Protoplotina vietnamica Miyatake

1. Protoplotina nr. vietnamica Miyatake (Figs. 1–9)

Description. Length: 2.34 mm; breadth: 1.70 mm. Form (Fig. 1) elongate oval, moderately convex. Head and pronotum noticeably pubescent, elytra with inconspicuous, fine and erect pubescence on lateral and sutural margins. Head and pronotum dark pitchy brown, elytra dark brown to black with a pair of transverse yellow spots around middle; ventral side dark testaceous brown, except mouthparts, antennae, and tarsi lighter, yellowish brown. Head (Fig. 2) with anterior clypeal margin very slightly convex; eye canthus narrow, but prominent; eyes small, coarsely facetted, inner margins gradually and broadly divergent towards posterior; punctures coarse, slightly finer and denser in posterior half. Antennae (Fig. 3) ten­segmented, with a four­segmented club. Last segment of maxillary palpi (Fig. 4) long, apically widened and obliquely truncate.

Pronotum with anterior margin barely emarginate, punctation coarse, more or less even; lateral borders finely margined, anterior corners obtusely rounded. Anterior margin of prosternum (Fig. 5) semicircular, produced forward to partially cover mouthparts; surface coarsely and densely punctate; prosternal process short and U­shaped, without carinae.

Elytra with lateral borders finely marginated. Punctation on disk dual, with large and finer punctures intermixed, an irregular stria of coarse punctures present adjacent to sutural margin, space between this stria and sutural line finely punctate (Fig. 7). Abdomen with five visible sternites, postcoxal line (Fig. 6) incomplete, almost reaching posterior margin of first sternite, with an associate oblique line subparallel to lateral margin. Legs with hind tibiae apically angulate, tarsal claws more or less simple. Elytral epipleura entire. Female genital plate (Fig.8) elongate triangular, with a stylus; spermatheca (Fig. 9) with nodulus and ramus adjacent and not clearly demarcated, cornu curved, slender, apically tapering to a point.

Specimens examined: Two females. INDIA: Meghalaya: Shillong, vii.1961, CIBC­Indian Station, feeding on Pineus sp. on pine, CIE coll. no. 17938; iv. 1975, CIBC­Indian Station, Host: Pineus sp. on Pinus insularis, CIE coll. no. A 8251 (partially damaged).

Remarks: Miyatake (1994) did not illustrate all the diagnostic characters of the genus in his original description. The distinguishing features of Protoplotina are illustrated here in detail (Figs. 2–9). The specimens examined from India are very similar to the type species, P. vietnamica Miyatake (1994), but are different in the following respects. The body outline is slightly longer and narrower than the habitus illustration given by Miyatake. The juxta­sutural stria of coarse punctures is irregular and not curved in the middle. P. vietnamica has an ill­defined, transverse, reddish band on each elytron, but in this species, the elytral marking is transverse oval and does not reach the lateral and sutural margins. The associate oblique line of the postcoxal line does not reach the basal line in this species, but is touching the basal line in P. vietnamica.

The female spermatheca illustrated by Miyatake has a well­defined nodulus and ramus, and the cornu is thicker and apically rounded, but in this species, nodulus and ramus are continuous and not clearly demarcated; the cornu is also more slender and apically pointed. It is not clear whether these variations are merely intraspecific; in view of the very few number of specimens studied and the lack of supporting evidence, particularly male genitalia, this species is not considered as distinct.