Pycnoides, Sanborn, 2020

Sanborn, Allen F., 2020, Redescription of the cicada genus Pycna Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843 (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadinae: Platypleurini) with the formation of two new genera, one new species, one revised species status and twenty-four new combinations, Zootaxa 4722 (2), pp. 157-174 : 162-164

Pycnoides n. gen. Sanborn

( Figs. 1–3 )

TYPE SPECIES.— Cicada semiclara Germar, 1834: 82 (Cape of Good Hope ) .

SPECIES INCLUDED.— Pycnoides antinorii ( Lethierry, 1881) n. comb., Pycnoides baxteri ( Distant, 1914) n. comb., Pycnoides becarrii ( Lethierry, 1881) n. comb., Pycnoides dolosa ( Boulard, 1975a) n. comb., Pycnoides hecuba ( Distant, 1904b) n. comb., Pycnoides moniquae ( Boulard, 2012) n. comb., Pycnoides natalensis ( Distant, 1905b) n. comb., Pycnoides neavei ( Distant, 1912b) n. comb., Pycnoides passosdecarvalhoi ( Boulard, 1975b) n. comb., Pycnoides quanza ( Distant, 1899a) n. comb., Pycnoides semiclara ( Germar, 1834) n. comb., Pycnoides sylvia ( Distant, 1899b) n. comb., Pycnoides umbelinae ( Boulard, 1975b) n. comb., Pycnoides vitrea ( Schumacher, 1913) n. comb., Pycnoides vitticollis ( Jacobi, 1904) n. comb., and Pycnoides zambiaensis n. sp.

REMARKS.—Although Price et al. (2019) propose that a greater diversity of continental African species would be useful to verify the distinct lineages of the Madagascar and continental African species, they also state the ancestor of the Yanga + Pycna strix lineage was the only platypleurine to live in Madagascar and that the clade with P. semiclara n. comb. is unlikely to form a monophyletic group with the Madagascar clade. The differences outline here, particularly in the genitalia, support separate clades and genera for the two groups.

ETYMOLOGY.—The name is a combination of Pycn – for the previous genus of assignment and –oides (Gr. – eides, like, resembling) to reference the similar morphology of the genera. Use of the suffix –oides is to be treated as masculine under Article 30.1.4.4 of the Code (ICZN 1999) unless its author states that it has another gender or treated it as such by combining it with an adjective species-group name in another gender form. The genus is hereby designated to be feminine and the type species has a feminine ending meeting the requirements of the Code to treat the genus as feminine.

