Pomponia Stål, 1866

Lee, Young June, 2008, A checklist of Cicadidae (Insecta: Hemiptera) from Vietnam, with some taxonomic remarks, Zootaxa 1787, pp. 1-27 : 9-10

Genus Pomponia Stål, 1866

Pomponia Stål, 1866: 6 . Type species: Cicada fusca Olivier, 1790 (= Dundubia picta Walker, 1868 ) (Sumatra).

43. Pomponia linearis (Walker, 1850)

Dundubia linearis Walker, 1850: 48 [TL: unknown].

Pomponia fusca: Jacobi, 1905: 430 ; Distant, 1917a: 101; Moulton, 1923: 112; Sanborn et al., 2007: 28 (nec Olivier, 1790). (= Pomponia picta (Walker, 1868))

Pomponia linearis: Moulton, 1923: 110 , 167; Metcalf, 1963b: 845; Hayashi, 1984: 55; Lee and Hayashi, 2003b: 383; Pham, 2004: 62; Duffels and Hayashi, 2006: 197; Sanborn et al., 2007: 28.

Distribution. Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and India.

44. Pomponia piceata Distant, 1905

Pomponia piceata Distant, 1905e: 558 [TL: Cho-Moï, Tonkin]; Distant, 1906b: 67; Distant, 1912c: 53; Metcalf, 1963b: 851; Chou et al., 1997: 190; Pham, 2004: 62.

Pomponia hieroglyphica Kato, 1938: 8 (hierogryphica [sic]) [TL: Yaosan, Kwangsi, China; Hoa-Binh, Tonkin]; Kato, 1940c: 13; Metcalf, 1963b: 842 (synonymized by Chou et al. (1997)).

Distribution. China (Guangxi) and N. Vietnam.

45. Pomponia sp.

Pomponia sp.: Pham, 2004: 62 [TL: Vietnam].

Distribution. Vietnam.

Remarks. Pham (2004) provided a description of this species in Vietnamese under the name of ‘ Pomponia sp.’ with an illustration of the male genitalia. Based on photographs provided by H.T. Pham, the external morphology of this species appears almost identical to that of Pomponia linearis . However, as shown in the figure by Pham (2004), the spines of the clasper of the male genitalia are different: the lateral and the medial spines of this species are about the same length while the lateral spine of P. linearis is distinctly longer than its medial spine. The identity of this species requires further studies.

46. Pomponia lactea (Distant, 1887)

Leptopsaltria lactea Distant, 1887: 229 [TL: Sumatra].

Pomponia lactea: Distant, 1917a: 101 ; Moulton, 1923: 111; Metcalf, 1963b: 845; Sanborn et al., 2007: 28.

Distribution. Vietnam, Thailand, Malay Peninsula, Indonesia and N. India.

47. Pomponia orientalis (Distant, 1912) comb. nov.

Tettigia orientalis Distant, 1912a: 460 [TL: Cochin China]; Distant, 1914: 3.

Cicada orientalis: Metcalf, 1963b: 786 .

Distribution. S. Vietnam and Thailand.

Remarks. Photographs of this species ( Fig. 1 ) contributed by The Natural History Museum, London suggest that it is allied to and congeneric with Pomponia picta (Walker, 1868) (type species) and Pomponia linearis (Walker, 1850) due to the similarity in the following characteristics: shapes of forewing apical cells; shape of dentate lateral margin of pronotal collar; shape of timbal cover; shape and coloration of dorsal and ventral abdomen; sharp pointed upper lobes of pygofer. However, the species is distinguishable from P. picta and P. linearis by its smaller body size (35 mm as in the original description by Distant (1912a)) and by the opercula widely separated and not wider than long.

This species does not belong to the Pomponia linearis species group proposed by Duffels & Hayashi (2006) due to the following: postclypeus with two symmetrical series of thin, transverse fuscous lines on underside instead of a broad transverse band across postclypeus; opercula widely separated and not wider than long. The latter characteristic suggests that this species may not be closely allied to Pomponia picta , either.

The type locality of this species is “ Cochin China ”, which is equivalent to the present southern Vietnam, but the specimen preserved in The Natural History Museum, London and shown in Fig. 1 is labeled as “Luang-Prabang // a Theng Pavie 1888”. Luang-Prabang is presently a province of Laos, which is far north of southern Vietnam. This discrepancy could have arisen from mislabeling or confusion of geographical concepts. Because the original description of this species by Distant (1912a) gives exact values, rather than ranges, for morphological measurements, the description implies that only one male specimen was available to Distant. The description indicates that the depository of the type specimen was “Brit. Mus.” (= The Natural History Museum, London). As there are no other specimens or syntypes of this species in the Museum (M. Webb, pers. comm.), this specimen is apparently the holotype, fixed by monotypy (73.1.2, ICZN).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Pomponia orientalis (Distant, 1912) comb. nov., male, Luang-Prabang, 1888 (The Natural History Museum, London). A. dorsal view. B. ventral view.