Lace bug genus Acalypta in Mexico: key and new species A. laurae (Heteroptera: Tingidae)

4 Pages·1991·1.2 MB·English

by  Richard C Froeschner

Vol. 102,No.4. September&October, 1991 179
LACE BUG GENUS ACALYPTA IN MEXICO:
KEY AND NEW SPECIES A. LAURAE
(HETEROPTERA: TINGIDAE)!
RichardC. Froeschner^
ABSTRACT: The new speciesA. laurae is described and illustrated from a specimen
interceptedon Tillandsiainonantha beingimported intotheUnited States from Mexico.
ThethreeknownMexican speciesoiAcalypta,eachbasedonasinglespecimenwithout
furtherlocalityinformation,arekeyed.
The holarcticgQnnsAcalypta Westwood contains40 species ofwhich
13,includingthepresentnewone,occurintheWesternHemisphere.The
two most recentcomprehensivetreatmentsoftheNewWorld speciesof
AcalyptawerebyDrakeandLattin(1963)whotreated 10species andby
Froeschner (1976) who added the eleventh species along with zoogeo-
graphicnotes;subsequentlyatwelfth,species,^,susanae,wasdescribed
from Arkansas byAllen etal. (1988). At this time ten ofthe NewWorld
species oiAcalypta are known from north ofthe Rio Grande Riverand
threeotherspecies,includingthepresentnewone,areknownonlyfrom
Mexico.
The single specimen ofthe present new species was intercepted on
Tillandsia inonantha Planchon (family Bromeliaceae) being imported
into the United States from Mexico. In the light ofDrake and Lattin's
(1963:334)commentthatmemberso{Acalypta areprimarilymuscicolous
butmayuseotherplantsintheabsenceofsuitablemosses,thisspecimen
may have come from a moss used as packing for the flowering plant.
All three Mexican species o^Acalypta arebasedon unique,brachyp-
terous,andotherwiseunlocalizedtypespecimens interceptedonplants
being imported into the United States from that country. Collectors in
Mexico are urged to attempt to determine their ranges more precisely.
Acalypta laurae new species
Figure 1
Diagnosis: Known only from one brachypterous female, this species
may be differentiated from all other members ofthis genus in the New
World by the following combination ofcharacters: Pronotum unicar-
^Received December27, 1990.AcceptedApril20, 1991.
^Department of Entomology NHB-127, United States National Museum of Natural
History,Washington, D.C.20560
ENT. NEWS 102(4): 179-182.September&October, 1991
ENTOMOLOGICALNEWS
180
inate; headwith a pairoflong, separated frontal spines; and hypocosta
uniseriate.
InDrakeandLattin's(1963:335-336)"KeytotheBrachypterousFormsof
AimericanAcalypta, "A. lauraerunsXoA.mniophilaDrakeandRuhoffbut
can be distinguished therefrom by possession ofa pairoflong, frontal
spines.InFroeschners(1976:267)keytotheAcalyptaknownfromMexico,it
runs toA. ruhojfae Froeschner but can be separated by any one ofthe
followingcharacters:thepresenceoflong,wellseparatedfrontalspines;
thewhollyuniseriatehypocostallamina;ortheunicoloreddarkveinsof
the hemelytra.
Description: Measurements in millimeters. Brachypterous female holotype. Broadly
ovate,widestslightlyposteriortomidlength.Colordarkfuscousbrown;veinsseparating
discoidalandcorialareasconcolorouswithveinswithinthoseareas.Ventrallydarkwith
bucculae,baseofhemelytron,and marginsofcoxalcavities noticeablypaler.
Headwith frontal spineslong,diverging,slightlysurpassingapex. Bucculaeanteriorly
distinctlyincurved,notcontiguous.Antennophorestraight,blunt,attainingmidlengthof
antennalsegmentI.Antennalsegmentalproportions,I-IV,0.11 :0.08:0.39:0.17;segment
III slender, noticeably wideronbasal sixth.
Pronotumwithweaklytectate,bluntlytriangular,anteromedianprojectionabovehead;
paranotumalmosttwiceaswideasaneye,triseriate,lateralmarginconvex;mediancarina
irregularlyuniseriatein middlethird,then lowertoward each end; lateralcarinaeabsent.
Costalareacellsprominent, mostlyquadrate,uniseriateexcept foroneortwodivided
cells at base and nearapical fourth; outerlimitingveins ofdiscoidal areas coarctate in
basal third,in lateralviewstronglyelevated andconvexalonganteriortwo-thirds; inner
limiting vein of discoidal area becoming evanescent basally. Hypocostal lamina uni-
seriate. Length 2.07.
Holotype: Brachypterous female, "intercepted on leaf of Tillandsia
ionantha from Mexico; Tex., Brownsville, Feb. 19, 1988, D. Riley." De-
posited in the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian
Institution, Washington, D.C.
ThenameofthisspeciesdedicatesittoMs.LauraTorresMillerwhose
dissertation formed the basis forthe revision ofMexican tingid genera
by Brailovsky and Torres (1986).
Key to brachypterous Mexican Acalypta
1. Headwithapairoflongfrontalspinesexceedingapexofhead.Paranotumwith3rows
ofcells 2
Headwithoutprominentfrontalspines. Paranotumwith2 rowsofcells
mniophila Drakeand Ruhoff
2. Frontalspinesdistinctlyseparated. Hypocostawhollyuniseriate.Outerlimitingveins
ofdiscoidal areaconcolorouswith veins indiscoidal and subcostal areas
lauraenewspecies
Frontalspinesvirtuallycontiguousforfulllength. Hypocostabiseriatebasally.Outer
limiting veins ofdiscoidal area conspicuously darker than veins in discoidal and
subcostalareas ruhoffaeFroeschner
Vol. 102,No.4. September&October, 1991 181
Fig. 1. HabitusoiAcalyptalaurae,n. sp.
ENTOMOLOGICALNEWS
182
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SpecialthanksareduetoElsieH.Froeschnerforthefinehalftonehabitusdrawing,to
ThomasJ. Henry.U.S. DepartmentofAgriculture, Systematic EntomologyLaboratory,
andOliverS.Flint,Jr..NationalMuseumofNaturalHistoryforreviewingthemanuscript
andmakinghelpfulsuggestions.
LITERATURECITED
Allen,R.T.,C.E.Carlton,andS.A.Tedder. 1988.AnewspeciesoiAcalypta(Hemiptera,
Tingidae)fromArkansas.J. Kansas EntSoc,61(1):126-130.
Brailovsky,H.,andL.Torres.1986.Hemiptera-HeteropteradeMexicoXXXVI.Revision
genericadelafamiliaTingidaeLaporte.An.Inst.Biol.Univ.Nal.Auton.Mex..56,ser.
Zool..(3):869-932(1985).
Drake, CJ., and J.D. Lattin. 1963. American species ofthe lacebug genus Acalypta
(Hemiptera:Tingidae). Proc. U.S.Nat. Mus., 115:331-345.
Froeschner,R.C. 1976.Zoogeographicnotesonthelacebuggenus^ca/y/jraWestwoodin
theAmericas with descriptionofa newspecies from Mexico(Hemiptera:Tingidae).
Amer. Midi.Nat..96(2):257-269.