Salicarus Kerzhner 1962

5.11. Salicarus Kerzhner, 1962

Figs 3G, H, K, L, 4I, J, 5D, E, M, N, 6A, H, 7F, H, K, 9Q-T, 11C, 12C-F

Salicarus Kerzhner, 1962: 381.

Sthenarus (Salicarius [sic!]): Wagner 1975: 99.

Salicarus: Putshkov 1977: 370.

Type species.

By original designation: Capsus roseri Herrich-Schaeffer, 1838.

Diagnosis.

Body broadly oval, with short appendages (Fig. 3G, H, K, L, 4I, J); head vertical, clypeus barely visible in dorsal view, posterior margin of vertex carinate (Fig. 5D, E) or posteriorly attenuate (Fig. 5M, N); dorsum and/or thoracic pleura clothed with scalelike setae and simple setae (Fig. 6A, 7B, F); parempodium apically spatulate; pulvillum small, not reaching midpoint of claw (Fig. 7H); vesica large, strongly coiled at middle, apically with two long and thin, gradually tapering blades tightly fused along almost entire length (Fig. 9Q-T); secondary gonopore large, located close to middle of vesica, equipped with gonopore sclerite; vestibulum of bursa copulatrix S-shaped, contrastingly long and thin (Fig. 12C-F).

Despite some habitual distinctions, the genus Salicarus in its present concept contains ten species united by the pretarsal structure, male and female genitalia. Most species of the group utilize different Fabaceae (Genista, Caragana, Halimodendron, Calicotome spp.) as hosts, although Salix spp. were documented for S. concinnus, S. roseri, and S. urnammu. The genus appears to be most closely related to Phoenicocoris due to the similar pattern of vestiture, the presence of minute spicules on dorsoapical surface of the hind femur, the apically spatulate parempodia, and the tightly coiled, apically bifid vesica with gonopore sclerite. However, Phoenicocoris spp. differ from Salicarus in having rounded posterior margin of vertex, larger pulvillum reaching half-length of claw, smaller and more tightly coiled vesica with apically bifurcating blades (Schwartz and Stonedahl 2004: figs 23, 24), and S-shaped, but thick and short vestibulum of the bursa copulatrix. Refer to Schwartz and Stonedahl (2004) for additional discussion.

Species composition.

Salicarus cavinotum (Wagner, 1973) comb. nov. - Rhodes, Greece.

Salicarus concinnus Putshkov, 1977 - Mountains of Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

Salicarus fulvicornis (Jakovlev, 1889) - Mongolia, Altai, Buryatia, Zabaikalsky Terr. (South Siberia, Russia), Inner Mongolia (China).

Salicarus genistae (Lindberg, 1948) comb. nov. - Cyprus, Turkey.

Salicarus halimodendri Putshkov, 1977 - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia.

Salicarus nitidus (Horváth, 1905) comb. nov. - Spain, Corsica, Sardinia.

Salicarus perpusillus (Wagner, 1960) comb. nov. - Spain, Corsica, Italy, Greece, Crete.

Salicarus qiliananus (Zheng, 1996) - Gansu (NW China).

Salicarus roseri (Herrich-Schaeffer, 1838) - Transeurasian species, widely distributed from Western Europe to Kamchatka except high north but absent in North Africa and Middle East, spanning south to Northern Turkey, Transcaucasia, Iran, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia.

Salicarus urnammu Linnavuori, 1984 - Iraq, Armenia, Iran.