Kernegaster fulvescens Schmitz 2025, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Schmitz, Luís Ricardo
name: Barcellos, Aline
name: Eger, Joseph
name: Bianchi, Filipe Michels
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2025
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Scutelleridae
Kernegaster
Kernegaster fulvescens

description: Kernegaster fulvescens Schmitz sp. nov.
(Fig. 1 H; Fig. 5 D – F; Fig. 7 E; Fig. 8 E; Fig. 9 E; Fig. 10 E; Fig. 12 E, N; Fig. 13 J and K)
Type Material (04): Holotype. (M) BRAZIL, Roraima: Boa Vista (Campo Experimental´Agua Boa), 26.IV.2012, no collector.
Paratypes. (3F), same data as the holotype; VENEZUELA, Gu´arico: 7 km ESE Calaboza, Est. Biol. Llanos, 380′, (1M), 21.VII.1988, no collector (JEEC).
Color pattern. Orange to ferrugineus, ventrally yellowish with brown blotches (Fig. 5 D – F). Head. Dorsal surface. Clypeus with posterior spots, mandibular plates with 1 + 1 dark blotches located laterally above antennal insertions (Fig. 7 E). Antennomeres I and II yellow, remaining antennomeres bicolored. Rostral segments entirely yellow, except for the tip of segment IV. Thorax. Pronotum and scutellum with many small dark spots evenly distributed. Femora with proximal dark blotch small and distal blotch larger; tibiae with medial and distal dark blotch; tarsomeres yellow, except for the last, which is darker.
Abdomen. Connexiva yellowish, with an anterior and posterior small dark macule. Ventral pattern. Lateral rows absent. Median rows with more than one solid blotch. Inner row with a solid blotch in each sternite, culminated into an aggregation of dark spots on sternite VII. Stridulatory areas without blotches. Area adjacent to spiracles concolourous (Fig. 5 F).
Head. Slightly wider than long. Clypeus surpassing mandibular plates (Fig. 7 E). Maxillary plates slightly surpass mandibular plates. Rostrum reaching abdominal sternite III. Thorax. Pronotum with anterolateral margins sub-rectilinear, humeral angles round and produced about a third of the width of the eye (Fig. 5 D – F). Peritreme spout-like, developed, about three times longer than wide (Fig. 8 E). Abdomen. Posterior margin of sternite VII sinuous, and broadly convex medially (Fig. 9 E).
Genital plates. Valvifers VIII elongate sub-rectangular, anterior margin convex, sutural margins convex posteriorly, posterior margin sinuous with distal margin produced, covering the lateral portion of laterotergites IX. Laterotergites IX elongate subtriangular, anterior margin convex, lateral angled produced (Fig. 9 E). Gynatrium. Ring sclerites with almost the entire inner margin with thick "leaf-like" sclerotized process. Posteromedian gynatrial pouch without a median sclerite, with 2 + 2 lateral sclerites, the intermediate pair sub-rectangular and curved, lateral pair small, round and produced (Fig. 10 E).
Genital capsule. Posterior margin sinuous (Fig. 11 D). Ventral rim concave in posterior view. Parameres. Crown not surpassing the width of the stem, apex truncated (Fig. 12 N). Phallus. Aedeagus sensu stricto abruptly tapered towards the apex, convex dorsally in lateral view, phallotreme sub rectilinear, positioned apically. Conjunctival processes II with a thin, slightly sinuous sclerotized apical process with a distinct base. Conjunctival processes III distally sclerotized into an acute, curved process (Fig. 13 J and K).
Measures. Body length (12.9–15.4) and width (9.1–10.4). Head length (2.6–2.8) and width (3.6–4.1).
Distribution: We have only data from one locality in northern Brazil (Roraima state) and north central Venezuela (Gu´arico state).
Etymology and comments. The epithet “fulvescens” refers to the dark yellow color with a blend of brown. It can be distinguished by the unique form of the valvifers VIII and the posterior margin of the pygophore. The antenna’ s color pattern shows an annulated pattern, with only antennomere I and II entirely yellow-brown, which is also found in K. igneus, but with orange rather than yellow-brown coloration.
description: Published as part of Schmitz, Luís Ricardo, Barcellos, Aline, Eger, Joseph & Bianchi, Filipe Michels, 2025, Kernegaster gen. nov. (Heteroptera, Scutelleridae, Pachycorinae) and six new species based on genital and polychromatic synapomorphies, pp. 97-123 in Zoologischer Anzeiger 316 on page 117, DOI: 10.1016/j.jcz.2025.03.005