Empoasca coofa, Southern, 2008

Southern, Phillip Sterling, 2008, New species and color forms of Empoasca (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae: Empoascini) from South America, Zootaxa 1949 (1), pp. 51-62 : 57-60

publication ID	https://doi.org/ 10.11646/zootaxa.1949.1.4
DOI	https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5240876
persistent identifier	https://treatment.plazi.org/id/0393FD7C-FFBD-F760-FF05-11ADFEC3C3EB
treatment provided by	Felipe
scientific name	Empoasca coofa
status	sp. nov.

Treatment

Empoasca coofa View in CoL n. sp.

( Figs. 1c View FIGURE 1 , 4 View FIGURE 4 )

Body (male): Length: 3.5–3.9 mm; crown length: 0.23–0.26 mm; crown projection: 0.07–0.11 mm; crown projection ratio: 0.30–0.45; head length (including eyes): 0.42–0.48 mm; interocular width: 0.38–0.41 mm; head width (including eyes): 0.81–0.83 mm; face length: 0.84–0.93 mm; interantennal width: 0.30–0.33 mm. pronotal width: 0.79–0.85 mm; pronotal length: 0.40–0.46 mm; hind tibia length: 1.58–1.63 mm; hind tarsus length: 0.58–0.61 mm; hind tarsomere I length: 0.38–0.44 mm; hind tarsomere I/hind tarsus ratio: 0.62–0.76. Body generally pale yellow-brown with cream markings (all specimens available appear to have been collected or stored in alcohol, possibly affecting color). Crown ( Fig. 1c View FIGURE 1 ) pale yellow-brown with large subhyaline spot on either side of midline. Coronal suture approaching but not reaching anterior margin. Face yellowbrown with cream markings; frontal suture ending below ocelli, nearer eye than midline. Pronotum yellowbrown along anterior margin, with cream spots, the majority of pronotum subhyaline. Scutellum yellowbrown with cream markings on midline and lateral margins. Forewings yellowish subhyaline in basal 2/3, hyaline, brownish in apical 1/3; apical veins R2 and RM confluent basally (second apical cell triangular and stalked). Hind wing venation similar to Empoasca fabae . Body (female): Length: 3.9–4.2 mm. Coloration, markings and wings similar to those of male.

Pygofer tapered on both dorsal and ventral margins to narrowly rounded apex ( Fig. 4a View FIGURE 4 ); stout macrosetae (11–18) along dorsal margin and in rough diagonal line across outer face of pygofer; 3–4 filamentous setae scattered on outer face. Plate in lateral view expanded dorsolaterally near base, thence subparallel-margined to rounded apex, curving evenly upward but not expanded in apical 1/3; in ventral view, expanded laterally near base. A-group setae (2–3); B-group setae (16–24) relatively uniform in distribution, roughly uniseriate along dorsolateral margin to apex of plate; C-group setae (18–21) biseriate near base of plate, uniseriate apically (ca. last 6); D-group setae (27–35) roughly bi- or tri-seriate, extended almost to anterior margin of plate. Style in lateral view parallel margined to dentifer, bowed slightly dorsad at body/dentifer junction, ca. 4 setal bases or sensory pits laterally at apex of body, teeth (5–7) low, ridgelike, widely spaced (spacing decreasing apically), apex rounded; in ventral view ( Fig. 4g View FIGURE 4 ) body bowed mediad, dentifer angled posterolaterad. Pygofer process in lateral view angled slightly dorsad near base thence relatively straight, tapered slightly to apex, long, nearly reaching apex of plate, apically flattened dorsoventrally and spoon-shaped ( Fig. 4h View FIGURE 4 ), in some specimens a few aculeae are scattered on dorsal surface near apex (difficult to see); in ventral view angled toward midline from near base, straight or very slightly bowed inward, apically with very fine serrations on medial margin ( Fig. 4i View FIGURE 4 ). Anal hook in lateral view ( Fig. 4j View FIGURE 4 ) directed ventrad, reaching ca. mid-point of pygofer, slightly sinuate, tapered to sharp apex; in caudoventral view ( Fig. 4d View FIGURE 4 ) bifurcate in transverse plane, outer ramus curved mediad, inner ramus a variably developed lobe (may be broader and more distinct than in Fig. 4d View FIGURE 4 ) directed mediad. Aedeagus in lateral view ( Fig. 4c View FIGURE 4 1 View FIGURE 1 ) with preatrium bowed caudad at base thence straight, shaft diverging from atrium at near right angle thence curved dorsad, nearly as long as preatrium, tapered apically to acute apex, each side of shaft with a very small process at about mid-length, closely appressed to the shaft and often very difficult to see (apparently absent in one specimen), dorsal margin of shaft with triangular or hook-shaped ( Fig. 4c View FIGURE 4 2 View FIGURE 2 ) expansion just beyond mid-length; in ventral view preatium narrow basally, expanding to broad atrium, shaft parallel-sided to truncate apex, gonopore appearing terminal or subterminal on ventral side. Connective ( Fig. 4e View FIGURE 4 ) broader than long, anterior bar well sclerotized, apical notch broad and deep. Dorsum of genital capsule ( Fig. 4k View FIGURE 4 ) with horns distinct and widely separated, bridge indistinct.

