Dikrella (Readionia) spinifera, Coelho & Nessimian, 2009

Coelho, Luci Boa Nova & Nessimian, Jorge Luiz, 2009, Three new species of Dikrella Oman (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae) from Minas Gerais State, Brazil, Zootaxa 2142 (1), pp. 20-28 : 27

Dikrella (Readionia) spinifera , sp.nov.

( Figs 9–11 , 29–36 )

Total length 3.0–3.5 mm. General color yellow, eyes reddish-brown. Crown ochraceus with median length smaller than interocular width on base; pronotum short, twice as wide as long, approximately as long as crown, margins of laterobasal angles not exceeding width of head. Forewing with small, round, dark-brown spot on apical cell IV, near base, and other slightly larger spot, also dark-brown, on center of apical cell I; apical cell II narrower than apical cell I, with margins almost parallel, apex slightly wider than base; apical cell III triangular with very short stalk, almost sessile; apical cell IV not reaching wing apex. Hindwing with vein CuA 2 free from a more apical point than vein MP 2.

Subgenital plate long; basal region of internal margin, as described for the subgenus, forming round basal lobe and long apical lobe, with convergent margins toward round apex in ventral view; length of apical lobe approximately three times that of basal lobe; external margin on basal third of apical lobe with two short spine-like structures and, near the latter, two large and robust setae; from these setae up to apex, series of small and strong setae along external margin. Pygofer long with small setae of variable size; internal process of dorsal origin extending to posterior region, with apical region exposed from posterodorsal angle of pygofer and curved dorsad; anal hook short and (in lateral view) with apex wide and round. Stylus long, preapical lobe weakly developed with group of seven setae. Connective papilionaceous. Aedeagus with long preatrium, tubular, continuous with aedeagal stem; the latter laterally compressed and with slightly broader apical region; atrial region with two pairs of long processes fusioned laterally at base, ventrolateral pair longer than laterodorsal pair and exceeding aedeagal stem; gonopore apical. Female unknown.

Etymology. The species epithet, spinifera , refers to the form of the pygofer processes.

Type material. Male holotype: Mata do Paraíso, Viçosa, Minas Gerais, Brasil, 16/ix/1981, P.S.F. Ferreira leg. (DZRJ). Paratypes (males): same locality and collector as holotype , 2 specimens (2/xii/1981) ( DZRJ) ; 1 specimens (2/ii/1983) ( DZRJ) ; 1 specimen (18/iii/1983) ( MEUV) ; 2 specimens (5/iii/1987) ( MEUV) ; 1 specimen (29/xii/1987) ( MNRJ) .

Comments. This species is similar to D. nigrinota Ruppel and DeLong , D. mella Ruppel and DeLong and D. bimaculata Ruppel and DeLong ( Ruppel and DeLong 1952) by the presence of the pair of robust spiniform projections on the basal third of external margin of the subgenital plate ( Fig. 31 ) and by the basal processes on the stem of aedeagus ( Figs 35, 36 ). However, in the three Ruppel and DeLong species the subgenital plate does not have a lobe on the basal third of internal margin, and the other internal structures are completely different.

Figures

FIGURES 3–11. Dikrella (Dikrella) aculeata, sp.nov.: 3, habitus (laterodorsal view); 4, crown, pronotum and scutelum (dorsal view); 5, face (ventral view); Dikrella (Dikrella) reticulata, sp.nov.: 6, habitus (laterodorsal view); 7, crown, pronotum and scutelum (dorsal); 8, face (ventral); Dikrella (Readionia) spinifera, sp.nov.: 9, habitus (laterodorsal view); 10, crown, pronotum and scutelum (dorsal view); 11, face (ventral view).

FIGURES 29–36. Dikrella (Readionia) spinifera, sp.nov.: 29, forewing; 30, hindwing; 31, subgenital plate (ventrolateral view); 32, pygofer (lateral view); 33, stylus (ventral view); 34, stylus (lateral view); 35, aedeagus and connective (ventral view); 36, aedeagus (lateral view).