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
Author
Yeshwanth, H. M.
3481CF9D-615D-41BF-BF0E-3FFF8205BEB0
Department of Entomology, University of Agricultural Sciences (GKVK), Bangalore 560 065, India.
hmyeshwanth@gmail.com
Author
Konstantinov, Fedor V.
B5DF0683-A68F-4075-9B0C-171DFADD75E6
Saint Petersburg State University, 7 / 9 Universitetskaya Emb., St. Petersburg 199034 Russia.
f.konstantinov@spbu.ru
text
European Journal of Taxonomy
2021
745
1
69
journal article
7325
10.5852/ejt.2021.745.1311
ac540bdb-8587-411a-8ab1-a2115525c618
2118-9773
4690362
6C85E664-6DE6-442A-9410-D94254E429F5
Ernestinus
Distant, 1911
Figs 2A–B
,
5H–I
,
12–13
,
26
Ernestinus
Distant, 1911a: 311
.
Pycnofurius
Poppius, 1912: 21–23
(syn. by
Carvalho 1952: 55
).
Ernestinus
–
Lin 2001a
(review of
Taiwan
fauna).
—
Yasunaga & Ishikawa 2016
(revision).
Type
species
Ernestinus mimicus
Distant, 1911
(by monotypy).
Diagnosis
Recognized by the following characters: coloration distinctly black and white, with head, pronotum, clavus, transverse spot on medioapical part of corium, apex of cuneus, and cells uniformly dark brown to black, remaining part of hemelytron and legs contrastingly whitish (
Figs 2A–B
,
26B–C, F
); antenna whitish with entirely or apically darkened segment II; pronotum densely and coarsely punctate, campaniform, distinctly raised posteriorly and covering entire mesoscutum and base of scutellum; calli located far from anterior margin of pronotum, delimited by shallow sulcus, medially separated by deep pit; genital capsule boat-shaped, without distinctive ornamentation (
Figs 12A
,
13A
); aedeagus simple, tubular, usually C-shaped, with endosoma non-retractable, entirely expanded from phallotheca in repose, weakly sclerotized, and not clearly divided from phallotheca (
Figs 12F
,
13H
).
Host
Adults and nymphs feed and aggregate on the abaxial surfaces of leaves of
Araceae
plants, mainly
Alocasia
,
Amorphophallus
, and
Colocasia
spp.
Yasunaga &
Ishikawa
(2016)
provided a uniquely detailed account of the natural history of the genus and each included species.
Distribution
Widely distributed in the Oriental Region and spanning north to
Nepal
,
Taiwan
and southwestern
Japan
.
Remarks
Based on external morphology and the male genitalia,
Stonedahl (1988: 43)
outlined a group of six related genera including
Ernestinus
, Distant, 1911
,
Eofurius
Poppius, 1915
,
Microbryocoris
Poppius, 1914
,
Myiocapsus
Poppius, 1914
,
Palaeofurius
Poppius, 1912
, and
Stylopomiris
Stonedahl, 1986
. Of these,
Microbryocoris
,
Myiocapsus
, and
Stylopomiris
readily differ from
Ernestinus
in several autapomorphic traits (see
Stonedahl 1986
,
1988
for details).
Eofurius
, a monotypic genus known from a single male collected in
Philippines
(
Poppius 1915
), has not been studied since the original description but differs from
Ernestinus
spp. in the small size and substantially produced clypeus.
Palaeofurius
contains three species from
Papua New Guinea
and appears to be most closely related to
Ernestinus
due to the same pattern of coloration, structure of pronotum, parameres, and characteristic aedeagus (see Carvalho 1981).
Yasunaga & Ishikawa (2016)
correctly pointed out that this taxon might be a synonym of
Ernestinus
but refrained from formal action due to the lack of material.
Species of
Ernestinus
share a number of common features in the structure of head, pronotum and especially male genitalia with those of
Ambunticoris
Carvalho, 1981
, a genus containing three species from New
Guinea
and Sulawesi (Konstantinov & Zinovjeva 2006). However, it clearly differs from that genus and other Oriental eccritotarsines in the color pattern and many additional traits documented by
Yasunaga & Ishikawa (2016)
.
Ernestinus brevis
Lin, 2001
described from
Taiwan
(
Lin 2001a
) is an exception in having pale greenish pronotum, scutellum and hemelytron; its generic placement requires further verification (
Yasunaga & Ishikawa 2016
). The genus was originally described from
Sri Lanka
and currently includes 19 Southeast Asian species (
Yasunaga & Ishikawa 2016
). Examination of available material allowed us to note this genus from
India
for the first time.
Key to species of the genus
Ernestinus
of
India
and
Sri Lanka
1. Antennal segment I dark brown with a dirty yellow base, segment II at least 1.3× as long as head width. Scutellum black (
Fig 2A
). Left paramere strongly swollen at middle, with apical process long, almost straight, abruptly bent at base. Right paramere flag-shaped, wide (
Fig. 12
) ................. ....................................................................................................................
E. mimicus
Distant, 1911
–
Antennal segment I whitish yellow, segment II short, subequal to head width. Scutellum reddish orange medially (
Fig. 2B
). Left paramere thinner, gradually curved along entire length, apically tapering. Right paramere bulbous (
Fig. 13
) ...............
E. ramkeshariae
Yasunaga & Ishikawa, 2016