Graziaphylus Schuh & Salas 2021, new genus
Creators: name: Schuh, Randall T.
name: Salas, Ruth
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Graziaphylus

description: Graziaphylus, new genus
Type species: Graziaphylus joceliae Schuh and Salas
Etymology: From the surname Grazia and the generic name Phylus; masculine.
Diagnosis: Male: Small, total length 2.56–3.18, weakly elongate, broadly ovate, weakly to distinctly flattened, width across pronotum 1.05–1.11, membrane weakly exceeding apex of abdomen; coloration castaneous to nearly black, posterior margin of vertex pale, antennae pale (Fig. 1, 3), legs, except tibiae and tarsi ranging from pale to black/castaneous, tibiae pale, always with black spines with black bases, tarsi pale; head short, broad, eyes somewhat bulging as viewed from above, posterior margin of vertex rounded, nearly straight across (Figs. 1, 3); antennae short, slender, not sexually dimorphic, pale (Figs. 1, 3); claws only moderately elongate, nearly straight over much of length; pulvilli elongate, adnate to claw over most of length of the latter (Figs. 7, 8); parempodia setiform. Dimensions and proportions as in Table 1; interocular distance relative to width of head apparently distinctive for two known species. Vestiture composed of reclining simple setae intermixed with flattened lanceolate setae, the latter either dark or silvery in appearance (Figs. 1, 3, 9, 10). Legs short, femora flat (Figs. 1, 3). GENITALIA (Figs. 12–15, 18): Endosoma with a single strap, apical attenuation single, about the length of the gonopore and with one or two barbs; gonopore relatively large; phallotheca with apical portion at right angles relative to proximal portion; left paramere conventionally phyline, without distinctive structural variation; right paramere lanceolate.
Female (Figs. 2, 4) similar to male in coloration and vestiture, but somewhat larger and more broadly ovoid.
Among Australian Phylinae Graziaphylus is most similar in coloration and shape to Xiphoidellus gilvus Weirauch and Schuh (2011), but the latter taxon lacks scalelike setae, has small flaplike pulvilli placed near the midpoint of the claw, and the endosoma forms a complete coil and with a fingerlike process at the apex of the secondary gonopore.
Description: Male: Moderately small, broad-bodied, somewhat flattened, total length 2.56–3.18, width across pronotum 1.05–1.11. COLORATION (Figs. 1, 3): Body castaneous to nearly black; antennae pale; legs pale or castaneous/black; tibiae pale, spines with dark bases; membrane of wing, including veins, fumose. SURFACE AND VESTITURE (Figs. 1, 3, 5, 9, 10): Dorsum smooth, shining, covered with recumbent, dark, simple setae and some dark or silvery scalelike setae. STRUCTURE: Curvature of posterior margin of vertex and eyes more or less conforming to anterior margin of pronotum (Figs. 1, 3); posterior margin of vertex and eyes smoothly and rather broadly rounded (Figs. 1, 3); vertex and frons moderately rounded; clypeus barely visible from above; dorsal margin of antennal fossa at level of ventral margin of eye; head short in lateral view, eyes occupying much of height of head; labium reaching to middle trochanters; costal margin of hemelytra broadly convex (Figs. 1, 3), cuneal fracture pronounced, hemelytra weakly deflexed at fracture (Figs. 1, 3); pronotum flattened, nearly straight on lateral and posterior margins; mesoscutum moderately exposed, scutellum flattened, weakly elevated anteriorly; claws of moderate length, nearly straight along dorsal margin, sharply bent near apex, pulvilli long, adnate to ventral surface of claw over most of its length (Figs. 7, 8), parempodia setiform (Figs. 7, 8). GENITALIA (Figs. 12, 15, 18): Endosoma formed of a single strap, more-or-less J-shaped, with a slender, nearly straight, apical attenuation about length of secondary gonopore with one or two barbs; secondary gonopore well sclerotized, subtending apical endosomal spine, gonopore sclerite lacking; phallotheca with apical portion conical, at right angle to long, broad basal flap; left paramere of characteristic phyline type; right paramere small, lanceolate.
Female: Similar to male, but more broadly ovoid; total length 2.98–3.24; width pronotum 1.11–1.26. COLORATION (Figs. 2, 4): As in male. SURFACE AND VESTITURE (Figs. 9–11): As in male. STRUCTURE (Fig. 2, 4): Macropterous; eyes apparently lacking sexual dimorphism. GENITALIA: Figures 16, 17.
Discussion:Among Australian taxa, Graziaphylus will be most easily confused with the uniformly dark-colored species of Xiphoidellus Weirauch and Schuh; nonetheless, the male genitalia in the two groups are distinctive and the latter lacks the scalelike setae seen in the former. On a world basis, Graziaphylus species are similar in size and appearance to the multiple dark-colored species of Chlamydatus Fieber in the Northern Hemisphere, but the latter have minute, flaplike pulvilli situated at the midpoint of the claw (Schuh & Schwartz, 2005). Among other Phylinae, genera such as Arctostaphylocoris Schuh and Schwartz (2004) from the western Nearctic, the Holarctic Phoenicocoris Reuter (Schwartz & Stonedahl, 2004), members of the widely distributed Sthenaridea Reuter from the Southern Hemisphere, and several of the New World Rhinacloa Reuter (Schuh & Schwartz, 1985) species also share a resemblance, including their size and the fact that they all have some scalelike setae on the dorsum and usually on the thoracic pleuron.
We tentatively place Graziaphylus in the tribe Nasocorini (see Schuh & Menard, 2013) based on the size, structure of the male genitalia, and form of the claws and pulvilli. This is the first Australian taxon attributed to the tribe, whose monophyly and accommodation of Graziaphylus will strongly benefit from further testing using DNA sequence data.
description: Published as part of Schuh, Randall T. & Salas, Ruth, 2021, Graziaphylus, a new genus and two new species of Eremophila-feeding (Scrophulariceae) Phylinae (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae) from Australia, pp. 319-326 in Zootaxa 4958 (1) on pages 320-321, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4958.1.18, http://zenodo.org/record/4691975