Melanastera truncata, Serbina & Malenovský & Queiroz & Burckhardt, 2025

Serbina, Liliya Š., Malenovský, Igor, Queiroz, Dalva L. & Burckhardt, Daniel, 2025, Jumping plant-lice of the tribe Paurocephalini (Hemiptera: Psylloidea: Liviidae) in Brazil, Zootaxa 5585 (1), pp. 1-164 : 103-104

51 Melanastera truncata sp. nov.

( Figs 12L, 19F, 33N–S)

TypE matErIaL. HOLOtypE ♂: Brazil: PARANÁ: Curitiba, Parque Tanguá , S25.3816, W49.2850, 930 m, 6.ii.2013, Miconia cinerascens (D. Burckhardt & D.L. Queiroz) #90(7) ( UFPR; slide; [LSMeltru-26]).

Paratypes. Brazil: PARANÁ: 1 ♂, 2 ♀, same as holotype but ( NHMB; slide; NMB-PSYLL0008144 [LSMeltru- 26], NMB-PSYLL0008145 [LSMeltru-26], NMB-PSYLL0008147 [LSMeltru-26]) .

Description. Adult. Coloration. Yellow; head and thorax with dense, dark brown dots. Antennal segments 1–2 partly brown, segments 4–9 brownish apically, segment 10 entirely brown. Mesopraescutum with brown patches at fore margin; mesoscutum with four longitudinal brown stripes. Forewing ( Fig. 19F) yellow with sparse, irregular brown dots; apex and base of pterostigma and apices of Rs, M 1+2, M 3+4, Cu 1a and Cu 1b dark brown. Femora with brown patches. Female terminalia with brown apex.

Structure. Forewing ( Fig. 19F) oval, broadest in the middle, broadly and evenly rounded apically; wing apex situated in cell r 2 near apex of M 1+2; C+Sc weakly curved in distal third; pterostigma slightly narrower in the middle than cell r 1, distinctly widening to the middle; Rs weakly convex; M longer than M 1+2 and M 3+4; Cu 1a irregularly curved, ending at M fork; surface spinules present in all cells, leaving narrow spinule-free stripes along the veins, forming hexagons of a double row of spinules in apical third of the wing. Hindwing with 4 + 4 grouped or 7 ungrouped costal setae. Metatibia bearing 8–9 grouped apical spurs, arranged as 4 + 4–5, anteriorly separated by 3 bristles.

Terminalia ( Fig. 33N–S). Male. Proctiger weakly produced posteriorly; densely covered with moderately long setae in apical two thirds. Subgenital plate irregularly ovoid; dorsal margin strongly curved; posterior margin weakly convex; with moderately long setae. Paramere, in lateral view, lanceolate; apex, in lateral view, narrow, subacute, directed upwards and slightly inwards, in dorsal view, apex triangular, subacute, directed upwards and slightly inwards, lacking distinct sclerotised tooth; outer face with dense, moderately long setae in apical two thirds; inner face with dense, moderately long setae; posterior margin with long setae. Proximal segment of aedeagus with apical part moderately subdivided. Distal segment of aedeagus almost straight in basal half, with weakly sinuate dorsal margin; ventral process situated slightly distad of the middle of segment, in lateral view, spatulate, truncate apically; in dorsal view, ventral process much broader than apical dilation, subcircular; apical dilation, in lateral view, relatively narrow, subparallel-sided, rounded apically; in dorsal view, apical dilation widening towards apex; sclerotised end tube moderately long and almost straight.—Female terminalia cuneate; densely covered with setae. Dorsal margin of proctiger, in lateral view, sinuate, apex upturned, pointed; in dorsal view, apex blunt; circumanal ring, in dorsal view, distinctly cruciform. Subgenital plate, in lateral view, abruptly narrowed in apical half, pointed apically; in ventral view, apex blunt or truncate.

Fifth instar immature. Unknown.

Host plant. Adults were collected on Miconia cinerascens Miq. ( Melastomataceae ) which is a possible host.

Distribution. Brazil (PR).

Derivation of name. From the Latin adjective truncatus = truncate, referring to the shape of the ventral process of the distal segment of aedeagus.

Comments. Within the duckei -group, Melanastera truncata sp. nov. is characterised by the spatulate, apically truncate ventral process of the distal aedeagal segment.