peduncle, oblique, longer in the basal part, a cinnamon-coloured pronotum, and a strongly curved distally membranal vein, forming an acute angle.
Kunungua ukerewensis, K. atramentomaculata sp. nov., K. gemina sp. nov., and K. ornata sp. nov. are characterised by yellowish white hemelytra with specific brownish bands (Fig. 6 C, D, F – H), gradually darkening from pale yellow to brown antennal segment I, a transparent membrane, strongly pedunculate eyes, slightly swollen frons, labium reaching approximately the middle of the mesothorax, and a distinctly curved distally membranal vein, forming a right angle. Interestingly, K. cinnamomea appears to be the only species to possess denticles on the apex of the right paramere (Fig. 10 C, E). Unfortunately, we have not dissected male genitalia of K. boxi, and the only existing picture of K. boxi parameres and aedeagus (Odhiambo 1962) appears to be of a relatively poor quality. Therefore, no conclusions can be drawn about the presence of denticles on the apex of the right paramere in K. boxi.
description: Published as part of Bolshakova, Darya S. & Konstantinov, Fedor V., 2024, Revision of the genus Kunungua (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae) with descriptions of three new species and new generic synonymy, pp. 219-239 in Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift 71 (1) on pages 219-239, DOI: 10.3897/dez.71.122735