Latindia Stål, 1860

Based on former studies (Handlirsch 1925; Brues and Meander 1932; Rehn 1951), the Latindiinae is characterized as follows: body small, delicate, legs sparsely with spines, cerci long, subgenital plate of female valved or seam divided, venation simple or less branched, tegmina with an irregular network of large cells made by the cross veins, wings with venation reduced but not as extreme as in Holocompsinae.

This subfamily is badly in need of revision. First, recent molecular phylogenetic studies (Djernæs et al. 2015; Legendre et al. 2015) suggest that the subfamily may be more closely related to Nocticolidae than other Corydiidae. Second, although Princis (1963) listed twelve genera in Latindiidae (now Latindiinae), the validity of these genera has not been verified. What’s more, Roth (2003) moved the twelve genera listed in Princis (1963) out of Latindiinae, and kept ten of them in Polyphagidae (now Corydiidae) as subfamily undetermined. This management is also unreasonable, which made Latindiinae without any genera. Third, the definition of Latindiinae is too simple, a careful study on the type genus especially the male genitalia must be done to redefine Latindiinae.

Sinolatindia petila sp. n. 素色纤蠊

Male. Small size, form elongate elliptical. Body flat, gracile, pubescent. Head transversely triangular, eyes wide apart, interocular space greater than the distance between antennal sockets, ocelli missing. Pronotum suboval, pubescent. Front femur short and robust, type C₁ spination (Fig. 4C), tarsal claws symmetrical, serrated. Tegmina and wings fully developed, right tegmen with wide, hyaline zone, CuA of wings with 2-3 branches. Supra-anal plate symmetrical, transverse, cerci long. Subgenital plate simple, styli similar. Genitalia complex, with a very elongate L3.

This genus is very close to the type genus Latindia Stål, 1860. We have examined the type specimen of Latindia maurella Stål, 1860 (Fig. 2G–I. Deposited in NRM, the type species of Latindia) and one Latindia dohrniana Saussure & Zehntner, 1894 (Fig. 2C–D. Deposited in NRM, determined by Rehn in 1930). Along with the descriptions (Rehn and Hebard 1927; Rehn 1937, 1951), it was found that Sinolatindia can be distinguished from Latindia by the following characters: 1) pronotum subtransparent, disc without a Y-shaped sulcation (Fig. 2A), whilst in Latindia, pronotum rough, median with a distinct Y-shaped sulcation (Fig. 2C); 2) right tegmen with a hyaline area (Fig. 4G), while not with a hyaline area in Latindia (Rehn & Hebard, 1927); 3) in tegmina, CuA with transverse branches that generally parallel with CuA (Fig. 4F–G), while branches of CuA are oblique, paralleled to each other in Latindia (Fig. 2L). In addition, Latindia is restricted to north and south America, while Sinolatindia gen. n. is found in East Asia.

This genus may be confused with Homopteroidea, both of which have hyaline part of right tegmen and serrated tarsal claws, and all distributed in Oriental Region. Homopteroidea used to be determined as a member of Latindiidae (Princis 1963), but Roth (1995a, 2003) treated it as subfamily undetermined. We have examined some Homopteroidea collections that were studied by Roth (all deposited in OUM) and in combination with the description (Roth 1995a), we found Sinolatindia can be distinguished from Homopteroidea by the following characters: 1) head wide, vertex nearly truncated (Figs 2B, 4A), without ocelli (Fig. 4A), while head long, vertex round, with reduced ocelli (Fig. 2F) in Homopteroidea; 2) body subtransparent, pubescent, while body horny, smooth and shining, sometimes with a few setae in Homopteroidea; 3) venation of tegmina and wings not distinct, right tegmen without presutural vein and presutural zone, but with a large transparent part, the boundary between the colored part and transparent part unclear (Fig. 4G), while venation clear with dark coloration, presutural vein present, right tegmen with a hyaline presutural zone (Fig. 2J–K, except in H. aberrans, see Roth 1995a and 1995b) in Homopteroidea; 4) left phallomere with L3 very elongate, apex curved (Fig. 5B–C), while L3 short, apex usually like a sickle (Fig. 5E–F) in Homopteroidea.

Female. Unknown.

China (Yunnan).

This generic epithet comes from the Latin word “Sino” and “Latindia”. “Sino” refers to China, “Latindia” in reference to the genus being similar to the Latin American genus Latindia.

This genus contains all the diagnostic characters of Latindiinae. It also quite resembles Latindia. Both of the genera hold in common the following characters: 1) body small, form elongate elliptical, very flat, pubescent; 2) head transversely triangle, eyes wide apart, ocelli absent (Fig. 2B, D); 3) pronotum suboval, with hind margin truncated (Fig. 2A, C); 4) femur stout; arolia absent; 5) tegmina with irregular network of large cells made by cross veins, Sc without branches, wings with venation slightly reduced, only the first AP (known as axillary in Rehn 1951) branched. Based on Rehn (1951), this genus should belong to tribe Latindiini whose Sc of tegmen is free from R, and M is stalked basally with CuA, thus this tribe current with two genera, viz. Latindia and Sinolatindia.

