Kiwisaldula parvula Larivière & Larochelle 2016, new combination
Creators: name: Larivière, Marie-Claude
name: Larochelle, André
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2016
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Saldidae
Kiwisaldula
Kiwisaldula parvula

description: Kiwisaldula parvula (Cobben, 1961) new combination
Saldula parvula Cobben, 1961: 101. Holotype: male (BMNH) labelled: “Holo- type (circular red-bordered label; typed in 2 lines) / S. Karori 13.I.24 T. Cockcroft (handwritten) / Holotypus Saldula parvula R.H. Cobben 1961 (pale green label; handwritten) / J.G. Myers Coll. B.M. 1937-789. (upside down label; typed). Good condition; left hemelytron missing; abdomen removed and dissected, placed on round permanent slide mount on same pin as main body.
Description (Subbrachypterous adult). Body length 2.75–3.83 (3.16 mm); short-ovate (Fig. 11). Dorsal colour largely dark, with broadly pale lateral margins of pronotum and well-developed, often coalesced pale markings on hemelytra. Facial colour (Fig. 15) moderately to strongly contrasted. Head, pronotum, and scutellum strongly shiny, contrasting strongly against mostly dull hemelytra. Dorsal pubescence short to moderately long, reclined to semi-erect, mostly golden brown (sometimes silvery on head), usually thicker, longer and more densely distributed on hemelytra (especially clavus and endocorium); also with more erect dark brown setae near lateral margins of pronotum and costal margin of hemelytra. Hemelytra with somewhat reduced cells in membrane; hindwings distinctly reduced, reaching tip of corium to middle of hemelytral membrane. Head (Fig. 15, facial view). Frons with barely distinct to slightly (shallowly) developed longitudinal furrow medially. Preocellar spots yellow to yellowish brown. Preocellar furrows shallow, about as deep as longitudinal frontal furrow. Preocular spots yellowish or brown. Transverse swelling moderately to strongly developed (sometimes prominent); lateral portions contiguous; whitish yellow to yellowish brown (often bright yellow), darker at facial midline. Mandibular plates moderately to strongly developed, concolorous with or paler than transverse swelling. Maxillary plates strongly developed, concolorous with transverse swelling, margined with brown. Anteclypeus yellowish, usually marked with brown basally and sometimes along margins. Rostrum yellowish brown to dark brown, extending to hind coxae. Antennae 3.9–4.5x longer than pronotum + collar medially; segment I whitish yellow to yellowish brown, ventral and dorsal sides often dark (sometimes striped); segment II yellowish brown, often darker in apical fourth, 1.9–2.0x longer than segment I, clothed over entire length with setae about as long as segment width, with some longer setae in apical half; segments III–IV pale to dark brown. Thorax. Lateral margins of pronotum subrectilinear to slightly convex, distinctly explanate, broadly pale yellow to yellowish brown (pale area at midlength at least 2x the width of antennal segment II). Scutellum 1.4–1.7x longer than pronotum + collar medially. Thoracic underside black, with moderately to strongly contrasting, broadly or narrowly pale acetabula (acetabulum I broadly pale, acetabulum II broadly or narrowly pale, acetabulum III narrowly pale or completely dark), and broadly pale lateral margins; pubescence rather dense, silvery, and appressed (except for glabrous lateral margins). Legs largely pale, whitish yellow to yellowish brown, with dark brown to black coxae; femora with more or less defined brown spots on anterior and posterior faces; fore and mid femora often with ventral side brown to nearly black subapically (not usually distinctly striped); tibiae pale or dark at base and apex; fore tibiae pale or slightly infumate dorsally (not darkly striped throughout); hind tibiae 2.3–2.7x longer than tarsal segments II+III combined; hind tarsal segments usually dark apically, segment II about as long as segment III. Hemelytra: corium (Figs 