Haplaxius fornicus Bahder & Bartlett, 2023

Bahder, Brian W., Myrie, Wayne, Helmick, Ericka E. & Bartlett, Charles R., 2023, A new species of planthopper in the genus Haplaxius (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea Cixiidae) from disturbed submontane rainforest in Jamaica, Zootaxa 5230 (2), pp. 225-237 : 230-234

Haplaxius fornicus Bahder & Bartlett sp. n.

( Figures 3–10 )

Type locality. Castleton Botanic Garden (18.170892, -76.823239), Saint Mary Parish, Jamaica ( Fig. 1 ).

Diagnosis. Strongly sexually dimorphic; males pale yellow with fuscous wash over dorsal surface, forewings clear. females heavily infuscate over entire body, forwings mostly infuscate. Aedeagus with two large, serrated flanges near apex connecting to flagellum and a row of small spines on right-ventral margin.

Description. Color. Body generally pale gray-yellow, head of uniform coloration (ocellus red), face unmarked. Males pale yellow on dorsum (dorsally washed with fuscous posterior to mesonotum, slightly paler between lateral carinae of mesonotum), ivory white on venter; disc of pronotum with irregular nearly black marking; wings mostly clear, tinged with fuscous in distal third past nodal line; crossveins tinged fuscous, a strong spot at im-crossvein, additional markings tracing Sc vein, at apex of pterostigma, at the apices of marginal cells and on the marginal vein of the clavus (A 2) proximad of composite Pcu+A 1 vein reaching wing margin. Females with same base color and pattern as males, except more strongly infuscate over entire body including venter and wings ( Fig. 3 ).

Structure. Body length (including wings), males: 4.32 mm (n = 1), females 5.05–5.06 mm (n = 3). Body weakly compressed.

Head. Head in dorsal view narrower than pronotum; in lateral view, evenly rounded from back of head to frontoclypeal suture, head weakly projected in front of eyes ( Fig. 4A ). In dorsal view ( Fig. 4B ), vertex nearly parallel-sided, widest at posterior margin, narrowing slightly to anterior margin; posterior margin slightly concave, anterior margin truncate at fastigium, transverse carinae present at fastigium; vertex approximately twice as long as wide (at posterior margin). In frontal view ( Fig. 4C ), face (frons plus clypeus) rhomboid, frons narrowest at dorsal margin, expanding ventrad to about lower level of antennae before constricting to frontoclypeal suture, median carina evident, reaching transverse suture at fastigium, median ocellus obsolete; frontoclypeus straight, clypeus inverse triangular.

Thorax. Pronotum narrow in dorsal view, convex on anterior margin, concave on posterior margin, median carina complete, lateral (postocular) carinae evident, terminating at ventrolateral apex ( Fig. 4B ). Mesonotum longer at midline than vertex plus pronotum, tricarinate, lateral carinae subparallel, weakly diverging posteriorly ( Fig. 4B ).

Forewing elongate oval, weakly expanding distad, apex rounded; apex of clavus just beyond midlength, fork of MP from ScP+R in proximal quarter of wing, fusion of Pcu+A 1 distad of branching of MP near midlength of clavus, branching of RP from ScP+RA (forming cell C1) and branching of CuA (forming cell C5) at same level, preceding apex of clavus. Vein branching pattern RA unbranched, RP 3-branched, MP 5-branched and CuA 2-branched ( Fig. 5 ). Hindwing with I-type connection between MP and CuA veins ( Fig. 6 ).

Spinulation of hind tibiae and tarsomeres is 6-7-8.

Terminalia. Pygofer irregular in lateral view, concavely sinuate on anterior margin, convexly sinuate on posterior margin, widest near midlength, narrowest at dorsal and ventral margins ( Fig. 7A ). In ventral view, medioventral process elongate, approximately 3X long as wide at base; weakly oblaceolate, apex rounded, slightly constricted below midlength, bearing a ventral median ridge ( Fig. 7B ). Gonostyli in lateral view “scoop-like”, dorsal and ventral margins irregularly sinuate, narrowest at base, expanding distad to midlength, then dorsally expanded to seimquadrate region on dorsal margin before apex, ventral marginconvex ( Fig. 7A ). In ventral view, “paddle-like”, elongate, narrowest at base, curved lateral, strongly sinuate on outer and inner margins, sub-quadrate at apex, widest supapically ( Fig. 7B ). Aedeagus tubular, in lateral view shaft upcurved, with midventral row of teeth and large diagonally oriented serrated flange on ventral margin (A1, Figs 8 and 9 ), a second (A2) large serrate flange on right side; A1 arising subapically on ventral margin, left side, curving diagonally distad to base of endosoma; A2 arising on right lateral side extending distally to base of endosoma, endosoma comprised of an elongate tubular membranous tube and three sclerotized processes (F1, F2, and F3), endosoma with dorsal longitudinal concavity; F1 and F2 arising near dorsal of endosomal base, F1 angled to left lateral side, slightly sinuate; F2 angled to right lateral side, approximately twice as long and more slender than F1; F3 similar in length and shape to F1, arising on left lateral side of flagellum at midpoint in basal half ( Figs 8 and 9 ). Anal tube in lateral view relatively short and stout with broad, downcurved apex; dorsal and ventral margins subparallel nearly to paraproct, apex broad, curved ventrad, to broadly rounded apex; bearing subtriangular process near midpoint on inner ventral margin, in ventral view, asymmetrical, left lateral side with protrusion on anterior margin ( Fig. 7C ); paraproct short and conical.

