Cletus minutus Blote
Creators: name: Brailovsky, Harry
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2007
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Coreidae
Cletus
Cletus minutus

description: Cletus minutus Blöte
(Figs. 7, 21)
Cletus minutus Blöte, 1935: 206 –207.
Redescription. Male. Head length 0.98; width across eyes 1.30; interocular space 0.74; interocellar space 0.30; preocular distance 0.60; antennal segment length I, 1.48, II, 1.88, III, 1.80, IV 1.10; pronotum length 1.68; width across humeral angles 3.16; scutellar length 1.08; width 1.16; maximum width of abdomen 2.92; total body length 7.50. Dorsal coloration.— General color pale yellowish orange, punctures reddish brown to pale orange; reddish brown punctures on head and pronotum forming indistinct markings; antennal segments I to III pale yellowish orange, IV pale reddish brown and basal joint and apex dark yellow; inner third of ocellar tubercle black; anterior half of pronotal disk with two black, lateral, discoidal spots; apex of scutellum pale yellow; apical angle of corium suffused with pale reddish marks; apical edge of corium with clearly whitish to ivory discoidal spot; hemelytral membrane translucent, veins and basal angle dark yellow; connexivum pale yellowish orange with some pale brown punctures; dorsal abdominal segments pale yellow, suffused with shiny orange irregular marks. Ventral coloration.— Venter, rostral segments, legs, genital capsule pale yellow, following areas black to dark brown: apex of rostral segment IV, small discoidal spot at mesopleura, one or two discoidal spots on coxae, large discoidal spot on abdominal sternite II, six rows of small to tiny discoidal spots on abdominal sterna III to VII; granules of femora and tibiae pale brown. Structure.— Head.— Antennal segment I uniformly robust, wider, granulate, segments II and III slender, cylindrical, IV subclavate; segment II>III>I>IV; antenniferous tubercles widely separated, unarmed; rostrum reaching anterior third of metasternum. Thorax.— Pronotum.— Humeral angles tapering into large, acute spines, directed outward, slightly upward; anterolateral borders crenate; outer third of posterolateral borders crenate, inner third smooth (Fig. 7). Legs.— Femora and tibiae not coarsely punctate. Genital capsule.— Posteroventral edge with lateral angles straight, without expansions, mesial lobe wider, large, occupying almost entire space of capsule, and apically straight or very slightly excavated in middle third (Fig. 21).
Female. Head length 1.00; width across eyes 1.34; interocular space 0.80; interocellar space 0.32; preocular distance 0.62; antennal segment length I, 1.36, II, 1.76, III, 1.64, IV 1.12; pronotum length 1.86; width across humeral angles 3.32; scutellar length 1.20; width 1.24; maximum width of abdomen 2.96; total body length 8.05. Coloration similar to male. Connexival segments VIII and IX pale yellow with pale brown punctures; dorsal abdominal segments VIII and IX, and genital plates pale yellow. Structure.— Genital plates: Abdominal sternite VII with plica and fissura; plica reduced, occupying anterior border of sternite, and barely concave; fussura covered 2/3 or more of total length of sternite; gonocoxae I wide, enlarged anteroposteriorly, in caudal view closed, in lateral view convex, entire; paratergite VIII triangular, small, with visible spiracle; paratergite IX broad, squarish.
Variation: 1. Propleuron and metapleuron with or without small black discoidal spot. 2. Abdominal sterna II to IV with wide and irregular black lateral stripe. 3. Abdominal sterna II to IX suffused with tiny pink discoidal marks.
Type locality. AUSTRALIA: Queensland, Peak Downs (RMNH, examined).
Distribution. AUSTRALIA: Queensland, Peak Downs (NE coastal). (Blőte 1935, and Cassis and Gross 2002).
Material examined. New records. AUSTRALIA: 3 males, 1 female, Queensland, Selwyn Mine, 160 km SE of Mt. Isa, 7–14-III-1991, T. Woodgen (AMUS); 1 male, Western Australia, Sir Graham Moore ID, 20-II- 1945, B. Malkin (USNM); 1 female, Northern Territory, Katherine, 17-IV-1962, L. F. B. Common (ANIC).
Comments. Blöte (1935) described this species based on only one male (holotype), and mentioned in the original description that is very small (6 mm long), the antennal segments I to III are about equal in length, the humeral angles of pronotum are acute and directed outward, the black punctures on the head and pronotum form indistinct markings, ventrally the pro- and mesopleura each have two black discoidal spots on each side, the metapleuron has one black discoidal spot on each side, and abdominal sterna III to VII have six black rows of discoidal spots. In this study, I examined not only the male holotype (deposited in RMNH), but also 4 males and 2 females clearly belonging to this species. In these each humeral angle of the pronotum tapers into a large acute spine directed outward and slightly upward (Fig. 7), and the head and pronotum have indistinct black stripes.
description: Published as part of Brailovsky, Harry, 2007, A revision of the tribe Gonocerini from Australia (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Coreidae: Coreinae), pp. 1-18 in Zootaxa 1530 on pages 7-8, DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.177705