First sternal complex ( Fig. 4m View FIGURE 4 ) with dorsal apodeme well developed, medial notch variable but in some specimens constricted above base forming a two-step taper. Second sternal apodemes ( Fig. 4n View FIGURE 4 ) reaching 4.0– 4.3 (length: 0.18–0.23 mm; width: 0.28–0.33 mm), well separated medially, subparallel-sided to rounded apicies. Second tergal apodemes developed as vertical plates extended from dorsolateral surface towards midline, flattened at medial end in sagital plane ( Figs. 4p, q View FIGURE 4 ), apodemes closely appressed but separate at midline (sometimes slightly more widely separated and concave medially than in Fig. 4q View FIGURE 4 ). Posterior margin of abdominal sternum VIII nearly straight with very small, inconspicuous medial notch.

Holotype male: Colombia / Boy Sogamoso / 29 May 1946 // EA Chapin / Sta 46-23 // PSS RESEARCH / 06-241-01 // HOLOTYPE / Empoasca / coofa n.sp. / P. S. Southern 08 ( NCSU). Paratypes: 13 males, 13 females, same collection data as holotype ( NCSU, USNM).

The specific name coofa is an arbitrary combination of letters treated as a feminine noun in apposition.

In the key to Empoasca of eastern Peru ( Southern, 1982), E. coofa keys to couplet 17 (if the aedeagal processes are present and judged to be at least 1/10 th the length of the shaft) and Empoasca trindula Southern. This species differs from E. trindula in having the aedeagal processes (if present) arising from near the middle of the shaft rather than from the base, the unique structure of the second tergal apodemes – flattened in a sagital plane medially, the length of the second sternal apodemes which extend no further than 4.3, and the broad and deep medial notch in the dorsal apodeme of the first sternal complex. If the aedeagal processes are absent, not seen, or judged to be less than 1/10 th the length of the shaft, E. coofa keys to couplet 42 and either Empoasca celta Southern or Empoasca lecta Southern. However , E. coofa differs from both these species in external coloration, the anal hook much less deeply bifid in caudoventral view, the triangular or hooklike expansion on the dorsal margin of the aedeagal shaft, the form of the second tergal apodemes, and in the much shorter second sternal apodemes. E. coofa appears most closely related to Empoasca ecuadorensis Southern. Both species have relatively small processes arising from the shaft of the aedeagus, transversely bifurcate anal hooks, the aedeagal shaft initially diverging from the line of the atrial complex but then curving dorsad, short second sternal apodemes, and second tergal apodemes and flattened on the medial ends into plate-like structures which are closely opposed but are not fused. However, the aedeagal shaft of E. coofa is longer and that of E. ecuadorensis lacks a dorsal expansion. The outer ramus of the anal hook of E. ecuadorensis is much narrower and is bowed anteriorly with the apex directed caudad. Though the second tergal apodemes of both are flattened sagitally at the midline, the apodemes of E. coofa appear to be separated from the dorsum for most of their length (at most there may be an obscure membranous connection), while those of E. ecuadorensis are clearly connected to the dorsum except at the midline. E. coofa is considered to be a member of the papae group (see below).