Plant associations. Unidentified palms ( Arecaceae ) and and unidentified monocot ( Fig. 1 ).

Distribution. Jamaica (Saint Mary Parish).

Etymology. The specific name refers to the serrated flanges that resemble the head of Fornicus, a villain in the film “Cabin in the Woods”. The name is intended to be indeclinable.

Material examined. Holotype male “ Jamaica, Saint Mary Parish / Castleton Botanic Garden / 16. II.2022 / Sweeping vegetation / Coll.: B.W.Bahder // Holotype / Haplaxius fornicus ♁” ( FLREC) ; Paratypes, Castleton Botanic Garden [16. II.2022] (1 female — FSCA, 2 females — FLREC). Genitalia of female paratype presented in Figure 10 .

Sequence data. For the COI gene, a 548 bp sequence was generated (GenBank Accession No. OP160200 ), for 18S a 1,360 bp sequence was generated (GenBank Accession No. OP158203 ), and for H3 a 321 bp sequence was generated (GenBank Accession No. OP179300 ). Based on independent analyses for each locus, Haplaxius fornicus sp. n. resolved within Haplaxius for all three genes. For COI there is weak bootstrap support (11 to 58) for all branches except for the closely related taxa ( H. pocococo / H. dougwalshi , H. crudus / H. lunatus , and M. delta / M. hernandezi ). While phylogenetic relationships were stronger based on H3, bootstrap support is still generally weak (<80), except for Haplaxius as a genus (87 bootstrap support), M. delta / M. hernandezi (90), and O. borealis / O. dormido (85). The strongest bootstrap support (94) observed for placement of Haplaxius fornicus sp. n. in Haplaxius was for the 18S locus ( Fig. 11 ). The consensus tree generated from all three loci (concatenated) also shows strong support (94) for placement of Haplaxius fornicus sp. n. in Haplaxius .

Remarks. Morphological characters and molecular data support the placement of Haplaxius fornicus sp. n. in Haplaxius . Among Haplaxius known from Jamaica (currently H. jamaicae and H. crudus ), H. fornicus sp. n. differs in general coloration (the fuscous wash of H. fornicus sp. n. males is absent in both H. jamaicae and H. crudus adult males), and the shape of the male terminalia (anal tube downcurved to broad apex in H. fornicus sp. n. not downcurved in H. jamaicae and H. crudus ; the aedeagus of H. fornicus sp. n. bear two large serrate flanges, absent in both H. jamaicae and H. crudus ; and the elongate shape of the midventral process of the pygofer). In the key to Mexican and Neotropical species presented by Kramer (1979: 352), H. fornicus sp. n. keys in the first couplet as having a ventral lobelike extension on the anal tube in the first couplet, and aedeagus bearing three processes in the second couplet which leads to a choice between H. jamaicae and H. meadi Kramer (presumed Mexican, but taken with banana cargo in Philadelphia). Haplaxius fornicus sp. n. differs from both of these species by the fuscous coloration, the downcurved anal tube, and the presence of the serrate flanges on the aedeagus.

While the lack of a diamond-shaped C5 cell and open C5’ cell observed in the novel taxon is somewhat unique in the Oecleini , the general form of these cells is similar to other species of Haplaxius recently discovered in the Neotropics ( H. pocococo , H. dougwalshi , H. cotinga ). Converesly, recently examined species in Oecleus ( O. domido , O. mackaspringi ) and Myxia appear to possess the characters of the C5 cell outlined by Le Cesne et al. (2021). Recently, the monophyly of the Oecleini has been called into question and the discrepancy in wing patterns observed may further indicate that the tribe as a taxon needs to be reassessed as new species are discovered and compared to previously described taxa.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Haplaxius species of Jamaica; (A) habitus Haplaxius crudus (male); (B) habitus Haplaxius jamaicae (male); (C) left lateral view of aedeagus for H. crudus and (D) H. jamaicae; scale = 1 mm”

FIGURE 3. Adult habitus of Haplaxius fornicus sp. n.; (A) male lateral view, (B) male dorsal view, (C) female lateral view and (D) female dorsal view; scale = 1 mm.

FIGURE 4. Adult male Haplaxius fornicus sp. n.; (A) head, pronotum and mesonotum lateral view, (B) head, pronotum, and mesonotum dorsal view, and (C) head and pronotum frontal view; scale = 1 mm.

FIGURE 5. Forewing venation of Haplaxius fornicus sp. n.; black = vein, italics = crossvein, green = cell (interpretation following Bourgoin et al. 2015).

FIGURE 6. Hindwing venation of Haplaxius fornicus sp. n. displaying I-type connection between MP and CuA veins.

FIGURE 7. Male Haplaxius fornicus sp. n. terminalia; (A) lateral view, (B) ventral view, and (C) dorsal view.

FIGURE8.AedeagusofHaplaxiusfornicussp.n.;(A)rightlateralview,(B)leftlateralview,(C)ventralview,and(D)dorsalview.

FIGURE 9. Aedeagus line-art for Haplaxius fornicus sp. n.; (A) right lateral view, (B) left lateral view, (C) ventral view, and (D) dorsal view.

FIGURE 10. Female genitalia of Haplaxius fornicus sp. n.; (A) right lateral view, (B) dorsal view and (C) ventral.

FIGURE 11. Maximum likelihood phylogenetic tree based on 1,000 replicates; (A) COI gene, (B) 18S rRNA gene, (C) H3 gene, and (D) consensus tree of concatenated COI, 18S, and H3 sequences; scale bar = percent nucleotide difference.