Holotype: Yunnan: ♂ (IZCAS), 40 km from southeast Jinggu County (景谷县), Puer City, 1000m, 13.V.1957, D. V. Panfilov leg.; Paratype: Yunnan: 1♂ (IZCAS), Mengla County (勐腊县), Xishuangbanna Prefecture, 620-650m, 2.VI.1959, Suo-Fu Li leg.

As for the genus (vide supra)

Male. Body length 5.9–6.0 mm; overall length including tegmen 6.8–7.0 mm; pronotum length × width 1.2–1.3 × 1.5–1.6 mm.

Coloration: Body generally light brownish yellow, transparent (Fig. 3A–B). Head yellowish brown, eyes black, antenna brown. Pronotal disk brownish yellow, with hyaline anterior, posterior and lateral areas (Fig. 2A). Left tegmen brownish yellow, right tegmen brownish yellow with wide hyaline area (Fig. 4F–G). Wings hyaline, distal portion light brownish yellow. Venation of tegmina and wings light-colored. Legs brownish yellow. Cerci brown.

Body very flat, narrow, well pubescent. Head: exposed dorsally, triangular, longer than its width, vertex nearly straight, face flat, eyes lateral, wide apart, surface with the individual facets convex, interocular space greater than the distance between antennal sockets, ocelli absent (Figs 2B, 4A). Pronotum: suboval, pubescent, anterior margin slightly protruded, lateral of anterior margins oblique, lateral margins nearly parallel, hind margin truncated, with lateral corners bluntly rounded (Figs 2A, 4B). Tegmina and wings: fully developed extending beyond the end of abdomen, venations not distinct. Tegmina pubescent except the hyaline region of right tegmen, both tegmina with free, long, simple and strong Sc, R with 7-8 oblique branches, the second and third branches intersected (Fig. 4F–G), RA simple, M bifurcated distally, and stalked with CuA basally, CuA with 2-3 branches, major veins reticulate with some cross veins, forming many polygonal cells (Fig. 4F–G). Wings with Sc shorter than RA, M simple, or bifurcate distally, CuA with 2-3 branches, reticulate with very a few cross veins, CuP slender, AA connects CuP medially or distally, the first AP bifurcate (Fig. 4H). Legs: Pubescent, front femur stout, apex of the hind margin with one small spine on each side, and followed with contiguous spinules (type C₁), pulvilli and arolia absent, tarsal claws small, symmetrical, slightly serrated (Fig. 4C–D). Abdomen: Supra-anal plate in dorsal view transverse, symmetrical, apex widely depressed (see the arrow in Fig. 5D), anterior and lateral margins pubescent, median hyaline broadly (Fig. 5D), cerci slender, well pubescent, apex acute (Fig. 4E). Subgenital plate generally symmetrical, pubescent, lateral parts with distinctly longer and thicker setae, apex slightly protruding, styli similar, with several long setae (Fig. 5A). Genitalia: Very complex, as Figure 5B. Left phallomere with a very elongated L3, the apex of which is curved rectangularly three times as in Figure 5C.

Figure 1. 

Recorded distribution of Sinolatindia petila gen. n. and sp. n.

Figure 2. 

A–F Pronotum and head features A pronotum of Sinolatindia petila, holotype B head of Sinolatindia petila, holotype C pronotum of Latindia dohrniana D head of Latindia dohrniana E pronotum of Homopteroidea minor, lectotype F head of Homopteroidea minor, lectotype G–I Latindia maurella, holotype, female (originally reported as male, but latter corrected as female (Rehn, 1937)) G in dorsal view H in ventral view I label J–K original figures of Homopteroidea shelfordi, from Hanitsch, 1929 J left tegmen K right tegmen L–M Latindia dohrniana, after Rehn 1951 L tegmen M wing C–D and G–I photographed by Gunvi Lindberg, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm (NRM) E–F photographed by Katherine Child and provided by Amoret Spooner, Oxford UniversityMuseum of Natural History, Oxford (OUM).

Figure 3. 

A–B Sinolatindia petila gen. n. and sp. n., male A paratype, in dorsal view B same, in ventral view.

Figure 4. 

Features of Sinolatindia petila, male A head B pronotum C front femur D tarsal claw E cercus F left tegmen G right tegmen H wing.

Figure 5. 

A–D Male features of Sinolatindia petila A Subgenital plate, in ventral view B genitalia, in dorsal view C L3, in dorsal view D supra-anal plate, in dorsal view E–F male genitalia of Homopteroidea spp. E H. nigra, in dorsal view (this is the original position of the drawing pictured in Roth (1995a), and Roth said it was “dorsal”) F H. brachyptera, holotype, in dorsal view (annotation the same as 5E) E–F photographed by Katherine Child and provided by Amoret Spooner, Oxford UniversityMuseum of Natural History (OUM).

Female. Unknown.

China: South Yunnan (Fig. 1).

The species epithet is from the Latin word “petilus” meaning thin and little in reference to its narrow and small body.