Tenucephalus spectabilis, Zahniser, 2021

Zahniser, James N., 2021, Revision of the New World leafhopper tribe Faltalini (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) and the evolution of brachyptery, Zootaxa 4954 (1), pp. 1-160 : 125

Tenucephalus spectabilis n. sp.

( Figs. 79 , 84 )

Diagnosis. T. spectabilis can be identified by a combination of its color pattern (dark brown crown, forewing veins bright yellow widely bordered with brown), large size, crown sharply angled to face, crown long—median length 1.5–2x length next to eye, subgenital plates with numerous macrosetae laterally loosely arranged in 2–3 rows, and aedeagus lying far above pair of basal processes of connective-aedeagus.

Body. Male 5.5 mm. Female, 6.1–6.2 mm to wing apex, 6.8 mm to ovipositor tip. Crown median length 1.5–2x next to eye; sharply angled to face.

Color. Crown mostly dark brown. Anterior margin of head with thin transverse white band; bordered below on face by broad dark brown band, remainder of face light tawny; legs light tawny; ventral side of thoracic and abdominal segments light to dark brown. Forewings with bright yellow or tawny/orange-tinged veins thickly bordered by dark brown; apices mostly dark brown, nearly completely obscuring veins.

Male. Pygofer relatively long, narrowed preapically in lateral view; with patch of numerous short setae medially below inflection point of membranous cleft; with distinct elongate patch of numerous short setae at midheight on posterior 1/3, reaching apex; with long macrosetae posterodorsally. Valve large; median length more than 2x width; anterior margin produced anteriorly. Subgenital plates long, triangular; with numerous macrosetae laterally loosely arranged in 2–3 rows. Style median articulating arm slightly produced anteriorly; preapical angle short, knob-like, visible in lateral view; apophysis thick, digitate, slightly curving medially in ventral view. Connectiveaedeagus with symmetrical pair of processes fused near aedeagal base, processes long and straight along basal 3/4, in lateral view bent dorsal and caudal on apical 1/4, in ventral view divergent at apical 1/4. Aedeagus situated high above connective and basal processes; obliquely V-shaped; apex bifid. Phragma forming lightly sclerotized bulbous lobeswith short setae throughout. Segment X sclerotized laterally and dorsally; about as long as wide.

Female. Sternite VII very large; parabolically produced posteriorly; with distinct longitudinal median ridge. Sternite VIII partly membranous, with lightly sclerotized wrinkled arcuate ridges; not exceeding anterior margin of stVII.

Material examined. HOLOTYPE: 1♂, PERU, Madre de Dios, Manu, Pakitza , 12°7’S 70°58’W, 250m., 14– 23-IX-1988, O. Flint & N. Adams, trail 2, 1 st stream, malaise trap [ USNM] . PARATYPES: 6♂, 1 sex indet. (abdo- men missing), same data as holotype . 1♂, same data as holotype except 9–14-IX-1988 . 1♂, PERU, Madre de Dios, Manu, Pakitza , 11°56’S 71°18’W, 250m ., 19–23-IX-1988, N. Adams et al., trail 1, mkr. 14, malaise trap. 3♂, 2♀, PERU: Madre de Dios, Tambopata Research Center, on Rio Tambopata , 622ft. , 13°08.305’S 69°36.502’W, 3–7- X-2004, C.R. Bartlett. 1♀, PERU, Madre de Dios, Rio Tambopata Res. , 30km (air) SW Pto. Maldonado, 290m ., 12°50’S 69°17’W, Smithsonian Institution, Canopy Fogging Project, T.L. Erwin et al. cols., 8-XI-1983, 04/01/03. [ USNM]

Etymology. The species name is a Latin adjective for “outstanding or noteworthy”, referring to its unique color pattern, large size, and sharply angulate anterior margin of the head.

Distribution. T. spectabilis is known from the Madre de Dios region of Peru.

Figures

FIGUIRE 79. Tenucephalus spectabilis n. sp. (A–B, D–H, J); A1, female; A2 & B, male.

FIGUIRE 84. Distribution of Tenucephalus spp. and Virganana danasensis in northwestern South America.