Cicadettana, Marshall & Hill, 2017

Marshall, David C. & Hill, Kathy B. R., 2017, A new genus for North American Cicadetta species (Hemiptera: Cicadidae), Zootaxa 4306 (4), pp. 537-550 : 543-547

Genus Cicadettana gen. n.

Type species: Cicada calliope Walker, 1850: 212 .

Included species: calliope calliope ( Walker 1850:212) comb n., calliope floridensis ( Davis 1920:131) comb. n., camerona ( Davis 1920:134) comb. n., kansa ( Davis 1919:340) comb. n., ramosi ( Sanborn 2009:1) comb. n., texana ( Davis 1936:105) comb. n.

Etymology. The stem " Cicadetta " followed by the letters "n" and "a" referring to North America. Gender feminine.

Zoobank LSID: urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:A8B153EA-D5AD-4D58-BA52-D597F0FDAAFC

Distribution. The eastern and central USA, and Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles ( Sanborn 2009; Sanborn & Phillips 2013). USA records extend to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains but exclude New England, the northern Great Lakes region, and the northern Great Plains. Cicadettana camerona has a restricted distribution in southern Texas but may extend into Mexico.

Diagnosis (see also Figs. 2 , 3 ). Small cicadas (ca. 12–20 mm length, excluding wings) with narrow to moderate-width bodies and primarily brown and/or green color with only limited black marks.

Head including eyes as wide as mesonotum or narrower; supra-antennal plate nearly meeting eye; postclypeus broadly rounded transversely across ventral midline (dorsal view), in lateral profile angular at most anterior part. Thorax: pronotum in dorsal view parallel-sided or widening towards posterior; pronotal collar width at midline less than diameter of eyes; paranota confluent with adjoining pronotal sclerites (sometimes subtle ampliation in calliope calliope ), no mid lateral tooth; cruciform elevation wider than long; epimeral lobe not reaching operculum. Fore Wings hyaline, with 8 apical cells (rarely 7); subapical cells absent; ulnar cell 3 angled to radial cell; apical cell 8 (or 7 if only seven apical cells) with its maximum height at least 1/2 of its width along the ambient vein; basal cell longer than wide, narrowing distally; costal vein not clearly higher than R+Sc; costa parallel-sided to node or gently widening; costa of male gently and evenly curved; pterostigma absent to partial (incomplete distally); vein CuA bowed so that cubital cell wider than medial cell; veins M and CuA meeting basal cell with their stems completely fused as one; vein RA1 aligned closely with Sc for its length and not diverging in subapical region; vein CuA1 divided by crossvein m-cu so that proximal portion shortest; veins CuP and 1A fused in part; distance between cross veins r and r-m most often about equal to distance between r-m and m (rarely less than); apical cells 3–6 about equal to or longer than ulnar cells; radial cell length somewhat less than from its apex to wing tip; wing outer margin developed for its total length, never reduced to be confluent with ambient vein. Hind wings with 5–6 apical cells (most commonly six in calliope ); no infuscation on ambient vein; width of 1 st cubital cell at distal end at least twice that of 2nd cubital cell; anal lobe broad with vein 3A curved, long, separated from wing margin; veins RP and M fixed basally. Fore leg usually with four femoral spines, three well-developed; femoral primary spine erect. Male opercula of variable length across species, only sometimes reaching margin of tympanal cavity or beyond, apically broadly rounded, not meeting along medial margins, raised above level of tympanal cavity on their outer halves or so (less so in camerona ). Male abdomen as wide as or a little wider than thorax; tergites in cross-section with sides straight or weakly convex; epipleurites reflexed ventrally from junction with tergites; tergite 1 narrow along dorsal midline; tergite 2 sometimes wider than tergites 3–7 (but not in calliope ); sternites somewhat swollen so as to be visible in lateral view; sternites III–VI in cross-section convex, gently and evenly rounded; sternite VIII about as long as sternite VII (but sternite VIII much longer in camerona ). Timbals with two long ribs spanning the full height of the timbal and two shorter ribs, with no intermediate ribs; basal dome large; anterior part of timbal mostly occupied by ribs; timbals rarely extending slightly below wing bases; timbal covers absent.