DESCRIPTION

Medium sized cicada (about 19–33 mm body length, 58–100 mm wing span). Head not as wide as mesonotum, head and postclypeus triangular, some species with apex flattened, eyes not as wide as anterior pronotal collar, vertex at area of ocelli shorter than frons, epicranial suture widened between lateral ocelli, lateral ocelli closer to each other than to eyes, higher than median ocellus in frontal view, lateral vertex narrower than eye, supra-antennal plate small reaching only one third of distance to eye meeting postclypeus at right angle, dorsal postclypeus as long or longer than dorsal vertex, postclypeus convex on ventral side, arching from supra-antennal plate to small indentation at terminal central sulcus when viewed from dorsal side, central sulcus on ventral surface widening in middle, rostrum length species specific, reaching from posterior coxae to abdominal sternite V in males and sternite VII in some females. Pronotum shorter than mesonotum, lateral angles of pronotal collar dilated with rounded apex not reaching the level of the internal angle of the basal cell when the fore wings are open, paranota with slightly curved anterior angles. Mesonotum covering dorsal metanotum, metanotum extends laterally beyond wing groove, cruciform elevation smoothly arched posteriorly. Fore femora with three spines, primary spine longest, either prostrate or close to femur, secondary spine intermediate in length, triangular, slightly angled, and triangular tertiary spine parallel to secondary spine, tarsi three-segmented. Male operculum completely encapsulating meracanthus, with smoothly curved lateral and posterior margins, domed lateral to meracanthus, extending from almost covering tympanal cavity to middle of sternite III in various species, medial margins may overlap, meet or be separated medially, meracanthus triangular curved mediad, extending to middle of operculum. Female operculum similarly shaped laterally but truncated medially, extending medially only to medial base of meracanthus, meracanthus of similar shape to male extending over anterior margin of female operculum. Fore wings and hind wing opaque at base, partially or completely hyaline distally, fore wings and hind wing with eight and six apical cells respectively, fore wings about 2.4–2.8X longer than broad. Fore wing costal margin dilated near base, expanded into shelf-like extension with a smooth curve at base, maximum width of expansion greater than maximum distance between costal vein and radius+subcostal vein, basal cell longer than broad, fore wing cubitus anterior straight at base, length of the fused median and cubitus anterior veins extending from arculus less than length of basal cell, radius anterior and radius posterior arise from opposite ends of the node, radial crossvein forming oblique angles to radius anterior 2 and radius posterior veins, mediocubital crossvein slightly arching or sinusoidal. Abdomen shorter than distance between apex of head and posterior of cruciform elevation, often densely pilose, lateral margins straight at base, abdomen begins narrowing posteriorly to genitalia at tergite 4. Timbal cover slightly globose laterally, completely covering timbal in some species, very small portion of dorsal timbal visible in some species, reaching metathorax anteriorly, timbal extending below wing base, tympana concealed by opercula. Male sternite VIII V-shaped when viewed from posterior with transverse posterior margin. Female sternite VII with curved lateroposterior margin and single V-shaped medial notch, notch continues as triangular extension beyond lateral posterior margin of sternite VII. Pygofer distal shoulder smoothly curved or pointed, dorsal beak broadly triangular, pygofer upper lobe absent, pygofer basal lobe well-developed extending half the length of pygofer, may be adpressed to pygofer or elevated above pygofer, lateral uncus lobes extended in an arch, apex along midline or slightly curved laterad, semicircular expansion near the terminus ( Fig. 1C ) that may fold under the aedeagus providing distal support to aedeagus ( Fig. 3F ), claspers absent, male aedeagus a simple tubular structure restrained by uncus near its base. Female abdominal segment 9 with dorsal beak, posterior margin semicircular, ovipositor sheath extends beyond anal styles.

MEASUREMENTS (MM).—Length of body: 19.0–33.0; length of fore wing: 25.7–45.4; width of fore wing: 9.0– 18.0; length of head: 3.6–5.2; width of head including eyes: 7.5–12.6; width of pronotum including suprahumeral plates: 10.0–17.5; width of mesonotum: 8.5–15.9.

DIAGNOSIS.—The species of Pycna can be quickly distinguished from species of Pycnoides n. gen. by their completely opaque hind wings and the species of Eopyncna n. gen. can be distinguished by the hyaline outer margins of the hind wings while species of Pycnoides n. gen. have hyaline apical cells and outer margins of the hind wings. Some specimens of E. coelestia ( Distant, 1904a) n. comb. have hyaline distal apical cells in the hind wing but apical cell 2 is also hyaline in these specimens but always colored proximally in species of Pycnoides n. gen. Species of Eopycna n. gen. also possess a transverse or smoothly arched anterior postclypeus barely extending anterior to the supra-antennal plates rather than the anterior extension of the postclypeus forming a more triangular head in species of Pycnoides n. gen. The costal vein and radius+subcostal vein are well separated in Pycna but adjacent in Pycnoides n. gen. The radial crossvein is perpendicular or nearly so to radius anterior 2 and radius posterior veins in Eopycna n. gen. but obliquely angled in Pycnoides n. gen. The mediocubital crossvein is smoothly curved in species of Pycna but straight in species of Pycnoides n. gen. Female sternite VII has a V-shaped notch with posterior extensions of either side beyond the lateral posterior margin in Pycnoides n. gen. but a U-shaped notch without posterior extensions in Pycna or a V-shaped or U-shaped notch without posterior extensions in Eopycna n. gen. The pygofer basal lobes are poorly developed in Pycna but are well developed and finger-like in Pycnoides n. gen. The lateral branches of the uncus are straight or slightly divergent with a semicircular expansion near the terminus in Pycnoides n. gen. but form flattened plate-like structures in Pycna and curve distally to surround the aedeagus in Eopycna n. gen. The aedeagus is restrained only near the base of the uncus in species of Pycna but may also be restrained near but proximal to the terminus, which remains above the aedeagus in Pycnoides n. gen. and surrounds the aedeagus near the terminus in Eopycna n. gen.

