Punctifulvius, SCHMITZ, 1978

Namyatova, Anna A. & Cassis, Gerasimos, 2019, Total-evidence phylogeny of the Rhinomirini, taxonomic review of its subgroupings (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae: Cylapinae) and description of new Australian taxa, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 187, pp. 1196-1252 : 1234-1235

PUNCTIFULVIUS SCHMITZ, 1978

Punctifulvius Schmitz, 1978: 190 (type species Punctifulvius kerzhneri Schmitz, 1978 by original designation); Schuh, 1995: 35 (catalogue); Yasunaga, 2000: 197 (redescription); Gorczyca, 2006: 65.

Diagnosis

Recognized by reduced and oval evaporative area of metathoracic scent gland ( Fig. 10P); antenna length shorter than body ( Fig. 4); head, pronotum, scutellum, hemelytron, pleura and abdominal segment II distinctly and deeply punctate ( Fig. 10A–F, P); labial segment I subdivided ( Fig. 10O); labrum without spines; pronotum with distinct oval pit between calli ( Fig. 10B, C); antennal segment II subequal to half of head width.

Redescription: male

Coloration ( Fig. 4): Mostly brown to dark brown with whitish yellow to yellow legs.

Surface and vestiture: Dorsum and pleura almost without setae; sides of head, antennae, legs and abdomen clothed with short adpressed pale simple setae; head, pronotum, scutellum, hemelytron, pleura and abdominal segment II distinctly and deeply punctate ( Fig. 10A–F, P); dorsum moderately shiny, pleura matte.

Structure: Head horizontal ( Fig. 10E, F); in dorsal view slightly wider than long, not carinate posteriorly, eye contiguous with pronotum or slightly removed from it; vertex longer than eye diameter ( Fig. 10B, C); in anterior view, clypeus not separated from frons, its base placed on same level with antennal fossa ( Fig. 10A); in lateral view, head slightly longer than high, antennal fossa attached near suture between mandibular and maxillary plates, only slightly removed from eye; distance between eye and ventral margin of head subequal to one-quarter of eye height; buccula extending slightly behind antennal fossa; distance between buccula and pronotum subequal to buccula length ( Fig. 10E, F). Labium ( Fig. 10R). Reaching genital segment; segment I surpassing posterior margin of head reaching or almost reaching forecoxa, its apical one-third subdivided by faint suture ( Fig. 10O); segment II slightly longer than segment I, with faint suture subapically ( Fig. 10S); segment III somewhat longer than segment II; segment IV subequal to segment I. Antenna ( Fig. 10H, I). Shorter than body; segment I and II cylindrical, each of them slightly incrassate towards apex, segment I slightly wider or as wide as segment II; segments III and IV filiform, distinctly thinner than segments I and II, segments III subequal to half of segment II, segment IV slightly longer than segment III. Thorax ( Fig. 10B, C, E, F). Collar narrow, delimited with shallow suture laterally, suture faint or absent dorsally; lateral margins of pronotum round, not carinate; posterior margin bisinuate or concave, callosite area slightly swollen, subdivided into two lobes by distinct pit medially; mesoscutum exposed, with ridge laterally; scutellum with acute apex, slightly upraised; mesepimeral apodeme rounded, metathoracic spiracle slit-like and narrow, not surrounded with microsculpture; metathoracic scent gland evaporative area small and oval, peritreme elongate, flattened; metepimeron narrow. Hemelytron ( Fig. 10 D, L, M). Claval commissure slightly longer than scutellum, clavus without ridge; medial fracture distinct, surpassing middle of corium; R+M distinct only basally, embolium mostly not delimited; cuneus incized or not incized. Legs ( Fig. 10G, J, K, N, Q). Coxae not noticeably elongate, forecoxae longer and wider than others; femora narrow, hind femur as wide as forefemur and longer than fore- and middle femora; forefemur wider than middle femur; segments of hind tarsus subequal in length with each other. Genitalia. Genital capsule triangular, posterior margin of ventral wall curved dorsally ( Fig. 11E, K); right paramere slightly curved, widened medially and with small swelling subapically on inner margin ( Fig. 11C, G, H); left paramere almost as long as right one, strongly curved, with outgrowth medially, its apex concave in posterior view ( Fig. 11D, I, J); aedeagus with transparent weakly sclerotized theca, vesica with right side sclerotized basally, with single spicule, tapering apically; ductus seminis long, producing inside vesica on the left, its apical part widened and more or less sclerotized, sclerotized part of ductus seminis distinctly shorter than spicule, position of secondary gonopore obscure ( Fig. 11A, B, F).

Redescription: female

Similar to male, ~1.1–1.4 times as long as male, segment II narrower and usually shorter than in male. Genitalia. Dorsal labiate plate thin and transparent, with small ring-shaped structure on the right ( Fig. 12A, B), posterior wall with the paired large oval sclerites laterally ( Fig. 12C, D); ventral wall without any sclerotization ( Fig. 12E).

Remarks

Schmitz (1978) described Punctifulvius to accommodate Punctifulvius kerzhneri Schmitz, 1978 , a species from the Russian Far East. Yasunaga (2000) redescribed this species and extended its distribution to mainland Japan. We have examined the type material of this species and confirm that the two new Australian species described herein are congeneric. These three species have similar morphology, including the densely and deeply punctate thoracic pleura, an elongate pit between the pronotal calli ( Fig. 10B, C), a subdivided labial segment I ( Fig. 10O) and a dorsal outgrowth on the left paramere ( Fig. 11D, I, J; Yasunaga 2000: fig. 51), which is unique to this genus amongst the Rhinocylapus complex. In addition, the morphology-based and total-evidence analyses showed that they form a clade with significant support.

On the basis of our phylogenetic analyses, we place Punctifulvius in the Rhinocylapus complex. Punctifulvius shares with members of the Rhinocylapus complex a reduced metathoracic evaporative area ( Fig. 10P), a cone-shaped outgrowth subapically on the right paramere ( Fig. 11H), and the presence of paired elongate sclerites on the posterior wall of the bursa copulatrix ( Fig. 12C, D; Yasunaga, 2000: fig. 54). Punctifulvius is a sister group to the remaining taxa of the Rhinocylapus complex. The presence of distinct sutures on labial segments I and II is a plesiomorphic state ( Fig. 10O), because they are absent in all other representatives of this complex. See the node description above for all apomorphies.

Punctifulvius is most similar to Rhinocylapidius , with dark brown to black coloration, although the latter differs in the absence of deep punctures on the head, the anterior part of the pronotum, scutellum and pleura, the lack of a subdivision of labial segment I, the absence of an oval pit between the calli (cf. the presence of an elongate sulcus; Fig. 5), and antennal segment II is as long as or slightly shorter than the diameter of the head.

PUNCTIFULVIUS AQUILONIUS NAMYATOVA &