Harpedona vittlaensis Yeshwanth & Konstantinov 2021, sp. nov.
Creators: name: Yeshwanth, H. M.
name: Konstantinov, Fedor V.
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2021
Subjects: Biodiversity
Taxonomy
Animalia
Arthropoda
Insecta
Hemiptera
Miridae
Harpedona
Harpedona vittlaensis

description: Harpedona vittlaensis sp. nov.
urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: DABBC105-68F2-46CC-8DB0-E1E95ED33118
Figs 2D, 16, 25A
Diagnosis
Easily recognized from all congeners by the following characters: dorsum dirty pale brown, with an orange brown head and pronotal collar, and dark brown scutellum (Fig. 2D); pronotum heavily punctate, distinctly transverse, about 1.7× as wide as long, with an indistinct impressed line behind calli; labium long, reaching at least IV abdominal segment, apex of segment III surpassing hind coxa; genital capsule without spinelike processes and complex sclerotization on dorsal wall, with large, lobate ventral process (Fig. 16A).
Etymology
Named after the type locality, Vittla, India.
Type material
Holotype
INDIA • ♂; Karnataka, Dakshina Kannada, Vittla; 20°45.814ˊ N, 75°06.095ˊ E; 60 m a.s.l.; 28 Nov. 2011; H.M. Yeshwanth leg.; at light; UASB.
Paratypes
INDIA • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; UASB • 1 ♀; same collection data as for holotype; ZISP.
Description
Male
COLORATION. Dirty pale brown (Fig. 2D). Head orange brown, with a transverse diffuse brown band on vertex and dark brown apex of clypeus; eye black; antennal segment I with pale chestnut base and darkened apex, segments II–IV dark brown; labium pale brown with darkened apex of segment IV; pronotum pale brown, with a yellow brown pronotal collar and slightly darkened calli; scutellum dark brown; thoracic pleurites dark brown, posterior margin of mesopleuron with yellowish edging; hemelytron uniformly pale brown, membrane semitransparent, fuscous; legs uniformly pale brown, tibiae with an indistinct reddish tinge; abdomen brown.
SURFACE AND VESTITURE. Dorsum shining, head and pronotal collar smooth, shining, calli rugose, disc of pronotum with dense deep punctures, scutellum, hemelytron, thoracic venter, and abdomen weakly rugose; entire dorsum clothed with short, dense, adpressed, silvery yellow simple setae; thoracic venter, abdomen and legs with similar but somewhat longer, semierect setae.
STRUCTURE. Body elongate-oval, 2.9× as long as basal width of pronotum, total length 3.1. Head: transverse, moderately produced anteriad of eyes in dorsal view, somewhat wider than high in frontal view; frons weakly convex, without longitudinal sulcus, epistomal suture slightly depressed; eyes sessile, relatively small, oval, about half height of head in lateral view, posterior margin almost contiguous with pronotal collar; vertex convex, twice as wide as dorsal width of one eye; antennal fossa located just above ventral margin of eye, at small distance from inferior margin of eye; antennal segment I short, tubular, narrowed at base, subequal to width of vertex, segment II subequal to head width, segments III and IV filiform, subequal in length; labium long, reaching abdominal segment 4 or 5. Thorax: pronotum 1.7× as wide as long, with a prominent, medially concave collar posteriorly delimited by a deep impressed line; calli raised, contiguous and reaching lateral margins of pronotum, with a deep pit in between, posteriorly delimited by a weak punctate line distinctly constricted at sides; disc weakly convex; lateral margins of pronotum sinuate, posterior margin nearly straight; mesoscutum almost entirely covered by pronotum; scutellum broadly triangular, slightly raised and anteromedially excavated; peritreme of metathoracic scent-gland lanceolate, extended posteriorly along ventral margin of metapleuron; evaporative area reduced to a narrow falciform area along dorsal margin of peritreme and devoid of characteristic mushroom bodies (Fig. 25A). Hemelytron: semitransparent, corium with almost straight lateral margin, R+M vein well developed, reaching apex of corium, medial fracture distinct, reaching medioapical area of corium; cuneus narrow, twice as long as wide at base; membrane with single angulate cell slightly surpassing apex of cuneus. Legs: all femora relatively long, cylindrical; tibiae straight, subequal to length of respective femur; tarsi three-segmented, with distinctly swollen segment III; claw bent close to apex, inner surface of claw with large semicircular pulvillus equipped with pulvillar combs.
GENITALIA. Genital capsule with large, roughly rectangular right lateral process and contrastingly long, tongue-shaped and posteriorly oriented ventral process exceeding length of genital capsule (Fig. 16A); aedeagus small, with entirely membranous phallotheca, simple sac-like endosoma and spine-like ductus seminis sclerotized along almost entire length except base (Fig. 16F); parameres larger and more robust than in other congeners, left paramere with strongly upturned and hooked apex (Fig. 16B–C), right paramere subquadrate, with short and strongly curved apical process (Fig. 16D–E).
Female Similar to male.
Host
Unknown.
Distribution
Southwestern India (Karnataka).
Remarks
This new species differs from all congeners by several unique features, including a comparatively wide pronotum with an indistinct line delimiting the calli posteriorly and a heavily punctate disc, the exceptionally long labium reaching at least the fourth abdominal sternite, and the pale brown coloration of dorsum. Many Harpedona spp. have two-celled membrane with a small, narrow secondary cell near inner margin of the cuneus, but this secondary cell is missing in H. vittlaensis sp. nov. Additionally, the genital capsule of this new species is relatively simple and devoid of complex bulbous and spine-like processes on the dorsal wall, which are typical for most species of the genus. However, H. vittlaensis sp. nov. shares all essential features of the genus mentioned in the diagnosis viz., body shape and proportions, the structure of pronotal collar and calli, the constriction of pronotum behind calli, the presence of a large, lobate process on the right wall of the genital capsule, the characteristically simple aedeagus, and the shape of both parameres.
description: Published as part of Yeshwanth, H. M. & Konstantinov, Fedor V., 2021, Review of the plant bug tribe Eccritotarsini (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae) of India and Sri Lanka with description of two new genera and six new species, pp. 1-69 in European Journal of Taxonomy 745 on pages 12-13, DOI: 10.5852/ejt.2021.745.1311, http://zenodo.org/record/4690362