Atracodes vittatus Levia & Bartlett 2025, comb. nov.
Creators: name: Levia, Nathaniel N.
name: Bartlett, Charles R.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Flatidae
Atracodes
Atracodes vittatus

description: Atracodes vittatus (Metcalf & Bruner, 1948), comb. nov. & stat. nov.
= Pseudoflatoides fasciculosus vittatus Metcalf & Bruner, 1948 (original description)
(Figs 12–15)
Type Locality. Camagűey, Camagűey Province, Cuba.
Amended description. Color. Ochraceous buff (Figs 12A, 13A), tinged with olive green, heavily marked with brownish fuscous. Eyes with dark semicircular lines. Dark lateral line from posterior margin of eye to wing base (Fig. 12B). Lateral margins of mesonotum largely bordered with dark lines that may be broken up into dots (Figs 12A, 13A). Forewings heavily covered in whitish pruinescence, patterning variable, usually bearing proximal fuscous markings on remigium; dark line tracing claval margin proximally then arched diagonally across remigium to reach leading wing margin subapically; transverse dark line following nodus, sometimes with broad, strongly serpentine, irregular fuscous marking from apex of clavus to wing apex.
Structure. Body length (head apex to forewing tip) male: 15.2mm; female: 16.8–18.0 mm. Head (dorsal view, Figs 12A, 13A) narrow, distinctly projecting in front of the eyes for distance greater than eye width, posterior margin hidden by anterior margin of pronotum. Vertex about twice as long as width between eyes; median carina present, forked at apex to form serpentine carinae contiguous with lateral carinae; lateral carinae nearly parallel posteriorly, distal portion medially serpentine, joining with median carina near head apex. Head apex blunt with medial callosity. Frons (Figs 12D, 13C) elongated, approximately narrowly quadrate, apex rounded; 3x as long as broad, lateral margins arched, widest near level of antennae; median carina absent, lateral carinae foliate. Frontoclypeal suture linear (upcurved laterally), clypeus elongate triangular. Eyes circular (Figs 12B, 13B), lateral ocelli obscure below eye near midlength (anterior to and slightly above level of antennae). Rostrum reaching hind trochanters.
Pronotum (Figs 12A, 13A) approximately triangular in dorsal view, with the apical margin rounded, anterior end convexly rounded, carinate (from lateral view lateral carinae of vertex meeting lateral carinae of frons at strong angle). Mesonotum broad, roughly lozenge-shaped with the lateral corners rounded, and raised above the pronotum, tricarinate. Hind tibiae with two lateral teeth (Fig. 12C); apical spinulation 7(3+2)-7-2. Forewings broad, humeral angle forming a lobe that projects toward the cephalad tegulae, lateral margin undulate, postcostal cell broad, marginal crossveins mostly forked, clavus extending well past forewing midlength, A1 close to marginal A 2 vein, MP forked proximad to fork of CuA.
Pygofer in lateral view (Figs 14A, B) broad, irregularly shaped, with extended area dorsally on apical side. Phallotheca bilaterally symmetrical (Fig. 15), in lateral view (Fig. 15A) narrowing distally past midlength; in ventral and dorsal views (Figs 15B, C) apex bifurcate with medial aedeagus and three pairs of processes (Figs 14A, 15A); A1 (process on opposite side hidden) very slender, extending from phallotheca apex, curved in upward medial catch, then broadly curved to anteriomedial direction (nearly crossing medially); A2 and A3; thicker, originating dorsally just subapically, crossing medially; A5 and A6 arising well subapically on ventral margin, arched to nearly cross midventrally (appearing forceps-like); aedeagus extending medially from the phallotheca; broad, moderately tapers, apex convex, extend about half the length of the phallathecal bifurcation. Gonostyli in lateral view (Fig. 14A, B) broad, bearing a large smoothly hooked capitulum at the distal apex of the dorsal margin, with a small projection near apex, nearly straight along ventral margin, ventral margin folded medially, from ventral view (Fig. 14D), medial margin nearly linear. Anal tube in lateral view (Fig. 14A, B) elongate, distally downcurved; in dorsal view (Fig. 14C) elongate-elliptical, apex bluntly rounded.
Remarks. Atracodes vittatus comb. nov. & stat. nov. can be distinguished from the most similar species A. fasciculosus comb. nov., in the following features: The pygofer is broader in A. vittatus comb. nov. & stat. nov. (Fig. 14A vs. Metcalf & Bruner 1948. Plate XVI, fig. 5), the gonostyli of A. vittatus comb. nov. & stat. nov. bears an apical projection on the ventral margin (smoothly rounded in A. fasciculosus comb. nov.), the ventral processes of the aedeagus of A. vittatus comb. nov. & stat. nov. are long (exceeding aedeagal midlength), but short and hooked in A. fasciculosus comb. nov.
Metcalf and Bruner (1948) described A. vittatus comb. nov. & stat. nov. as a subspecies of A. fasciculosus comb. nov. due to similarity in coloration and patterning and they asserted that the general structure of the male terminalia were similar. We found that the male terminalia were substantially too different to be considered the same species. The male holotype in the NCSU collection is missing its head and prothorax. The mapped distribution is based on available specimens.
Plant associations. None.
Distribution. Cuba (Camagűey, Guantánamo, “Santa Clara” Provinces).
Type material examined. HOLOTYPE: Camagüey, Cuba. / J. Acuña, Col. / Aug. 20 1924 // ♂ // Holotype // Pseudoflatoides / fasciculosus / vittatus / Metc. & Brun. / det. Z. P. M. (NSCU, male). PARATYPES: San Blas, / Sta. Clara. / G. C. Rowe / 10 / 15 / 19[31] // Paratype // Pseudoflatoides / fasciculosus / vittatus / Metc. & Brun. / det. Z. P. M. // UCC_TCN 00103106 [2D barcode label] (NCSU, male). Camagűey, Cuba, / J. Acuna, Col. / Aug. 15 1924 // Paratype // Pseudoflatoides / fasciculosus / vittatus / Metc. & Brun. / det. Z. P. M. // UDCC_TCN 00102981 (NCSU, female). ALLOTYPE: Guantanamo / Cuba // Allotype // Pseudoflatoides / fasciculosus / vittatus / Metc. & Brun. / det. Z. P. M. // UDCC _TCN 00102980 (NSCU, female).
description: Published as part of Levia, Nathaniel N. & Bartlett, Charles R., 2025, A review of the genera Atracodes Melichar and Pseudoflatoides Metcalf (Hemiptera: Flatidae: Flatoidinae) from the Caribbean region, pp. 231-255 in Zootaxa 5590 (2) on pages 245-248, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5590.2.4, http://zenodo.org/record/14953032