Salicarus genistae
Creators: name: Konstantinov, Fedor V.
name: Hosseini, Reza
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Salicarus
Salicarus genistae

description: Salicarus genistae (Lindberg, 1948)
Figs 3 G, H, 5 C, G, 8 B, C, H, 9 D – F, 10 C, E
Atractotomus genistae Lindberg, 1948: 53.
Heterocapillus genistae: Wagner (1975 a): 126 (key, description, figures); Linnavuori (1999): 58 (figures of antennae and vesica, discussion).
Salicarus genistae: Konstantinov (2023): 861 (phylogenetic placement, figures, discussion).
Material examined.
Paralectotypes: Cyprus • Ayios Hilarion, 35.3125 ° N, 33.28333 ° E, 07 Jun 1939, Hakan Lindberg, 1 ♂ (AMNH _ PBI 00336958) (ZMUH) • Troodos Mesopotamos, 34.896 ° N, 32.908 ° E, 21 Jun 1939, Hakan Lindberg, 1 ♀ (AMNH _ PBI 00336965) (ZMUH).
Other specimens examined: Cyprus • Kakomallis Mt., 34.83333 ° N, 33.03333 ° E, 914 m, 13 Jun 1965, G. Mavromoustakis, 2 ♂ (AMNH _ PBI 00336959, AMNH _ PBI 00336960), 2 ♀ (AMNH _ PBI 00336966, AMNH _ PBI 00336967) (ZMUH) • Kalokhorio, 34.845 ° N, 33.034 ° E, 762 m, 29 Jun 1956, Unknown collector, 1 ♀ (AMNH _ PBI 00240953), 2 ♂ (AMNH _ PBI 00240954, AMNH _ PBI 00240946) (ZISP) • Pano Lefkara, 34.869 ° N, 33.302 ° E, 28 May 1972, Eckerlein, 6 ♂ (AMNH _ PBI 00240947 - AMNH _ PBI 00240952), 1 ♀ (AMNH _ PBI 00240955) (ZISP).
Diagnosis.
Recognized by the relatively small, stumpy, dark brown body, total length male 2.2–2.5, female 2.6–2.8 (Fig. 3 G, H); dorsum with dense, wide and apically serrate white scales; legs and antennae without scales; antennal segment II in male swollen, somewhat fusiform, subequal in width at midpoint to apical width of segment I, 6.4–6.7 × as long as wide, in female distinctly fusiform, 1.5–1.6 × as wide at midpoint as segment I at apex, 4.9–5.2 × as long as wide (Fig. 5 C, G); apical blades of vesica tightly adjoining each other along their entire length, comparatively short, with length of larger blade subequal to distance between its base and secondary gonopore (Fig. 8 B, C, H).
Salicarus genistae is most similar in habitus, coloration, size, and male genitalia structure to S. cavinotum, S. nitidus, and S. perpusillus. It differs habitually from these species by its sexually dimorphic antennal segment II: in males it is slightly fusiform with the width at the midpoint being subequal to the apical width of segment I; in females it is distinctly fusiform, being 1.5–1.6 × as wide at the midpoint as segment I at the apex. Consequently, antennal segment II is 6.4–6.7 × as long as wide in males of S. genistae, being 4.9–5.2 × as long as wide in female. In other three closely related species this ratio ranges 4.1–5.3 × in males and 3.9–4.3 × in females. However, these ratios should be used with caution due to observed polymorphism and the extremely dense vestiture of antennal segment II, which can affect the measurements. Salicarus genistae further differs from both S. nitidus and S. perpusillus in the absence of scales on femora. In vesica structure, with the apical blades tightly adjoining each other, it is most similar to S. cavinotum (Fig. 8 A) and S. perpusillus (Fig. 8 F, G), whereas in S. nitidus blades are apically separated. However, the vesica in S. genistae is slightly larger than in both S. cavinotum and S. perpusillus, and differs by having shorter apical blades, with the length of the larger blade subequal to the distance between its base and the secondary gonopore.
