Yunnan harlequin bug (Dindymus albonotum) named for yellowish-white thorax

NEWS - Researchers report a new species, Dindymus albonotum, from specimens collected from a forest near the Wanmu tea plantation in Puer, Yunnan, China. The species has a body shape and coloration similar to Dindymus brevis Blöte (1931) and Dindymus flavinotum Stehlík (2013), but is easily distinguished.

The researchers from Nanning Normal University in Nanning, the Chinese Academy of Forestry in Beijing, China Agricultural University in Beijing and the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences in Haikou named the species in reference to the yellow posterior lobe of the pronotum. The Latin noun albonotum means "yellowish-white thorax".

Yunnan harlequin bug (D. albonotum) is red with black and milky white markings. The antennae are black and the base of the first segment is red. The labia are blackish brown and the first segment is red. The posterior pronotal lobe is milky white.

The leura and sterna of the thorax are black, the posterior edge of the pleura and the posterior edge of the acetabula are milky white. The legs are black, the apical part of the femur and the base of the tibia are red. The abdomen is black. The posterior edge of the fifth abdominal sternum, the sixth and seventh abdominal sternites are milky white.

The body is oval. The pronotum and forewings are widened transversely. The head is less than wide, the eyes protrude laterally. The anterior and posterior lobes of the pronotum are narrow. The anterior edge of the pronotum is not wider than the head, and is less than 1/2 the distance between the lateral pronotal angles.

The posterior border of the anterior pronotal lobe is convex anteriorly. The posterior pronotal lobe is rarely perforated. The costal border of the corium is widened laterally and is smooth, the corium (except the costal border) and clavus are tightly perforated.

The body length is 14.78 mm and the maximum width of the abdomen is 7.13 mm. The head is 2.78 mm long and 2.61 mm wide. The length of the synlipsis is 1.39 mm. The length of the antennal segments I-IV = 4.35, 2.61, 1.91, 3.48 mm. Length of labial segment I-IV = 2.52, 2.52, 2.09, 1.22 mm.

Length of pronotum 2.86 mm. Width of pronotum 4.96 mm. Length of anterior pronotal lobe 1.22 mm. Length of posterior pronotal lobe 1.74 mm. Length of scutellum 2.73 mm and length of hemelytron 12.17 mm.

Until today Pyrrhocoridae (Hemiptera, Heteroptera, Pyrrhocoroidea) has 525 species in 49 genera spread throughout the world. Dindymus was first officially described by Carl Stål (1833-1878) in 1861 in Ofvers, VetensAkad, Förh, Stockholm, 18. This genus has five synonyms, four subgenera and incertae sedis with more than 45 species.

Original research

Zhao P, Ou M, Cao L, Liu H, Wang J (2024). One new species and two new records of Pyrrhocoridae (Hemiptera, Heteroptera) from China. ZooKeys 1210: 273-286, DOI:10.3897/zookeys.1210.125457

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