Voconia brachycephala Castillo & Rédei & Weirauch 2022, sp. nov.

Voconia brachycephala sp. nov.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: AB497C37-1CBA-4270-AAE0-DDA9ADDCAB25

Figs 1–2, 7, 9, 18

Voconia pallidipes (non Stål, 1866) – Swanson 2015: 268–269, fig. 10. Misidentification.

Diagnosis

Recognized by its Australasian distribution, small size (about 7.4 mm), globose head (about as long as wide), labial segment II swollen ventromedially, and coarsely granulose, tuberculate head and pronotum. Most closely resembles V. dolichocephala sp. nov. in size and hemelytral coloration but V. dolichocephala sp. nov. has a conspicuously elongate head.

Etymology

The specific epithet is the latinized Greek adjective ‘ brachycephalus, - a, - um ’, formed from the prefix ‘ brachy- ’ (meaning ‘short’) and the noun ‘ cephale ’ (meaning ‘head’), referring to the fact that this species has the shortest head among species of Voconia.

Type material

Holotype PAPUA NEW GUINEA [“N. GUINEA”] • ♀; Madang Province, Erima; [5.42 ° S, 145.73 ° E]; 1896; L. Bíró leg.; “Astrolabe B.”; USI: AMNH_PBI 00213935; HNHM.

Material examined from literature

AUSTRALIA • 1 ♀; Northern Territory, 2 km E of Saddle Creek; 15.95694 ° S, 129.56167 ° E; elev. 75 m; 27 Sep. 1983; E.L. Schlinger and M.E. Irwin leg.; INHS 914,917.

Description

Female (Figs 7, 9)

BODY LENGTH. About 7.4 mm; macropterous.

COLORATION. Head: dark brown, postocular region with dark patches adjacent to medial ocellar margin; labium lighter than head. Thorax: coloration as head; scutellum dark with contrasting yellow apical spine. Hemelytron (abducted): clavus reddish-brown with distal yellow stripe; corium reddish-brown with anteromedial and posteromedial yellow spots; membrane dark with pale V-shaped marking along R and M veins; membranal veins R and M proximally pale, remainder as membrane. Legs: dark yellowishbrown. Abdomen: dark brown; dorsal laterotergites uniformly dark.

INTEGUMENT AND VESTITURE. Head and pronotum: coarsely granulose, with dense, short setigerous tubercles interspersed among sparse pubescence; interocular region with two pairs of stout setigerous tubercles paramedially and one medially; antennifer with two adjacent lateral setigerous tubercles; morphologically ventral surface of labium with sparse, long macrosetae. Thorax: anterolateral angles of pronotal collar with setigerous tubercles; scutellar lateral carinae with short macrosetae on setigerous tubercles. Legs: posterior row of protuberances on mid and hind femora with three large spines on distal half and three or fewer small spines. Abdomen: ventral surface pubescent with long macrosetae.

STRUCTURE. Head: globose, about as long as wide; anteocular region about one quarter of head length, shorter than postocular region (measured to anterior margin of neck); postocular region in dorsal view shorter than eye, lateral margins gently rounded; pedicel about 1.2 times length of head width; maxillary plates ellipsoidal, adjacent to and shorter than clypeus; apices of maxillary plates in dorsal view diverging; clypeus in dorsal view wider than maxillary plates; clypeal apex bifid, narrowed; interocular glabrous markings anterolaterally curved, joined at interocular sulcus paramedially; interocular sulcus in dorsal view curved and smoothly rounded anteriorly; eye width in dorsal view narrower than synthlipsis; eye reaching ventral head margin in lateral view; ventrolateral swelling of buccula without lateral protrusion that surpasses buccular margin, flat margin; labial segment I in lateral view gradually thickens distally,

surpassing posteroventral eye margin; labial segment II swollen ventromedially; morphologically dorsal surface of labial segment II curves ventrally, about 0.3 times length of segment I. Thorax: pronotal collar narrow medially with anterolateral angles short, projected forward; anterior pronotal lobe about 0.7 times length of posterior pronotal lobe, lateral margins almost straight; glabrous markings on pronotum conspicuous and not depressed; median apodeme depression of pronotum shallow, elongated longitudinally; scutellar spine long and raised; anteriad-directed process of prosternum with paramedial lobes; anterior margin of stridulitrum projected into small protuberance; proepimeron with smoothly rounded posteroventral margin. Legs: fossula spongiosa of fore leg present.

Male

Unknown.

Distribution (Fig. 18)

This species has a disjunct distribution. It is known from Erima in Papua New Guinea (type locality) and the Northern Territory of Australia (Swanson 2015: 268, as V. pallidipes).

Remarks

There is little doubt that the specimen figured by Swanson (2015: 269, fig. 10) as V. pallidipes pertains to V. brachycephala sp. nov. Although the size of the specimen in concern is unknown, its coloration and the short, tuberculate head do not seem to differ from the condition seen in the new species. Since the specimen could not be re-examined, it is, however, not included in the type material of the new species.