Abana gigas ( Fowler, 1898 )

Sauceda-V, Jefferson, Malenovský, Igor & Takiya, Daniela M., 2025, Species delimitation and taxonomic revision of Abana Distant, 1908 (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Proconiini): Intraspecific color variation and pseudocryptic diversity in Andean sharpshooters, Zootaxa 5596 (1), pp. 1-60 : 23-26

Abana gigas ( Fowler, 1898)

( Figs. 10–11)

Amblydisca gigas Fowler, 1898: 212 [n. sp.]. Young (1965): 177 [lectotype designated]. Abana gigas, Distant (1908): 72 [n. comb.]; Melichar (1926): 327 [redescription]; Schmidt (1928): 51 [listed]; Young (1968):

150 [listed, out of subgenus]; Ceotto & Mejdalani (2005): 482, 491 [phylogeny, illustrated: Figs. 6, 9]; McKamey (2007):

263 [catalogued]. Abana (Abana) gigas, Melichar (1926): 323 [key]; Metcalf (1965): 645 [catalogued].

Diagnosis. Body coloration ( Figs. 10A, B, D, E, 11A, B) mostly castaneous brown, brochosome coverage may add a purple or blue tinge; head ( Fig. 10A–E) and pronotum ( Figs. 10A, D, 11A) completely dark, without markings; forewing coloration not sexually dimorphic. Crown anterior margin ( Fig. 10A, D) subtriangular to triangular; anterior portion ( Fig. 10B, E), in lateral view, straight, not inflated; disk with a distinct depression; M-shaped elevation bordering posterior margin inconspicuous. Connective ( Fig. 10H) arms almost converging anteriorly; base of arms with a V-shaped dorsal rim. Style ( Fig. 10H) with apodeme wide and long, 0.8 times as long as apophysis lenght; inner lobe rounded; apical portion rectangular, 1.5 times as long as wide; extending as far as connective apex. Aedeagal shaft ( Fig. 10I–K) with anterodorsal projections wide and short. Dorsal connective ( Fig. 10I–K) sclerotized; submedian acute process conspicuous.

Redescription. Total length: males (n = 3) 17.5–18.8 mm, females (n = 3) 19.0– 20.5 mm.

External structures. Crown ( Figs. 10A, D, 11A) pubescent; M-shaped elevation bordering posterior margin inconspicuous. Ocelli closer to adjacent anterior eye angle than to midline of crown. Hind legs with femoral setal formula 2:1:0 or 2:2:0. Other characters as in A. dives .

Coloration. Body ( Figs. 10A, B, D, E, 11A, B) mostly castaneous, brochosome cover may add a purple and blue tinge. Head and thorax ( Figs. 10A, B, D, E, 11A, B) almost completely to completely (lectotype, Fig. 10A, B) castaneous, with sometimes little and inconspicuous yellow areas on pleurites of thorax. Pronotum ( Figs. 10A, D, 11A) completely brown. Forewings ( Figs. 10A, B, D, E, 11A, B) castaneous (lectotype, Fig. 10A, B) to dark brown. Fore- and middle legs ( Figs. 10B, E, 11B) with femora, tibiae, and tarsi yellow to brownish, with dark brown areas at basal and apical portions. Hind leg ( Figs. 10B, E, 11B) castaneous to dark brown, with or without apical yellow area on femur. Abdomen ( Figs. 10B, E, 11B) almost completely dark, with very narrow yellow areas along posterolateral margins of pleurites and on posterior margins of sternites.

Male terminalia. Pygofer ( Fig. 10F) ventral margin, in lateral view, with a distinct median concavity, preapical region also with a small concavity. Base of connective arms ( Fig. 10H) with a V-shaped dorsal rim. Style ( Fig. 10H) with apodeme wide and long, 0.8 times as long as apophysis; apical portion rectangular, 1.5 times as long as wide; extending as far as connective apex. Aedeagal shaft ( Fig. 10I), in lateral view, with preapical dorsal spiniform process not extending to dorsal margin of lateral projections. Dorsal connective ( Fig. 10I–K) sclerotized; submedian acute process conspicuous. Other characters as in A. dives .

Female terminalia. Second valvula ( Fig. 11G), in lateral view, with 78 separated teeth on dorsal margin. Gonoplac ( Fig. 11I) apex triangular. Other characters as in A. dives .

