Punctifulvius sakaerat Yasunaga & Wolski & Taszakowski 2023, n. sp.
Creators: name: Yasunaga, Tomohide
name: Wolski, Andrzej
name: Taszakowski, Artur
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Punctifulvius
Punctifulvius sakaerat

description: Punctifulvius sakaerat n. sp.
(Figs 1C–D, 2A–H, 7A–C, 8A–B, 9A–F, 10A–B)
Material examined. Holotype (♂). THAILAND: Nakhon Ratchasima, Wang Nam Khiao, Udom Sap, Sakaerat Environmental Research Station, along trekking route, 14.506, 101.920, on polyporaceous fungus (pileus), 27 Oct 2008, T. Yasunaga [final instar nymph when collected, emerged on Oct 28–29] (DOAT). Paratypes: THAILAND: Same data as for holotype, 1♂, 2♀ (TYCN).
Diagnosis. Recognized by its small size; generally shiny fuscous body partly with red-orange antenna, cuneus and femora; shiny dorsum covered with moderately sparse, fine, reclining setae (Figs 2B–C, 9B–C); shallow, sparse punctures on head (Fig. 9A); C-shaped left paramere without basal process (Fig. 8A–B); and basally inflated, rather short right paramere (Fig. 8A–B).
The final instar nymph has a generally orange-brown coloration and wholly darkened antennomeres II and III (Fig. 2D–E), which enable it to be distinguished from that of P. kerzhneri (Fig. 2J–K).
Description. Male: Macropterous. Body oval, subparallel-sided, small; dorsal surface weakly shining, punctate, with uniformly distributed, pale, short, simple, reclining setae (Figs 9A–C). Head fuscous, not porrect, partly pale brown and somewhat tapered anteriorly (Fig. 1C); vertex and frons sparsely and shallowly punctate (Fig. 9A. Antenna pale orange-brown, rather short; antennomere I with creamy extreme apex, about as thick as apical part of II; basal half and apex of antennomere II, and whole antennomeres III and IV dark brown; apical 1/3 of antennomere II incrassate; antennomere III shorter than IV (Figs 2B, C). Labium reddish brown, exceeding apex of metacoxa and reaching abdominal sterna VII–VIII; apical part of segment IV darkened (Fig. 1D). Pronotum weakly shining, uniformly punctate (Fig. 9A); scutellum weakly arched, sparsely punctate (Fig. 9B); pleura shiny dark brown, almost glabrous; propleuron sparsely punctate except on its anterior margin; metathoracic scent efferent system greyish brown, with somewhat elongate peritreme (Figs 1D, 9D). Hemelytron weakly shining, with uniformly distributed, minute punctures and short, reclining setae; cuneus orange-brown; membrane including veins pale smoky brown. All coxae and femora pale orange-brown; tibial spines pale brown; tarsomere I shorter than II or III; claw with apical tooth. Abdomen reddish brown. Male genitalia (Figs 8A–B, 9E–F): Left paramere tumid, C-shaped, without basal process; right paramere rather inflated at basal half. Structure of vesica not confirmed as available specimens are teneral.
Female: Similar in overall appearance to male but body larger, with longer appendages (Table 1). Body ovoid. Antennomere II slender, linear, not strongly incrassate apically. Female genitalia: Not examined, as available specimens are teneral.
Measurements: See Table 1.
Etymology. Named for the type locality, Sakaerat in Nakhon Ratchasima Prov., Thailand; a noun in apposition.
Distribution. Thailand (Nakhon Ratchasima) (Fig. 12).
Biology. The present new species was found from the pileus of polyporaceous fungus (Fig. 2A) under a tropical dry forest zone. The first author captured several final instar nymphs by hand-challenging, and the samples were reared and successfully developed into adults within a few days (cf. Fig. 2F–H).
description: Published as part of Yasunaga, Tomohide, Wolski, Andrzej & Taszakowski, Artur, 2023, First record of the plant bug genus Punctifulvius Schmitz from the Oriental Region, with descriptions of three new species (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae, Cylapinae), pp. 152-169 in Zootaxa 5382 (1) on pages 163-165, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5382.1.17, http://zenodo.org/record/10280497