Redescription.
Male. Coloration. Dorsum and venter uniformly chestnut to dark brown (Fig. 3 G). Head: Brown to dark brown, buccula and apices of labial segments I and II usually paler; antennal segments III and IV uniformly pale yellow. Thorax: Uniformly brown to dark brown, tibiae dirty yellow, rarely somewhat darkened basally, with small, sometimes indistinct round spots at bases of tibial spines; tarsi pale yellow, with darkened apices; membrane and veins uniformly brown. Abdomen: Uniformly dark brown.
Surface and vestiture. Smooth, moderately shiny; dorsum, thoracic pleura, and abdomen with dense, silvery, broad and apically serrate scale-like setae and adpressed to semierect, long, almost twice as long as scales, simple setae, dark on cuneus and extreme apex of corium and goldish yellow elsewhere (Fig. 5 G); in addition, sides of pronotum and hemelytron at base with robust dark contrastingly long, erect to semierect simple setae; appendages with simple, adpressed to semierect pale setae, contrastingly dense, dark and robust on antennal segments I and II; tibial spines dark brown to black.
Structure. Body stumpy, oval, 2.1–2.4 × as long as posterior width of pronotum; total length 2.2–2.5; vertex flat, 2.0–2.2 × as wide as eye; segment I short, swollen, widest at apex, about twice as long as width at apex; segment II swollen along entire length, somewhat fusiform, with midpoint width subequal to apical width of segment I, 6.4–6.7 × as long as wide, 0.5–0.6 × as long as basal width of pronotum, 0.7–0.8 × as long as width of head; segments III and IV filiform; labium reaching metacoxa; pronotum 2.2–2.4 × as wide as long, 1.4–1.5 × as wide as head; mesonotum only slightly exposed.
Genitalia. Right paramere oval, approximately twice as long as wide, basally broadly rounded, and well expanded proximally beyond basal process, with long, straight, gradually tapering apical process (Fig. 9 D). Left paramere with short and straight apical process and triangular, apically broadly rounded sensory lobe (Fig. 9 E). Vesica with comparatively short apical blades tightly adjoining each other along their entire length, larger blade subequal in length to distance between its base and secondary gonopore (Fig. 8 B, C).
Female. Coloration, surface, and vestiture. As in male (Fig. 3 H).
Structure. Body 2.5–2.7 × as long as posterior width of pronotum; total length 2.6–2.8; vertex 2.2–2.6 × as wide as eye; antennal segment I short, swollen, widest at apex, about twice as long as width at apex; segment II somewhat shorter than in male, strongly swollen, fusiform, 1.5–1.6 × as wide at midpoint as segment I at apex, 4.9–5.2 × as long as wide, 0.5–0.6 × as long as posterior width of pronotum, 0.7–0.8 × as long as width of head; pronotum 2.1–2.2 × as wide as long, 1.3–1.4 × as wide as head.
Genitalia. Dorsal labiate plate with large and wide, broadly oval, but apically tapering sclerotized rings (Fig. 10 C). Posterior wall membranous, somewhat strongly sclerotized at sides (Fig. 10 D). Vestibulum long and thin, S-shaped (Fig. 10 E).
Distribution.
Originally described and still known from Cyprus. A record from Manavgat (Antalya province of Turkey) based on a single specimen of unknown sex (Lodos et al. 2003) requires confirmation.
Host.
Genista fasselata Decne. (Lindberg 1948, as G. sphacelata). An indication of Onopordum sp. (Asteraceae) as host (Lodos et al. 2003) certainly represents a sitting record.
Discussion.
Refer to the corresponding section in the redescription of S. nitidus.
description: Published as part of Konstantinov, Fedor V. & Hosseini, Reza, 2024, Review of the genus Salicarus (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Miridae), pp. 57-100 in ZooKeys 1211 on pages 57-100, DOI: 10.3897/zookeys.1211.129660