Nanniella Reuter 1904

NANNIELLA REUTER (FIGS 4, 43–44) Nanniella Reuter, 1904: 5 (gen. nov.; type species: Nanniella chalybea Reuter, 1904 by monotypy); Kirkaldy, 1906: 131 (cat.); Reuter, 1910: 148 (cat.); Carvalho, 1952: 76 (syn.); Carvalho, 1958: 61 (cat.); Schuh, 1974: 28 (diag., disc. of tribal placement); Linnavuori, 1975: 48 (disc. of tribal placement, key); Linnavuori, 1994: 9 (descr., key); Schuh, 1995: 62 (world cat.). Diagnosis: Nanniella is distinguished from other Halticini by the following combination of characters: metallic black coloration; uniformly coarsely punctate; left paramere with twisted, somewhat serrate apophysis; right paramere apicolaterally recurved with finger-like apical apophysis. Nanniella is most similar to Acratheus, but can be separated by the presence of deep punctures on the frons and vertex and the shape of the parameres. Redescription: Length: 2.5– 4 mm. Colouration (Fig. 4): mostly black with yellow-brown or yellow markings. Surface and vestiture (Figs 4, 43A–G): body with metallic lustre; densely covered with small, slit-like punctures, becoming less dense on abdomen, venter impunctate; frons with deep punctures. Body covered with long, greyish, semidecumbent, simple setae; legs with semi-erect, short spine-like setae. Structure: both sexes macropterous, body elongate and slightly ovate. Head (Figs 4, 43A–D): transverse, slightly broader than tall, broader than anterior of pronotum, height approximately twice eye height; vertex with shallow transverse sulcus, posterior margin slightly upturned and weakly carinate, straight with eyes not touching pronotum; frons almost flat, steeply declivent; clypeus vertical, not projecting forward; buccula small and narrow. Antennae (Figs 4, 43A–B, D): insertion in front and slightly below midpoint of eye, nearly touching eye; long and thin; AI only slightly thicker than AII, slightly longer than eye height. Thorax (Figs 4, 43A, B, D–F): pronotum trapezoidal, elongate and bulging, collar broad and flat, callosite region poorly defined, lateral margins rounded, posterior of humeral angles weakly depressed, posterior margin wider than head, medially concave; mesoscutum not visible; scutellum flat; metathoracic spiracle elongate and exposed, without evaporative bodies; MTG efferent system narrow, angled caudally, ostiole nearly ventral, peritreme a thin strip along posteroventral margin of tergite, bordered dorsally by evaporative bodies. Hemelytra (Fig. 4): elongate, lateral margins subparallel, membrane extends beyond abdomen. Legs (Fig. 4): long and thin; metafemur not incrassate; pretarsi without fleshy pulvilli. Abdomen (Fig. 43H): parallel-sided, slightly broader at anterior of genital capsule. Male genitalia (Figs 43G, H, 44A–E): pygophore basally broad, short and conical; both parameres long, subequal in length; left paramere elongate, sensory lobe rounded, apical apophysis angled upwards, twisted, dorsally dentate, apically bifid; right paramere projecting slightly out of pygophore, broad, laterally recurved, with curved finger-like apical apophysis; phallotheca simple and elongate; ductus seminis and secondary gonopore broad and dorsoventrally compressed; ductus seminis attenuate, weakly sclerotized, without flexible ribbing; secondary gonopore indistinct, weakly sclerotized, opening into ill-defined sclerotized channel within endosoma. Female genitalia (Fig. 44F–G): DVP and VLP membranous; sclerotized rings small, thin, and weakly sclerotized, weakly upturned at lateral margins; posterior wall of bursa copulatrix membranous, covered with dense field of minute setae or spines, with very faint lateral swellings; margins of vestibulum weakly swollen, symmetrical, with four small sclerotized patches. Diversity and distribution: All six species of Nanniella share an Afrotropical distribution. Included species: Nanniella alkithoe Linnavuori, 1994 Nigeria Published as part of Tatarnic, Nikolai J. & Cassis, Gerasimos, 2012, The Halticini of the world (Insecta: Heteroptera: Miridae: Orthotylinae): generic reclassification, phylogeny, and host plant associations, pp. 558-658 in Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 164 (3) on pages 620-622, DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2011.00770.x, zenodo.org