Boulard (1973) further distinguished the genus Pycna including the species of Pycnoides n. gen. from other African Platypleurine genera by the six apical cells of the hind wings, a head width about 2/3 the width of the mesonotum, an often hairy, stocky body, the paranota moderately developed with rounded or blunt apex not reaching the level of the internal angle of the basal cell when the fore wings are open, and a costal margin that is often dilated. The head is about as wide as the mesonotum, the anterior of the head and postclypeus is transverse, and the completely opaque fore wings and opaque distal hind wings distinguish Albanycada Villet, 1989 and Capcicada Villet, 1989 from Pycnoides n. gen. Hyaline wings distinguish the species of Karscheliana Boulard, 1990 from species of Pycnoides n. gen. The hyaline wings and large, pointed lateral extensions of the pronotum quickly distinguish the species of Strumoseura Villet, 1999 . The swollen postclypeus extending well anterior of the supra-antennal plates, the elongated body with the abdomen being as long as the distance between the anterior postclypeus and posterior cruciform elevation in the male and longer than the distance in the female, the narrow paranota, the narrow and completely opaque hind wings distinguish the species of Canualna Boulard, 1985a . Finally, the species of Sechellalna Boulard, 2010 can be distinguished by the head being a little wider than the mesonotum, the abdomen being longer than the distance between the apex of the head and the posterior cruciform elevation, the fore wings being completely opaque and the hind wings being opaque to the hind wing margin in this species.

DISTRIBUTION.—The species of the genus Pycnoides n. gen. have been reported from continental Africa expanding from southern Africa through central and eastern Africa with records from Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia, Somaliland, South Africa, Tanganyika, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zaire ( Metcalf 1963; Duffels and van der Laan 1986; Sanborn 2013). The new species described here is the first record for Zambia.

Figures

FIG. 1. Comparison of Pycna Amyot & Audinet-Serville, 1843, Pycnoides n. gen. and Eopycna n. gen. morphology.A, Habitus comparison of the three genera that once comprised Pycna. Pycna madagascarensis (Distant, 1879) (top middle), Pycnoides semiclara (Germar, 1834) n. comb. (lower left), and Eopycna repanda (Linnaeus, 1758) n. comb. (lower right); B, Pycna madagascarensis dorsum. Scale bar = 5 mm. 3, Pycnoides semiclara n. comb. dorsum. Scale bar = 5 mm. D, Eopycna repanda n. comb. dorsum. Scale bar: A, 2 cm; B—D, 5 mm.

FIG. 2. Comparison of Pycna, Pycnoides n. gen., and Eopycna n. gen. male genitalia and timbal covers.A, male posterolateral view of genitalia of Pycna madagascarensis, note the large lateral uncus lobes; B, posterior view of Pycna madagascarensis male genitalia; C, Pycna madagascarensis timbal cover; D, male posterolateral view of genitalia of Pycnoides semiclara n. comb., note the enlargement near the distal lateral uncus lobes and large basal pygofer lobe; E, posterior view of Pycnoides semiclara n. comb. male genitalia; F, Pycnoides semiclara n. comb. timbal cover; G, male posterolateral view of genitalia of Eopycna repanda n. comb., note the lateral uncus lobes surround the aedeagus near the distal terminus; H, posterior view of Eopycna repanda n. comb. male genitalia; I, Eopycna repanda n. comb. timbal cover. Scale bar: A—I, 2 mm

FIG. 3. Pycnoides zambiaensis n. sp.: A, holotype male habitus; B, holotype male dorsum; C, holotype male timbal; D, paratype male operculum; E, paratype male lateral view of genitalia; F, paratype male posterior view of genitalia. Scale bar: A, 2 cm; B, 5 mm; C—F, 2 mm.