11, 19) largely dark brown to nearly black, with reduced to moderately developed pale markings on endocorium and more extensive pale markings (whitish yellow to brownish) on exocorium; endocorium with distinct brown eyespot subbasally near R vein, often with a rather large irregular or subtriangular pale mark next to middle of clavus; costal margin lined with moderately to rather wide, mostly uninterrupted pale band (usually thicker-looking than in other Kiwisaldula species; sometimes evanescent in apical quarter or half); colour pattern in female consistent with that in male; pruinose areas well developed, distributed on base and apex of clavus, most of endocorium, often on basal third of exocorium, and sometimes on membrane near apex of clavus; basal pruinose area of clavus narrow and short, covering less than one-third of clavus length; basal pale spot of clavus usually absent; subapical pale spot of clavus present (often very small) or absent; membrane whitish yellow, often mixed with brown, with pale to moderately dark brown apical margin, veins and patch medially in each of four somewhat reduced or sometimes mostly well-formed cells; cell 1 the shortest, distinctly shorter than cells 2 and 3, oval to subtriangular; cells 2 and 3 subrectangular, subequal in length and width; cell 4 the narrowest, slender, subequal in length to or slightly longer than cell 3, ending apically before tip of cell 3. Abdomen. Venter: male, black, with or without posterior margin of segments very narrowly pale brown; female, moderately to broadly margined with yellowish ivory to yellowish brown (sometimes very narrowly pale), darker medially. Pubescence dense, silvery, and appressed in both sexes. Male parandria (Fig. 27) elongate, broadly subtriangular, acutely rounded at tip; inner margins almost straight (barely concave subapically); medial membrane with blunt inward projection on each side; basal margin almost straight. Male paramere (Fig. 23) without distinct processus sensualis, instead with slightly uneven cuticular surface bearing less than ten setae; processus hamatus rather long, not constricted basally, its tip moderately broad and acutely rounded. Apical half of male aedeagus (Fig. 29), in lateral view, with four main visible sclerites (elongate, moderately curved median sclerite; small, subquadrate anterolateral sclerite; elongatesinuate V-shaped sclerite; medium-sized, nearly pear-shaped sclerite). Female subgenital plate (segment VII ventrally) dark brown to black with apical half pale. Other characters as in generic description.
Geographic distribution (Fig. 33). North Island, northern half and southwestern areas.
Material examined. A total of 289 specimens including holotype, from the following localities. North Island. AK — Waitakere Ranges (Swanson [Creek], Cascade Park (NZAC); Te Henga (NZAC); Whatipu, Windy Point (AMNZ)). Hunua Ranges, Vicinity of Vining Track (NZAC); Manukau Peninsula, Pollok (NZAC); BP — Haune Stream, W of Pikowai, above beach (AMNZ); Kaimai Range, Okauia (Old Te Aroha Road, 1 km S Till Road) (NZAC); Tokata (NZAC); Waiotahi Beach (NZAC); Whaka St. Forest Rotorua [=Rotorua, Whakarewarewa Forest] (MONZ; doubtful record, see remarks below). CL —Golden Cross (10 km N Waikino) (NZAC); Hotwater Beach (NZAC); Mercury Islands, Korapuki Island (NZAC); Te Kouma (AMNZ); Te Kouma Road, 5 km S Coromandel (NZAC); Whitianga (NZAC). ND — Doel Road, E of Kawakawa (AMNZ); Hukatere, Ninety Mile Beach (AMNZ); Karikari Peninsula (AMNZ); Lake Waiparera (AMNZ); Lake Taharoa (10 km from Kaihu) (NZAC); Te Paki Stream (MONZ); Te Werahi Swamp S of Cape Reinga (AMNZ); Tokerau Beach (3 km SW) (NZAC); Twilight Beach Track, Werahi Stream (NZAC). TO —Rotorua, Orakei Korako. WI —Foxton Beach (NZAC); Koitiata (NZAC). WN — Stokes Valley (MONZ); Waitarere Beach (AMNZ); [Wellington] South Karori (BMNH). WO — Bryant Memorial Park, NW side of Karioi (NZAC); Lake Karapiro, Horahora Domain (NZAC); Lake Whangape (N shore) (NZAC); Owharoa Falls, E [=W] of Waikino (AMNZ).
