Kalarko, Moulds & Marshall, 2022

Moulds, Max & Marshall, David C., 2022, New genera and new species of Western Australian cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae), Zootaxa 5174 (5), pp. 451-507 : 469-470

Kalarko gen. n.

urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:ED583F6C-8660-4B3F-BA41-08F4A20E8424

( Figs 7 , 30–32 )

Type species. Kalarko ferruginosus sp. n., here designated.

Included species. Monotypic, Kalarko ferruginosus sp. n.

Etymology. An arbitrary combination of letters. Masculine.

Distribution. Drier parts of south-western Western Australia, mostly within a relatively narrow band receiving approximately 350–400 mm mean annual rainfall.

Diagnosis ( Figs 7 , 31 ). Head including eyes about as wide as mesonotum; supra-antennal plate meeting or nearly meeting eye; postclypeus broadly rounded transversely across ventral midline, in lateral profile angulate between ‘top’ and ‘sides’. Thorax: pronotum in dorsal view parallel-sided or widening towards posterior; pronotal collar width at dorsal midline much less than diameter of eyes; paranota weakly ampliate, with a mid lateral tooth; cruciform elevation wider than long; epimeral lobe not reaching operculum. Forewings hyaline; with 8 apical cells; subapical cells absent; ulnar cell 3 angled to radial cell; basal cell long and narrow; costal vein (C) clearly higher than R+Sc; costa parallel-sided to node, costa of male gently and evenly curved; pterostigma present; vein CuA only weakly bowed so that cubital cell no larger than medial cell; veins M and CuA meeting basal cell independently but close together, occasionally fused for a short distance; vein CuA 1 divided by crossvein m-cu so that proximal portion shortest; distance between cross veins r and r-m less than distance between r-m and m; radial cell clearly shorter than the distance from its apex to wing tip (about three quarters the length or more); wing outer margin developed for its total length, never reduced to be contiguous with ambient vein. Hindwings with 6 apical cells; no infuscation on ambient vein; width of 1st cubital cell at distal end more than twice that of 2nd cubital cell; anal lobe broad with vein 3A curved distally, separated from wing margin. Foreleg femoral primary spine erect. Male opercula more or less reaching margin of tympanal cavity, directed towards distomedial margin of tympanal cavity, apically broadly rounded, clearly not meeting; base (remnant of epimeron 3) much swollen and bubble-like. Male abdomen basally as wide as thorax, thereafter tapering to apex; tergites in cross-section with sides straight or weakly convex, epipleurites reflexed ventrally from junction with tergites; tergite 1 narrow along dorsal midline; tergite 2 about as wide as tergite 3 along dorsal midline; sternites IV–VII in cross-section convex, not unusually swollen. Timbal covers absent; posterior margin of timbal cavity ridged on lower half or so.

Male genitalia ( Figs 30a–d ). Pygofer in ventral view ovoid to sub ovoid; pygofer with distal shoulders not developed; upper lobes flat, moderately developed, set well away from dorsal beak, apically rounded in lateral view; basal lobes undivided, moderately developed, rounded in lateral view, abutted against or partly tucked behind pygofer margin; dorsal beak present as a pointed apex and a part of chitinized pygofer. Uncus small, short, flattened, more or less duck-bill shaped. Claspers well developed, large, dominant, lobe-like, excavated ventrally, restraining aedeagus; unfused; with a rounded, inward-facing swelling on inner margin; distally diverging. Aedeagus trifid; with basal plate in lateral view undulated, weakly depressed on dorsal midline, in dorsal view short and broad, apically broadened with ‘ears’, basal portion of basal plate directed forwards away from thecal shaft, ventral rib completely fused with basal plate; junction between theca and basal plate with a semi-functional ‘hinge’ that possesses a chitinous back; thecal shaft nearly straight; pseudoparameres dorsal of theca and originating distal of thecal base, unfused throughout their length, in dorsal view straight then gradually diverging, in lateral view aligned with thecal shaft for much of its length; endotheca exposed, mostly chitinous; endothecal ventral support present, long (almost as long as pseudoparameres); flabellum absent; conjunctival claws absent; vesical opening apical on theca.

Female ( Fig. 7b ) abdominal segment 9 long and slender; dorsal beak with a developed apical spine (visible in dorsal view).

Distinguishing features and relationships. Small to medium sized cicadas. Distinguished from all other genera in having, in combination, forewing veins M and CuA meeting the basal cell independently (except in a few aberrant specimens where these veins are fused for a short distance); the forewings lacking infuscations, the paranota with a small mid lateral tooth, the base of the male opercula much swollen and bubble-like, and the male genitalia have a trifid aedeagus in which the endotheca is mostly chitinous and the ventral support is almost as long as the pseudoparameres.

A molecular phylogeny by Marshall et al. (2016, fig. 2) places Kalarko gen. n. (as ‘flying red snapper’) in a clade with Pegapsaltria gen. n. (as ‘flying yellow fairy’), Birrima , Yoyetta and Plerapsalta , which in turn is sister to Marteena plus Auscala , but in morphology Kalarko is closest to Plerapsalta , Marteena and Auscala . The latter three genera share with Kalarko (but not with Pegapsaltria , Birrima or Yoyetta ) a small mid lateral tooth on the paranota (not always on Plerapsalta ), a short basal plate and, more significantly, a trifid aedeagus. Kalarko shares with Marteena and Auscala forewing veins M and CuA unfused at the basal cell (although partly fused in some Kalarko ).

Kalarko differs from Plerapsalta in having forewing veins M and CuA unfused at the basal cell, and in having an aedeagus with a much longer ventral support, almost as long as the pseudoparameres. Kalarko differs from Marteena in its more slender body shape that tapers throughout its length, much larger eyes, and in having the node near mid length of the wing rather than well beyond mid length, and it differs from Auscala in having a sharply angled and ridged margin to the male timbal cavity and in the male genitalia in which the aedeagus has the ventral support almost as long as the pseudoparameres. Kalarko differs significantly from Pegapsaltria gen. n., Birrima and Yoyetta not only in having forewing veins M and CuA unfused at the basal cell, but in having very different male genitalia that are trifid, unlike those of Pegapsaltria , Birrima and Yoyetta that lack a basal hinge and have either very thin pseudoparameres originating basally or none at all.

Figures

FIGURES 1–7. (1a) Illyria viridis sp. n., male; (1b) Illyria viridis sp. n., female; (2) Pedana hesperia gen. et sp. n., male; (3a) Chrysocicada trophis sp. n., male; (3b) Chrysocicada trophis sp. n., female; (4) Parvopsalta victoriae gen. et sp. n., male; (5) Ewartia adusta sp. n., female; (6) Pegapsaltria lutea gen. et sp. n., male; (7a) Kalarko ferruginosus gen. et sp. n., male; (7b) Kalarko ferruginosus gen. et sp. n., female.

FIGURES 30–31. Kalarko ferruginosus sp. n. (30) distribution; (31a) male genitalia in lateral view; (31b) same in ventral view; (31c) dissected aedeagus in lateral view; (31d) basal plate in dorsal view.

FIGURE 32. Kalarko ferruginosus sp. n., male calling song. (32a) oscillogram (23°C); (32b) spectrogram.