Genus Birdantis Stål, 1863

Birdantis Stål, 1863: 581 (described, compared with Aphaena Guérin-Méneville, 1834;

type species: Birdantis decens Stål, 1863 by subsequent designation in Distant 1906: 26).

Myrilla Distant, 1888: 487 (described, compared with Polydictya Guérin-Méneville, 1844; type species: Myrilla obscura Distant, 1888, by monotypy). syn. rev.

Remarks

Lallemand (1959) synonymized Myrilla under Birdantis and proposed a key to the species of Birdantis . However, Fennah (1977) considered Myrilla as a subgenus of Birdantis, separating them on characters of the vertex, i.e., anterior margin of vertex straight, without deep transverse sulcus behind it in Myrilla; anterior margin of vertex concave, with a deep transverse sulcus behind it in Birdantis s. str. It is therefore currently formally divided into two subgenera: Birdantis (ten species and one subspecies) and Myrilla (two species) (Fennah 1977; Nagai & Porion 1996). The genus is externally close to the Oriental Polydictya Guérin-Méneville, 1844 and Gebenna Stål, 1863, and the Australian Desudaboides Musgrave, 1927 (Lallemand 1963; Nagai & Porion 1996; Constant 2010, 2011). Nagai & Porion (1996) followed the classification in Fennah (1977), but in my paper on the species of Birdantis from Australia (Constant 2011), I questioned the value of the subgenera as defined by Fennah (1977), because intermediate species exist, and followed the views of Lallemand (1959) but without formally reinstating the synonymy between Birdantis and Myrilla . Accordingly, three species remained without subgeneric affiliation (Bourgoin 2018) within the last formally accepted classification of Fennah (1977).

The genus Birdantis is currently placed in the Poiocerina Haupt, 1929 of the Poiocerini Haupt, 1929, in the subfamily Poiocerinae Haupt, 1929 (Lallemand 1963; Constant 2011; Bourgoin 2018). However, Urban & Cryan (2009) have shown, based on molecular data, that Fulgoridae can be separated into two main clades, one grouping all New World taxa with strong support, the other containing all Old World taxa. Hence, as the type genus of the Poiocerinae is the Neotropical genus Poiocera Laporte, 1832, the suprageneric placement of Birdantis needs to be reconsidered.

The classifications proposed by Metcalf (1947), Lallemand (1963) and Nagai & Porion (1996) were based on a very small number of characters of the head, especially the presence/absence and shape of the cephalic process. The genus Birdantis is here transferred to the subfamily Aphaeninae, following the conclusions of the DNA study by Urban & Cryan (2009), which place the genus close to Desudaba Walker, 1858 . However, the latter study did not contain any species of the genera Polydictya, Gebenna or Desudaboides, which are putatively considered closely related to Birdantis based on morphological characters. Hence, an accurate tribal placement requires a complete study of the suprageneric relations between the genera of Aphaeninae with the inclusion of more Old World taxa in the molecular analysis and the integration of morphological data (Urban & Cryan 2009).

Species included

Birdantis bernhardi Lallemand, 1959 – New Guinea

Birdantis bhaskarai sp. nov. – Larat Island

Birdantis bloetei Lallemand, 1959 – New Guinea

Birdantis collaris (Walker, 1870) – Morotai Island

Birdantis decens Stål, 1863 – Aru Island

Birdantis delibuta Stål, 1863 – Ternate Island

Birdantis dorsinigra Lallemand, 1959 – New Guinea

Birdantis enyo Fennah, 1977 – New Guinea

Birdantis goemansi Constant, 2011 – Australia (N Queensland)

Birdantis hesperugo Fennah, 1977 – New Guinea

Birdantis lineatifrons (Schmidt, 1907) – New Guinea

Birdantis mouldsi Constant, 2011 – Australia (N Queensland)

Birdantis obscura (Distant, 1888) – New Guinea

Birdantis papuana (Distant, 1906) – New Guinea

Birdantis semihyalina (Distant, 1906) – New Guinea

Birdantis similis (Schmidt, 1911) – New Guinea

Birdantis trilineata (Schmidt, 1926) – Ambon, Boano, Buru and Seram Islands

Birdantis virginiae Constant, 2011 – Australia (N Queensland)

Identification key to the species of Birdantis of the Maluku Archipelago

1. Frons without longitudinal brown or black lines (Fig. 1D)............................................................2

– Frons with longitudinal brown or black lines (Fig. 6D)................................................................3

2. Abdomen mostly orange dorsally (Fig. 1A); bulge between vertex and frons pale yellow-brown (Fig. 1B) .................................................................................................. Birdantis bhaskarai sp. nov.

– Abdomen mostly black dorsally (Fig. 4A); bulge between vertex and frons black (Fig. 4C) ...... ...................................................................................................... Birdantis collaris (Walker, 1870)

3. Frons with five longitudinal black stripes, the three central ones merging into a transverse line along dorsal margin of frons (Fig. 5F); apical half of tegmina hyaline (Fig. 5A) ............................... .................................................................................................................. Birdantis decens Stål, 1863

– Frons with three longitudinal black stripes limited to about the ventral half of frons (Fig. 8D); apical half of tegmina infuscate (Fig. 8A) .........................................................................................4

4. Anterior margin of frons strongly roundly protruding in dorsal view, the visible portion of frons slightly longer than vertex in median line (Fig. 8B); median carina of pronotum acute (Fig. 8B); posterior wings with basal reddish brown marking (Fig. 8A) .... Birdantis trilineata (Schmidt, 1926)

– Anterior margin of frons convex in dorsal view, the visible portion of frons about ¾ as long as vertex in median line (Fig. 6C); median carina of pronotum slightly marked (Fig. 6C); posterior wings with basal red marking (Fig. 6A) ................................................ Birdantis delibuta Stål, 1863