Biology. Altitudinal range. Lowland (mostly) to lower montane. Coastal or inland. Habitat. Occurs in open coastal habitats, on moist to wet, bare or sparsely vegetated sand (e.g., Sarcocornia, Juncus, Carex, Cotula) along or near the banks of estuarine streams, the edge of lagoons, and on tidal flats. Also lives inland in open, native or modified environments (e.g., pastures), on moist to wet, bare or sparsely vegetated, sandy, silty or muddy ground along or near streambanks, riverbanks, lakeshores, or the edges of small pools and water puddles. Nymphs live in the same habitat as adults, on the ground on bare areas, at the base of plant or under debris (e.g., dead algae). Seasonality. Adults collected from October to April; mating pairs observed in November; newly emerged adults (tenerals) collected from October to April, but most abundantly in December to February; nymphs found in October and from December to January—suggesting overwintering in the egg stage or nymphal stage, nymphal development in late winter to early spring, adult emergence in spring, late spring to early summer breeding, and emergence of a new generation that will breed before winter, from about December onwards, possibly with a two to four weeks delay inland or at higher altitudes. Food. Predator or scavenger. Behaviour. Jumps for short distances (usually less than 0.5 m) or dashes into the base of plant tufts or under debris (e.g., dead algae) when disturbed. Moderately heliophilous; more active in full sunshine, also active under cloudy or slightly rainy conditions.
Remarks. The identity of the female allotype (MONZ) is uncertain; the specimen is damaged and discoloured. It appears morphologically closer to K. stoneri than to K. parvula.
This species is mostly known from subbrachypterous specimens. The authors noted in some population of K. parvula, the occasional submacropterous or macropterous specimens that were marginally larger and more slender looking than the standard subbrachypterous form.
In K. parvula the transverse swelling and mandibular plates are generally more strongly developed and more brightly coloured than in other Kiwisaldula species, except K. manawatawhi new species. The presence of a rather large, irregular or subtriangular pale mark next to the middle of the clavus, is not unique to this taxon but this character seems more prevalent in K. parvula.
Some populations in the far north of New Zealand are more lightly coloured overall. Likewise, teneral individuals can be deceptively pale, with an almost reversed colour pattern, e.g., largely ivory-yellow hemelytra with extensive yellowish brown to dark brown or nearly black markings. Individuals from populations occurring in colder areas or at higher altitudes can be smaller in size and more darkly coloured. For example, this has been observed around Rotorua and the Central Volcanic Plateau in general where K. parvula could at first glance easily be confused with K. stoneri, if not for the wide and nearly continuous pale band along the costa in K. parvula.
The main characters of the male genitalia that set K. parvula apart from its closest geographical and morphological relative K. manawatawhi new species, are: inner margins of parandria almost straight basally, slightly concave subapically; inward projections of medial membrane of parandria blunt; processus hamatus of paramere rather long, its tip moderately broad. In general, K. parvula has hemelytra with a wider pale band along the costal margin and lacks a basal pale spot on the clavus.
The distribution gap in the greater Mount Taranaki area may indicate a lack of suitable habitat for this species. This region is characterised by volcanic soil, forested hills with deeply cut streams and rivers, and rugged, unstable coastal environments.
description: Published as part of Larivière, Marie-Claude & Larochelle, André, 2016, Aoteasalda and Kiwisaldula, two new genera of Saldidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), with a key to New Zealand genera and a new synonymy in Zemacrosaldula, pp. 451-480 in Zootaxa 4085 (4) on pages 466-468, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4085.4.1, http://zenodo.org/record/1052719