Paurocephala Crawford

Mifsud, D. & Burckhardt, D., 2002, Taxonomy and phylogeny of the Old World jumping plant-louse genus Paurocephala (Insecta, Hemiptera, Psylloidea), Journal of Natural History 36 (16), pp. 1887-1986 : 1931-1932

Paurocephala Crawford

Paurocephala Crawford, 1914: 293 ; Hodkinson, 1983: 355; Hodkinson, 1986: 320. Type species: Paurocephala psylloptera Crawford, 1914 , by original designation.

Subgenus Thoracocorna Klimaszewski, 1970: 427 . Type species: P. chonchaiensis Boselli, 1929 , by original designation; synonymized with Paurocephala by Loginova, 1972: 842.

Description

Adult. Head down-curved, without genal processes; frons small to moderately sized trapezoidal. Antenna 8–10 segmented, shorter to longer than head width; with each a subapical rhinarium on segments 3, 4, 6 and 7, or 3, 5, 7 and 8, or 4, 6, 8 and 9. Thorax moderately curved dorsally, pronotum relatively long; metascutellum forming a horn-shaped structure. Forewing membrane transparent, often covered by surface spinules, rarely with pattern, pterostigma developed. Metacoxa with short to long meracanthus, straight or curved ventrally (gure 4I, J). Metatibia short to moderately long, without basal spine, weakly widening apically, bearing an incomplete crown of six to eight weakly sclerotized light apical spurs (gure 4F–H). Metabasitarsus without black spurs. Male proctiger simple, tubular, often with distinct lateral plates posteriorly. Male paramere lamellar, often with stout or peg-like setae on inner face. Distal portion of aedeagus relatively short with rounded apical dilatation. Female gentalia cuneate sometimes up-turned apically (gure 3A, B).

Fifth instar larva. Antenna 3-segmented, agellum often indistinctly subdivided, rarely 5- or 9-segmented; rhinaria formula 3333 (when 3-segmented). Tarsal arolium relatively short triangular to fan-shaped, basally expanded, petiolate with developed unguitractor (gure 4K–N). Sectasetae present on head, antenna, dorsal sclerites and wing pads. Anus ventral or terminal, circumanal ring simple, sometimes expanded laterally. Additional pore elds lacking.

Comments. The genus is most diverse (42 spp.) in the Indo-Australian region with a relatively small (nine spp.) Afrotropical component. Host records include Malvales ( Malvaceae , Sterculiaceae ) and Urticales ( Moraceae , Urticaceae , Ulmaceae ), with a single species on Theales ( Clusiaceae ). Two Afrotropical species currently included in Paurocephala ( bicarinata Pettey and hottentotti Pettey ) are excluded here and will be transferred to the Diaphorininae (D. Burckhardt and D. Hollis, personal communication). The four New World Paurocephala spp. and the Asian P. grewiae Kandasamy will be transferred to Diclidophlebia Crawford (Burckhardt and Mifsud, in preparation).