Acaraptera Usinger and Matsuda 1959
Creators: name: Larivière, Marie-Claude
name: Larochelle, André
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Aradidae
Acaraptera

description: Genus Acaraptera Usinger and Matsuda, 1959
Fig. 16, 24, 33–34, 48–51, 73–74
Acaraptera Usinger and Matsuda, 1959: 148.
Type species. Acaraptera myersi Usinger and Matsuda, 1959, by original designation.
Description (incrustation removed). Apterous. Body subovate (male) to broadly pear-shaped (female); length about 3.0 mm (male), 3.4 mm (female). Head. Eyes rather large in relation to head, granulate. Postocular tubercles rounded-subquadrate, moderately to strongly produced laterally. Rostrum arising from an open atrium. Thorax. Pro-, meso-, and metanotum separated by distinct sutures. Pronotum. Single-ring collar barely set off from anterior margin, without lateral tubercles or posteriorly produced subtriangular plate. Disc bearing a moderately large, smooth, slightly convex, hourglass-shaped plate from anterior to posterior margin. Lateral portions with a curved submarginal bead extending from anterior to posterior margin or ending before posterior margin. Mesonotum. Disc bearing a large irregularly shaped plate with a U-shaped backward projection reaching anterior one-third of metanotum and two subquadrate anterolateral projections covering about half of lateral portions and topped with a curved plate or two to three nearly coalesced callosities. Metanotum fused with dmtg I (A. myersi) or distinctly separated from it (A. waipouensis). Disc of metanotum, dmtg I, and dmtg II moderately to strongly elevated, each with a pair of well-defined, small longitudinal plates. Posterolateral angles flat, unproduced. Legs. Coxal lobes rugose. Trochanters and femora demarcated from each other. Femora granulate, slightly longer than tibiae. Protibiae with fine ventral spines and apical comb. Abdomen. Dmtg I–II separated from each other over their entire width (A. myersi) or separated medially, fused laterally (A. waipouensis); disc (see metanotum); lateral portions of each segment with two, often faint, small, rounded callosities or spots, one adjacent to median elevation and the other near lateral margin, both in line with the rows of apodemal spots on dmtg III–VI. Tergal plate (dmtg III–VI) completely fused, with distinct carinae between inner and outer apodemal spots. Dmtg IV–VI smooth on each side of a distinct, posteriorly subtriangular plate carrying scent gland openings. Scent gland openings (or scars thereof) three in number, first large, displaced posteriorly on dmtg IV, second smaller, third evanescent. Connexivum consisting of dorsal laterotergites (dltg) and reflexed part of pleuron delimited from each other by a carina; reflexed part of pleuron extending forward to posterolateral angles of pronotum. Dorsal laterotergites (dltg) with a pair of distinct, rounded, smooth apodemal spots of similar size. Dltg II–III superficially unfused, II narrowly subtriangular, extending forward to middle of metanotum; III– VII subrectangular (on inner side of carina). Spiracles II–VII lateral (visible from above). Pattern of apodemal markings 2:2:1 (dorsal; ventral). Male genitalia. Pygophore trilobate (Fig. 16, posterodorsal view); dorsal lobes somewhat crescent-shaped, carinate along lateral margin, subdepressed medially, separated by a moderately wide depression with a strong longitudinal ridge; ventral lobe narrowly rounded-subtriangular medially, strongly produced (lobe forming a keel-like structure underneath pygophore); dorsal opening wide; paramere heads nearly fully visible as large boot-shaped structures; posterior rim with very short, anteriorly directed, subtriangular projection on each side of median suture. Paratergites VIII (Fig. 24, outer lateral view) with an apically acuminate, rounded-subtriangular head; spiracle subapical.
Remarks. This genus is known from Lord Howe Island, New Zealand and the Solomon Islands. In addition, there could be two undescribed species, one from Norfolk Island and one from New Caledonia (G.F. Monteith pers. comm. in Larivière and Larochelle 2006). The genus Acaraptera shares some morphological similarities with Lissaptera (see the Remarks under that genus) but can easily be diagnosed from it by characters of the thoracic notum listed in the key to genera. Some other important morphological differences include a more developed plate around abdominal scent gland openings,the first visible connexival segment not extending as far anteriorly, and a different configuration of the lobes of the male pygophore, especially the more strongly produced ventral lobe forming a keel-like structure underneath the genital capsule. The genus Acaraptera includes two North Island species. These leaf-litter inhabitants can be collected in very large numbers using manual sifting methods or extraction systems such as Berlese funnels. Species of Acaraptera are easily collected and account for the vast majority of Carventinae deposited in New Zealand Collections.
description: Published as part of Larivière, Marie-Claude & Larochelle, André, 2022, Synopsis of the subfamily Carventinae in New Zealand (Heteroptera: Aradidae), pp. 1-54 in Insecta Mundi 2022 (961) on pages 9-10, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.7399305