Graptophara Stal 1865
Creators: name: Rédei, Dávid
name: Tsai, Jing-Fu
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2018
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Graptophara

description: Graptophara Stål, 1865
Graptophara Stål, 1865: 34. Type species by subsequent monotypy (Stål 1866: 155): Scutellera reynaudii Guérin-Méneville, 1834.
Graptophara: Mayr (1866: 18) (in key), Stål (1866: 155) (type species), Stål (1873: 9, 22) (in key, synopsis), Lethierry & Severin (1893: 29) (catalogue), Schouteden (1904: 16, 26) (in key, redescription, catalogue), Kirkaldy (1909: XXXV, 301) (type species, catalogue), Lyal (1979: 150) (morphology), Tsai et al. (2011: 24, 57, 62) (diagnostic characters, distribution).
Diagnosis. Diagnosed within Scutellerinae by the following combination of characters of the exoskeleton: dorsum glabrous; lateral margin of head deeply emarginate anteriad to eyes; basipedicellite relatively long, about 0.5–1.0 times as long as distipedicellite; metathoracic scent gland ostiole provided with an elongate and wide peritreme (Fig. 22); lateral margin of abdomen simple, not explanate, not tumescent, completely concealed by scutellum in dorsal view, lateral angles of abdominal ventrites III–VI unarmed. Additional genital characters useful for recognition of the genus include the lack of extensive setal patches on the genital capsule; conjunctiva being provided with two pairs of processes (cp-II and cp-III), cp-II being composed by a broadened, sclerotized, shieldlike body and three branches; aedeagus being provided with a highly elevated dorsal lump; and a spermathecal dilation of Cantao type (sensu Tsai et al. 2011).
Redescription. Body medium to relatively large (14–20 mm), elongate oval, about 1.85–2.0 times as long as humeral width, moderately convex dorsally and ventrally; dorsal outline of body distinctly excised between base of scutellum and base of pronotum in lateral view. Body surface and vestiture. Dorsum with metallic iridescence or partly dull; body glabrous, smooth, head, pronotum (except of anterior collar and transverse furrow), and basal tumescence of scutellum virtually unpunctured, scutellum densely punctured in its anterior half but lacking punctures posteriorly; legs with short, semierect to erect pilosity; scape with sparse, pedicel and flagellum with short and dense pilosity.
Head weakly convex, moderately declivous; lateral margin deeply emarginate anteriad to eyes, obtuse; clypeus elevated subapically, reaching to or slightly surpassing apices of mandibular plates; buccula unarmed; eyes large, globular, strongly protruding laterally; ocelli large, situated slightly posteriad of level of posterior margin of eyes. Antenna five-segmented, apex of scape remote from or reaching apex of head, basipedicellite relatively long (about 0.5–1.0 times as long as distipedicellite); scape and basipedicellite subcylindrical (G. anomala) or slightly flattened (G. reynaudii), distipedicellite and flagellomeres flattened. Labium surpassing base of abdomen but not extending posteriad of middle of ventrite IV.
Pronotum. Anterior margin with narrow but distinct, depressed anterior collar; cicatrices distinct, somewhat depressed; lateral margin concave, distinctly explanate; humeral angle rounded, posterior abrupt termination of lateral carina appears as a more or less distinct denticle at humeral angle; posterior margin nearly straight; posterolateral angle broadly angulate. Scutellum broad, partly covering exocorium, leaving only its costal margin exposed in its total length; basal tumescence rather distinct, abruptly declivous anteriorly, weakly demarcated posteriorly, apically broadly rounded or somewhat truncate. Membrane narrowly exposed beyond apex of scutellum at rest. Thoracic pleura and sterna. Anterior explanate part of proepisternum weakly projecting anteriad; mesosternum with a shallow median furrow bordered by a pair of low and short submedian carinae anteriorly, posterior part of mesosternum as well as metasternum with insignificant median furrow; metathoracic scent gland ostiole provided with an elongate and wide peritreme reaching or slightly surpassing middle of metapleurite, evaporatorium widely extending to mesopleuron (Fig. 22). Legs without peculiarities; femora not conspicuously thickened, unarmed; dorsal surface of tibiae each with a wide longitudinal furrow in its distal two-thirds (♂) or whole length (♀).
Pregenital abdomen completely concealed by scutellum in dorsal view; without impression or furrow ventrally; lateral margin obtuse, posterolateral angles of ventrites III–VI unarmed, those of ventrite VII weakly produced into a blunt tubercle. External male genitalia. Genital capsule subquadrate in dorsal view, distally depressed at meson, with ventral outline deeply concave in lateral view (Figs. 15, 23), without extensive setal patches, merely with a pair of small groups composed by short, rigid setae set on a pair of weak protuberances on ventral infolding laterally; paramere with a slender and columnar stem, a distinct neck, and a curved crown; phallus with a robust articulatory apparatus, phallotheca barrel-shaped with a compact hinge, conjunctiva rigid, immovable, with two pairs of processes (cp-II and cp-III), second pair (cp-II) with a broadened, sclerotized, shieldlike body and three branches (Figs. 29–32: cp-II1, cp-II2, cp-II3); endophallic duct of two lumina system, with a thickened, tortuous ventrobasal (Fig. 36: vbl), and a broadened dorsoapical lumen (Fig. 36: dal); aedeagal conducting tube (Fig. 36: act) very short, adhered to ventrobasal margin of aedeagus; aedeagus with a highly elevated dorsal lump, distal portion relatively short, tubular, directed posteroventrad, then abruptly curved posteriad, obliquely truncate apically. External female genitalia. Spiracles of segment VIII reduced, small in G. reynaudii, vestigial, probably non-functional in G. anomala (Fig. 46: sp8); gonangulum elongate; fused valvifers IX (Fig. 47: vf9) short, transverse, provided with a pair of narrow lateral arms; valvulae VIII sclerotized and pigmented except their membranous distal portions; valvulae IX greatly enlarged; gynatrium with a pair of small anterolateral pouches (Fig. 48: algp); ring sclerites (Fig. 48: rs) thick, strongly sclerotized; spermatheca with a relatively long proximal duct (Fig. 48: pd) gradually broadening distally, a large, globular dilation (Fig. 48: dil) of Cantao type (sensu Tsai et al. 2011) (dilation thick-walled, somewhat sclerotized, regularly fluted externally, inner wall with several lamellae, without sclerotized tubular outgrowth associated with orifices of proximal and distal ducts), distal duct (Fig. 48: dd) shorter and much thinner than proximal duct, apical receptacle elongate, terminating in a globose apex.
Distribution and diversity. The genus contains two species rather dissimilar in general habitus; one of them is restricted to the Sundaic Region, the other one to the Malabar Subregion of the Indian Subcontinent.
description: Published as part of Rédei, Dávid & Tsai, Jing-Fu, 2018, A revision of Graptophara (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Scutelleridae), pp. 346-360 in Zootaxa 4407 (3) on pages 347-348, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4407.3.3, http://zenodo.org/record/1216572