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Issue: Vol. 5716 No. 3: 31 Oct. 2025
Type: Article
Published: 2025-10-31
DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5716.3.6
Page range: 397-408
Abstract views: 107
PDF downloaded: 6

A new genus and species of mirine plant bug endemic to central Honshu, Japan, a region receiving the world’s heaviest snowfall (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Mirinae: Mirini)

Research Associate, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York 10024, USA; c/o Nagasaki West High School, SSH Biology Section, Takenokubo 12-9, Nagasaki 852-8014, Japan
Newron Sanitar Co., Settaya-machi 2633-3, Nagaoka City, Niigata 940-1104, Japan
Hemiptera Classification regional fauna plant association new taxa SEM documentation

Abstract

A new species representing a new genus of mirine plant bug, Itoigawacoris venustulus, is diagnosed and described, based on specimens recently discovered from a geographically unique region of world’s heaviest snowfall along the Fossa Magna in Niigata Prefecture, Japan. This vernal, endemic mirid was confirmed to be only associated with a Japanese boxwood, Buxus microphylla, on which the immature forms and adults were observed to co-occur before the spring thaw. Judging from the male and female genitalic structures, the present new genus is included in ‘Lygus-complex’ and assumed to be most closely related to Lygocoris Reuter, 1875. Some unknown microstructures found in the late immature forms of I. venustulus are also reported and discussed.

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How to Cite

Yasunaga, T. & Mashima, G. (2025) A new genus and species of mirine plant bug endemic to central Honshu, Japan, a region receiving the world’s heaviest snowfall (Insecta: Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Mirinae: Mirini). Zootaxa, 5716 (3), 397–408. https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5716.3.6