Birdantis decens Stål, 1863

Constant, Jérôme, 2018, Review of the Maluku Islands species of the lanternfly genus Birdantis Stål, 1863, with a new species and identification key (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoridae), European Journal of Taxonomy 461, pp. 1-20 : 11

Birdantis decens Stål, 1863

Figs 3 , 5

Birdantis decens Stål, 1863: 581 (described; compared with Neotropical genus Poiocera de Laporte, 1832 ), 582 (compared with B. delibuta Stål, 1863 ).

Birdantis decens – Walker 1870: 100 (listed). — Kirkaldy 1913: 11 (compared with a specimen tentatively attributed to B. delibuta ). — Metcalf 1947: 92 (catalogued). — Lallemand 1959: 194 (keyed), 195 ( B. similis ( Schmidt, 1911) possible junior synonym of B. decens (error!)); 1963: 10 (keyed). — Fennah 1977: 376 (keyed), figs 3–4 (male genitalia). — Nagai & Porion 1996: 14 (listed).

Diagnosis

This species can be separated from all other species of Birdantis by the following combination of

characters:

(1) frons yellowish, with five longitudinal black lines not reaching ventral margin of frons, the three central ones merging together dorsally in a transverse line and central one dilated in middle ( Fig. 5F )

(2) bulge between frons and vertex coloured as vertex ( Fig. 5C )

(3) abdomen mostly black dorsally ( Fig. 5A ) and brown ventrally ( Fig. 5B )

(4) tegmina opaque on basal half and hyaline on distal half ( Fig. 5A )

(5) hind wings largely hyaline, with basal angle red ( Fig. 5A )

Material examined

Holotype INDONESIA: ♂ ( Fig. 5 ), Aru Island, 6°07′14″ S, 134°30′00″ E [Aru Isl / on the reverse: 58 48] [ Birdantis ] [Type] [ Birdantis decens Stål ] [BMNH(E), # 651892 ] (BMNH).

Distribution

Aru Island ( Fig. 3 ).

Figures

Fig. 3. Birdantis spp. from Maluku, distribution map. A. Topographic map. B. Ecoregions map. Abbreviations: bnrf = Biak-Numfoor rain forests; brf = Buru rain forests; bsdf = Banda Sea Islands moist deciduous forests; crmrf = Central Range montane rain forests; crsg = Central Range subalpine grasslands; hrf = Halmahera rain forests; lsdf = Lesser Sundas deciduous forests; ngm = New Guinea mangroves; nlrf = Northern New Guinea lowland rain forests; slrf = Sulawesi lowland rainforests; smrf = Sulawesi montane rainforests; sngsf = Southern New Guinea freshwater swamp forests; srf = Seram rain forests; twdf = Timor and Wetar deciduous forests; valrf = Vogelkop-Aru lowland rain forests; vmrf = Vogelkop montane rain forests; yrf = Yapen rain forests.

Fig. 5. Birdantis decens Stål, 1863, holotype, ♂. A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, ventral view. C. Head and thorax, dorsal view. D. Labels. E. Anal tube, dorsal view. F. Head, normal view of frons. C–F not to scale.