Kybos auricillatus Dlabola, 1963

Tishechkin, Dmitri Yu., 2024, Leafhoppers of the genus Kybos Fieber, 1866 (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Typhlocybinae: Empoascini) in Kyrgyzstan, Zootaxa 5496 (1), pp. 89-100 : 95

Kybos auricillatus Dlabola, 1963

Figs 10, 34–35, 44–45, 55, 61

Kybos auricillata Dlabola, 1963: 382

Empoasca (Kybos) auricillata Dworakowska, 1976: 427

Description. Green with lighter and darker spots in fore part of body. Forewings smoky hyaline in apical parts, veins of hindwings and dorsal side of abdomen dark ( Fig. 10).

Dorsal apodemes very short, look like wide transverse sclerotized band at base of abdomen ( Fig. 34). Ventral apodemes about 1.6 times as long as wide at base, parallel-sided, touching with inner margins ( Fig. 35). Aedeagus without lateral processes, relatively narrow, with narrowly rounded apex in lateral view and with collar-like expansion at base, distinctly visible in back view (Figs 44–45). Style with numerous long setae and serrated falcate apical part, as in other members of genus. Pygofer appendages narrow (Fig. 55). Anal collar appendages wide, with sharply narrowed, extended apices (Fig. 61).

Host. Betula tianschanica (= B. turkestanica ).

Calling signal. Signals of one male from Kyrgyzsyan (the shore of the Sary-Chelek Lake , Chatkal Range, West Tien Shan, 1880 m a. s. l., on Betula tianschanica , 26. VII. 2008) were investigated .

Calling signal distinctly differs from signals of three previous species and is a phrase lasting for about 4 s and consisting of two parts with different waveshape. The first part is a succession of partially merging pulses, in the second part the pulses are completely indistinguishable. Unfortunately, due to the low quality of the recordings, we do not have oscillograms suitable for publication.

Distribution. Apparently, West Tien Shan within Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. Was described based on a small series of specimens from the environs of Arslanbob (= Arstanbap), Fergana Range, West Tien Shan, 2000 m a. s. l. ( Dlabola, 1963; Dubovskiy, 1966). Later, we found it at the same altitudes on Chatkal Range about 100 km northwest from the type locality.

Remarks. Despite collecting leafhoppers on birches in different regions of Kyrgyzstan for many years, we found K. auricillatus only once.

Collar-like expansion at the base of the aedeagus stem gives the appearance of a tooth-like appendage in lateral view (Fig. 44). Apparently, for this reason, in the original description ( Dlabola, 1963: 383, fig. 5) two partially separated upward-pointing processes at the aedeagus base are shown.

In Dlabola (1963), Dubovskiy (1966), and Dworakowska (1976) this species is mentioned as K. auricillata or E. (K.) auricillata . However, the grammatical gender of the generic name is masculine, so the species name must be changed to “ auricillatus ” ( Dmitriev et al., 2022 onward).