Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, 2024

Azar, Dany, Maksoud, Sibelle, Robin, Ninon, Godefroit, Pascal, Cavin, Lionel, Olive, Sébastien, Rey, Kévin, Vallée-Gillette, Nathan, Brito, Léa De, Heneine, Geryes & Nel, André, 2024, The first and oldest record of Issidae from the Lower Cretaceous of Lebanon (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha), Zootaxa 5562 (1), pp. 38-44 : 40-42

Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel , sp. nov.

( Figs 1–4 )

Material. Holotype F-INS-63124/6 , body almost complete with thorax, wings, legs and abdomen in connection, only head is not distinctly visible ( Fig. 1 ), stored in the Natural History Museum of the Lebanese University, Faculty of Sciences II, Fanar, Lebanon.

Etymology. Named after Bkassine, the village where the studied specimen originated.

Diagnosis. As for the genus (vide supra). Presence of brown bands on the wings and legs.

Locality and horizon. Jdeidet Bkassine, Caza (District) Jezzine, Mouhafazet (Governorate) South Lebanon (for map and outcrop illustrations see Azar et al. 2019: 193, fig. 1; Maksoud et al. 2022: 712, fig. 11A and 716, fig. 15B); lower Barremian.

Description. Body visible in dorsal view; pronotum, nearly triangular shape, 0.75 mm long, 2.41 mm wide, with anterior margin with obtuse angle ( Fig. 2A ); scutellum with pustules ( Fig. 2A ), 1.16 mm long, 2.32 mm wide; abdomen poorly preserved, 5.4 mm.

Legs. Fore femur 0.3 mm long, 0.25 mm wide; fore tibia banded aside the two proximal and distal extremities, 0.55 mm long, 0.19 wide ( Fig. 2B ); middle femur ca. 0.9 mm long ( Fig. 2C ), hind femur ca. 1.04 mm long, 0.35 mm wide; hind tibia, 1.57 mm long, with two transverse coloured bands ( Fig. 2D ) and one spur visible on shaft ( Fig. 3B ); tarsi three-segmented ( Fig. 3A ).

Wings. Wings with brown transverse bands and several straight crossveins; forewing 5.42 mm long, 1.9 mm wide, no parallel crossveins in precostal area; RA and RP rather long separating from ScP+R at 3.46 mm from wing base ( Fig. 4 ); M with two branches MA and MP separating from M at 1.19 mm from wing base; CuA with two branches; Y-shaped AA-AP veins; hind wing 4.64 mm long ( Fig. 4 ), at least clearly bilobed with an incision on wing margin; RA and RP very short; M with only two very short apical branches; CuA with two branches bifurcating at 3.97 mm from wing base; a small but distinct apical furcation of PCu close to the incision.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. Holotype F-INS-63124/6, microphotograph of dorsal habitus. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 2. Libanissus bkassinensisAzar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. Holotype F-INS-63124/6, line drawings. A, Thorax. B, Left and right fore legs. C, Left and right mid legs. D, Left and right hind legs. Scale bar = 1 mm.

FIGURE 3. Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. Holotype F-INS-63124/6. A, Microphotograph of hind tarsi; the yellow box represents the line drawing of the hind tarsi. B, Distal tip of middle tibia; the yellow box represents the line drawing of the tip of middle tibia. Scale bars = 0.1 mm.

FIGURE 4. Libanissus bkassinensis Azar, Maksoud & Nel, gen. et sp. nov. Holotype F-INS-63124/6. Wings. In red left forewing; in blue right hind wing, wcl = wing coupling mechanism. Scale bar = 1 mm.