Nlunga Dworakowska, 1974

Cao, Yanghui, Dmitriev, Dmitry A., Dietrich, Christopher H. & Zhang, Yalin, 2020, Review of the leafhopper genus Thaia Ghauri and related genera (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae: Erythroneurini), Zootaxa 4868 (3), pp. 331-367 : 332-333

Nlunga Dworakowska, 1974 stat. n.

Nlunga Dworakowska, 1974: 191

Thaia (Nlunga) Dworakowska, 1976: 50

Type species: Nlunga reeneni Dworakowska, 1974 , by original designation

Description. Body robust, ground color testaceous to yellow testaceous. Head slightly narrower than pronotum, crown fore margin subparallel to hind margin, coronal suture indistinct or distinct basally. Ocelli rudimentary. Face convex in profile, anteclypeus relatively long, oval, lorum large. Pronotum and basal part of forewing with numerous conspicuous cavities. Forewing with first and third apical cell widest, fourth apical cell not reached apex of wing, shorter than third apical cell. Hind wing venation usual for Erythroneurini, RA vein absent.

Male abdominal apodemes 2S very small, only slightly surpassing fore margin of sternite III. Anal tube sclerotized, with slender but solid appendages at distal half, appendages short to long, straight or nearly straight.

Pygofer lobe well sclerotized and pigmented at basal half, distal lobe membranous, angulately produced apically, boundary between basal and distal lobes very clear, setosity rudimentary or poorly developed; dorsal appendage absent; ventral appendage slim, directed caudad, fused to pygofer lobe, extended from the lower distal angle of basal sclerotized lobe. Subgenital plate surpassing hind margin of pygofer lobe, wide basally and narrowing towards apex, distal disc somewhat expanded on vertical level; with row of 3–9 macrosetae near outer margin and row of rigid setae along lateral margin from subbase to apex. Style with apical part short and narrowing towards apex, preapical lobe greatly expanded, nearly triangular. Connective lamellate, manubrium broad, central lobe well developed, with or without central ridge of manubrium. Aedeagal shaft tubular with papillose apex, curved dorsad, without process; dorsal apodeme rudimentary to developed; preatrium narrow in lateral view, developed vertically, provided with single solid process far from shaft; gonopore terminal.

Remarks. This genus was established by Dworakowska (1974) and thereafter treated as a subgenus of Thaia Ghauri by herself ( Dworakowska, 1976). It contained 15 species previously, distributed in the Afrotropical and Oriental regions. However, we found that the Afrotropical species and three species from South Asia are remarkably different from the other Oriental species in pronotum texture, the pygofer ventral appendage and the aedeagus. Therefore, we exclude most of the Oriental species and retain only the species with pits on the pronotum in this genus. The new list of species can be subdivided into the African group ( N. parareeneni sp. nov., N. reeneni and N. theroni ) and the Oriental group ( N. drutoidea , N. indica and N. lankaensis ). All the African species have a widened atrium of the aedeagus and developed lamellae on sides. Besides, they have a shorter anal tube appendage, less expanded preapical lobe of the style, and thicker, shorter preatrial process compared to the Oriental group.

Distribution. Republic of Congo; India; Sri Lanka.

Diagnosis. This genus resembles Thaia (Thaia) Ghauri in body shape, wing venation and style shape, and in having well-developed anal tube and pygofer ventral appendages but lacking the pygofer dorsal appendage. Nlunga differs in having the pronotum with numerous pits, the anal tube appendage on the distal half, the pygofer lobe sclerotized only in the basal half, the pygofer ventral appendage slim and extended from the middle lower margin of the lobe, and the aedeagal shaft shorter.