Lampromicra regia BERGROTH 1895
Creators: name: Gerry Cassis
name: Loren Vanags
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2006
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Scutelleridae
Lampromicra
Lampromicra regia

description: Lampromicra regia BERGROTH 1895 (Figs 21g, 28d, 41)
Lampromicra regia BERGROTH 1895: 287 (n.sp.); DISTANT 1904: 276 (description); SCHOUTEDEN 1904: 30 (list); BERGROTH 1906: 1 (note); FROGGATT 1907: 328 (biology); MCDONALD 1963: 24, 29 (male genitalia); GAEDIKE 1971: 90 (type); MCDONALD & CASSIS 1984: 557 (description); CASSIS & GROSS 2002: 596 (catalogue) PHilia leucocHalcea BREDDIN 1903: 58 (n.sp.); KIRKALDY 1909: 300 (synonymy)
Diagnosis: Lampromicra regia is recognised by the following combination of characters: head, most of pronotum, and anteri-or 1/3 of scutellum purple-fuscous, with iridescent green tinge (Fig. 28d); posterior 2/3 of scutellum yellow (Fig. 28d); femora yellow; tibiae iridescent green; abdominal venter mostly dark iridescent green, lateral margins green (Fig. 21g); CAII(M) apex serrate and hooked; CAIII medially fused; and, vesica moderately sized, weakly arcuate.
Description: Body moderate-sized, males 9.3-12.0 mm, females 8.8-12.0 mm.
Colouration. Body bicoloured (Fig. 28d), with head, pronotum and anterior 1/2 of scutellum (latter (pentagonal marking) purple-fuscous with green iridescence, remainder of scutellum yellow; coxae, trochanters and femora yellow, tibiae mostly iridescent green with bases narrowly yellow; tarsi iridescent green; abdominal venter mostly iridescent green, lateral margins yellow (Fig. 21g).
Texture. Head sparsely punctate, with shallow punctures (Fig. 28d); vertex weakly rugopunctate. Pronotum: moderately dense punctate; posterior margin of callosite region with irregular row of dense punctures. Scutellum: densely punctate, less so on anterior callus. Thoracic pleura: mostly with dense punctures. Pregenital Abdomen: sterna densely punctate, lateral regions (laterad of trichobothria) impunctate.
Vestiture. Body moderately setose. Legs: ventral surface of femora, and tibiae densely setose.
Structure. Labium: reaching posterior margin of abdominal SIII. Male Genitalia: pygophore with ventral margin deeply bisinuate, with a short medial process; crown of parameres with short hook; ejaculatory apparatus well-developed, ventral conducting canal with up to 12 convolutions; CAI absent; CAII bifid; CAII(L) with large, digitiform lobal sclerite, weakly arcute, apex acute; CAII(M) with serrate, hook-shaped lobal sclerite. CAIII fused medially, bifid post-thecal margin. Female Terminalia: bi-planar, caudal in orientation; paratergites VIII moderately-sized, subtriangular; paratergites IX small, suboval; gonocoxae I large, medially depressed, posterior margin weakly concave.
New specimens examined: Queensland: 1♂, Wongabal S[tate] F[orest] 10 km S Atherton, 12 June 1992, C Reid, ex beating rainforest bush-es/vines (AM); 1♂, Upper Nesbit Riv[er], Claudie Creek, Lake Lands, 1500 feet, 16-21 August 1948, Archibold Expedition, LJ Brass (AMNH).
Distribution: Lampromicra regia is restricted to tropical north Queensland (Fig. 41).
Host plants and biology: Lampromicra regia is known from a few specimens, and there is no recorded host plant. A single species was found in rainforest understorey.
Remarks: Body colouration in species of Lampromicra is usually of no diagnostic value, except in species such as L. regia and L. leucocyanea. No other species approximates the colour pattern of the former species, with its yellow and fuscous-iridescent green dorsum. In contrast, its relationships are uncertain, as the genitalia do not provide a basis for sister-group relationships, although they bear a strong resemblance to L. aerea.
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 374-375, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.12996779