Distribution. Costa Rica (Guanacaste [new record], Heredia, and Limón [new record] provinces), Ecuador [doubtful], Nicaragua [doubtful], and Panama (Bocas del Toro [new record], and Chiriquí provinces). Before this work, A. gigas was recorded from Costa Rica ( Fowler 1898; Melichar 1926; Metcalf 1965; Young 1968; Ceotto & Mejdalani 2005) and Panama ( Schmidt 1928; Metcalf 1965), mostly without specific locality data within these countries. Here, for the first time, we give specific locality records for the provinces of Guanacaste and Limón in Costa Rica and for the province of Bocas del Toro in Panama ( Fig. 30). The known range of this species also includes records for Ecuador and Nicaragua, both of which are considered doubtful here. The first was given by Young (1968), but the author gave no details of the specimen from which he obtained this information, nor where it is deposited. In the Melichar collection at the MMBC, there is a dark colored female of A. dives from Ecuador: Chimbo, which bears an identification label “Transcriptio\ Abana \ gigas (Fowler) \ det. Young 1964” (see also the material listed under A. dives ; this specimen was originally identified as A. dives by Melichar and recorded as such in Melichar 1926; we agree with Melichar’s but not Young’s identification). Therefore, it is likely that the information on the occurrence of A. gigas in Ecuador by Young (1968) was based on this specimen, which was clearly misidentified. After the present study and the absence of any specimens of this species in Ecuador or in any other South American country, we are firmly convinced that the species is not distributed in South America. Finally, regarding the record in Nicaragua, it was reported by Freytag & Sharkey (2002), but in their paper, the authors cited Young (1968) as the source of the information, although this record does not exist in Young’s work. For this reason, the lack of traceability of the information and the lack of other evidence, we also consider this record from Nicaragua to be dubious. Given the known distribution of A. gigas , the probability of occurrence in Nicaragua may be high but no specimens from that country have been found.

Material examined. Type material: Lectotype, ♀ (based on photographs of habitus): COSTA RICA: “Costa Rica.\ Salle.”, “ B.C.A. Homopt. II.\ Amblydisca \ gigas,\ Fowl.” “ Amblydisca \ gigas. Fowler\ TYPE ”, “ LECTOTYPE \ Amblydisca \ gigas\ Fowler\ D. A. Young, 63”, “ TYPE ”, “ LECTO- \ TYPE ”, “ NHMUK 013588911 ” ( BMNH) . Other specimens: COSTA RICA: 1 ♂, 2 ♀♀ ( MMBC: L. Melichar collection) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, C. R. No 506, C.H. Ballou ( NCSU) . Guanacaste [new record]: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Carillo, Schild & Burgdorf ( USNM) . Heredia: 1 ♂, 1 ♀, Heredia, Finca La Selva , 1976-vii-21–30, J.C. Solomon ( USNM) ; 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, same data, except: 1995-i-12, S.M. Clark ( BYU) ; 1 ♂, 1 ♀, same data, except: near Pto. Viejo , 1973-iii-17–19, D.C. Rentz ( USNM) ; 1 ♂, same data, except: 10º25’N, 84º00’W, 179 ft, 2004-ii-25, C. R. Bartlett, J. Cryan, J. Urban, DNA voucher Entomologia DZRJ 6697 ( DZRJ) . Limón [new record]: 1 ♀, Cairo , 1932-v-23, C.H. Ballou ( USNM) ; 3 ♂♂, Rio Dantas W of Guapiles, 1988-xii-26, A.S. Menke, DNA voucher Entomologia DZRJ ENT6581 ( USNM) ; 4 ♀♀, same data . 1 ♀, Parismina, M. Valerio (USNM) . PANAMA (based on photographs of habitus): Bocas del Toro : 1 ♂, Bocas del Toro, Corriente Grande , 9º17’30”N, 82º32’41”W, 100 m a.s.l., 1980-i-26, H.P. Stockwell ( STRI) ; 2 ♂♂, 1 ♀, same data, except: 1980-xi-14, H. Wolda ( STRI) ; 1 ♂, same data, except: 1979-xii-16, H. Wolda ( STRI) ; 1 ♀, same data, except: Buena Vista , 8º50’N, 82º15’W, 1977-i-09, R. Dressler ( STRI) .

Remarks. Abana gigas is morphologically somewhat similar to specimens of A. tissa . These two species share a generally dark body coloration ( Figs. 10A–E, 19A, B) and pubescent crown ( Figs. 10A, D, 19A, 20A) and differ from other Abana species in the coloration of the head, which is almost completely dark to completely dark. However, A. gigas can be easily distinguished from A. tissa by the following combination of characters: (1) body coloration ( Fig. 10A–E) mostly castaneous brown (dark brown in A. tissa , Fig. 19A, B), brochosome coverage ( Fig. 10D, E) may afford a purple tinge on head and thorax (only blue in some specimens of A. tissa , Fig. 20A, B), (2) fore- and middle legs ( Fig. 10B, E) with femora, tibiae, and tarsi yellow, with dark brown areas on the basal and apical portions (legs completely brown in A. tissa , Figs. 19B, 20B), and (3) male pygofer ( Fig. 10F) with a small preapical ventral concavity (preapical region convex in A. tissa , Fig. 19C). The yellow leg coloration and the general castaneous coloration are also present in the new species A. rufifrons sp. nov. ( Fig. 17A, B), yet, the complete castaneous coloration of the head of A. gigas is a conspicuous feature that makes it easily distinguishable from A. rufifrons sp. nov. (the latter having a rufous coloration on anterior part of the head, Fig. 17A, B), as well as the general coloration of the body ( Figs. 10A–E, 17A, B), which is dark castaneous to dark brown in A. rufifrons sp. nov., with no bluish to purplish tinge. No COI sequence information was obtained for this species because DNA quality was too low (fragmented).