Microsargane

Andrew Hamilton, K. G., 2016, Neotropical spittlebugs related to Neaenini (Hemiptera, Cercopidae) and the origins of subfamily Cercopinae, Zootaxa 4169 (2), pp. 201-250 : 214

Microsargane (s.s.) splendida sp.nov.

Etymology. splendida (adj.), shiny.

Diagnosis. Boldly patterned, with an unusually broad head.

Description. Head as wide as pronotum, crown as long as midline of pronotum. Face and dorsum shiny black; tegmina rather short, blackish brown with bold, white patches covering clavi and adjacent corium, transversely truncate on posterior margin; tegminal tips with red line connecting pale costal markings. Male as in M. apicata , but aedeagal processes more broadly spreading, tip furcating at right angles, inner branch straight and spinelike, outer branch weakly curved and parallel-margined. Length: male and female 7.2 mm.

Type. Holotype female, PANAMA: Cerro Campana , 18 July 1976 (W.E. Clark); in NMNH . Paratype male, COLOMBIA: Valle del Cauca, Bajo Anchicaya 400m, 23 Mar. 1984 (M. Suarez T.), in NCSU .

Remarks. A second (non-type) female with the same collection data as holotype is slightly larger (7.7 mm) and lacks the bold white area on the tegmina. It may be a melanic form of the same species. However, the paratype male was taken at the same time and place as a paratype of the morphologically similar but very differently patterned M. apicata , suggesting that color plays an important speciation role in this genus.