Is Montandoniola moraguesi (Puton, 1896) a mixture of different species? (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Anthocoridae)
Author
Pluot-Sigwalt, Dominique
Author
Streito, Jean-Claude
Author
Matocq, Armand
text
Zootaxa
2009
2208
25
43
journal article
10.5281/zenodo.189786
371841f0-b249-4a83-a56c-2bf304163755
1175-5326
189786
Genus
Montandoniola
Poppius, 1909
Montandoniola
Poppius, 1909
: 30
(gen. n.).
Teisocoris
Hiura, 1959
: 1 (gen. n.);
Carayon, 1961b
: 543 (synonymy).
Montandoniola
Poppius
:
Priesner & Alfieri, 1953
: 82
(key); Stichel,
1958–1959
: 13, 50 (key, diagnosis);
Carayon, 1958
: 154
(classification);
Carayon, 1961a
: 136
(mimetism);
Herring, 1967
: 393
(key);
Carayon, 1972
: 346
(classification);
Péricart, 1972
: 191
(key, redescription);
Péricart, 1996
: 122
(catalog);
Postle
et al.
, 2001
: 232
(key, redescription);
Bu & Zheng, 2001
: 177
, 183, 236, 237 (key).
Type
species:
Montandoniella moraguesi
Puton, 1896
,
Holotype
by monotypy.
Redefinition
. Distinguished from the other
Oriini
by the following set of characters: Body somewhat rectangular; head, thorax, and abdomen black, shining, impunctuate. Head: postocular region not narrowed; antennae usually bicolour with second segment more or less swollen; labium short and strong. Thorax: lateral margins of pronotum strongly convergent; hemelytra dark brown with clear central patch, membrane hyaline with a broad dark patch centrally; hindwings with 2 veins, hamus remote from junction of Cu and m-Cu; metasternum wide, nearly truncated posteriorly, median and hind costae distant; ostiolar peritreme of metapleural scent gland with narrow margins, curved in a wide arc, reaching anterior border of metapleuron; evaporative area entirely punctuated-granulous. Body length: 1.5 to 3.5 mm.
Comments.
The genus
Montandoniola
was described by
Poppius (1909)
for two species:
Montandoniella moraguesi
Puton, 1896
(first assigned to the genus
Montandoniella
Puton, 1888
) and a new species,
Montandoniola longiceps
Poppius, 1910
, described later.
In spite of their similar general aspect, the two genera,
Montandoniola
and
Montandoniella
, cannot be confused. They belong to distinct anthocorine tribes;
Carayon (1958)
placed the genus
Montandoniola
in the tribe
Oriini
; the genus
Montandoniella
– downgraded by
Péricart (1972)
as a subgenus of
Temnostethus
– belongs to the tribe
Anthocorini
.
Carayon (1961b)
established the synonymy of
Teisocoris
Hiura, 1959
(
type
:
Ectemnus pictipennis
Esaki
) with the genus
Montandoniola
Poppius 1909
(
type
Montandoniola moraguesi
Puton
), but he did not establish the synonymy between the related species.
The
Montandoniola
species form a very homogenous group in their general aspect due to some mimeticism with the thrips, their prey, as already noticed (
Bergroth, 1916
;
Risbec, 1951
;
Carayon, 1958
;
Carayon & Ramade 1962
). This mimeticism is more obvious in living specimens (
Risbec, 1951
).
In species recognition, some external morphological characters can be of use (body size, colour of antennal segments and legs, shape of the ostiolar peritreme), but the most important diagnostic characters are found at the level of the genitalia. For the male: shape of the pygophore and paramere; see in
Fig. 32
: flagellum (f), lame (l) [blade, cone], and denticule (d) [tooth]); for the female: shape, size, and location of the copulatory tube (
Fig. 38
, ct) opening in the intersegmental membrane between sternites VII–VIII.
Biological data: prey, habitats
. In contrast to most anthocorids which are generalist predators, the
Montandoniola
species attack exclusively thrips (
Thysanoptera
), a rare case of oligophagy among anthocorids first emphasized by
Carayon (1961a)
. Numerous thrips species (mostly
Phlaeothripidae
and some
Thripidae
) have been reported, parasitizing
Ficus
spp. (
Moraceae
) and many other plants (see review in
Dobbs & Boyd, 2006
).
Members of the genus
Montandoniola
are usually found in cryptic habitats: inside galls and rolled leaves induced by thrips.
Species composition of the genus and
type
locality of the species
. The genus now contains eight species listed below in chronological order;
type
locality is indicated in square brackets.
M. moraguesi
(
Puton, 1896
)
[Majorca, Balearic Islands],
M. longiceps
Poppius, 1910
[Kilimanjaro, East Africa],
M. thripodes
Bergroth, 1916
, bona species [
Hong Kong
],
M. pictipennis
(
Esaki, 1931
)
, bona species [Kyushu,
Japan
],
M. sawtellense
Postle, Steiner & Goodwin, 2001
[Sawtell: New South
Wales
,
Australia
],
M. ishikawai
Yamada, 2007
[Bali,
Indonesia
],
M. bellatula
Yamada, 2007
[Bali,
Indonesia
],
M. confusa
Streito & Matocq
,
sp. nov.
[
Guadeloupe
, West Indies].