Male genitalia. Pygofer in ventral view ovoid to sub ovoid in shape, distal portion of upper pygofer lobes not the widest point, not strongly tapered from upper pygofer lobes to base; distal shoulders not developed; upper lobes flat, moderately developed, set well away from dorsal beak, rounded; basal lobes undivided, moderately to weakly developed, rounded in lateral view, abutted against or partly tucked behind pygofer margin; dorsal beak present as a developed apical spine or pointed apex (visible in dorsal view) and a part of chitinized pygofer, more weakly present in texana and camerona . Uncus small, short, flattened, more or less duck-bill shaped. Claspers well developed, large, dominant, restraining aedeagus; claw-like with cavity lateroventrally, unfused, lacking a rounded, inward-facing swelling on proximal half or so of inner margin, diverging towards distal ends (parallel in texana and camerona ), their apices not forming the widest dimension of the claspers. Aedeagus with basal plate in lateral view undulated, weakly depressed on dorsal midline, in dorsal view as long as or longer than broad, apically broadened with 'ears', basal portion of basal plate directed forwards away from thecal shaft; junction between theca and basal plate with a functional 'hinge' with a partly chitinous back; thecal shaft nearly straight; pseudoparameres present, dorsal of theca and originating distal of thecal base, in dorsal view parallel or turning in then gradually diverging, in lateral view aligned with thecal shaft for much of their length with proximal half or so in line with ventral support; endotheca exposed, soft, entirely fleshy; endothecal ventral support present, of medium length (no more than about half the length of pseudoparameres); thecal subapical cerci absent; flabellum absent; conjunctival claws absent; vesical opening apical on theca. Male reproductive system unknown.

Female dorsal beak with a developed apical spine or pointed apex (visible in dorsal view). Female reproductive system unknown.

Distinguishing features. Cicadettana species possess the following attributes that place them within the subfamily Cicadettinae , tribe Cicadettini , following Moulds (2005): Pygofer with large ventral claspers dominating the 10th abdominal segment; pygofer upper lobe flat; aedeagus with paired pseudoparameres; timbals not much extending below wing bases.

The initial comparison of the six Cicadettana taxa to the type species of Cicadetta ( C. montana ) yielded several differences in generic-level characters, confirming the distant phylogenetic relationship indicated by the molecular data. Unlike the Cicadettana species, Cicadetta montana possesses the following distinguishing attributes: fore wing veins M and Cu with stems meeting at basal cell but commonly not fused (but sometimes briefly fused as in C. brevipennis , see Fig. 8 in Hertach et al. 2016); hind wing with infuscation at the distal end of vein 2A; claspers with their apices widely separated and clearly forming the widest dimension of the claspers; pseudoparameres much longer than theca; and thecal ventral support absent (see Moulds 2005 and Fig. 128 in Moulds 2012).

Compared to the remaining Cicadettini genera studied here, Cicadettana is distinguishable by the following combination of characters: (1) paranota confluent with adjoining pronotal sclerites (sometimes subtle ampliation in calliope calliope ), with no mid-lateral tooth; (2) fore wing radial cell length somewhat less than the distance from its apex to wing tip; (3) timbals with two long ribs spanning the full height of the timbal, usually with two shorter ribs and no intervening ribs; (4) male sternites somewhat swollen so that each is visible in lateral profile (not scored for ramosi ); (5) male sternite VIII about as long as sternite VII (except camerona ); and (6) claspers curved (in lateral view) and claw-like with cavity lateroventrally (more fang-like in camerona but still curved). This combination of characters is sufficient to distinguish Cicadettana from all described Cicadettini genera possessing a trifid aedeagus. To these, however, can be added the following additional external characters examined for the most closely related genera (the R2 clade of Marshall et al. 2016): (7) body color brown and/or green with limited black marks dorsally (as opposed to a dominant black background color in many other genera); (8) wings hyaline with pterostigma absent to partial (sometimes almost complete in texana and kansa ); (9) fore wing apical cell 8 (or 7 if only seven apical cells) with its maximum height at least 1/2 of its width along the ambient vein (but not in ramosi ); (10) male sternites III–VI in cross-section convex and evenly rounded (not scored for ramosi ).

Cicadettana is similar to Philipsalta ( Lee et al. 2016) , a closely related genus in the molecular tree of Marshall et al. (2016). However, Philipsalta differs from Cicadettana in having (1) a black body color dorsally, (2) fore wing apical cell 8 (or 7 if only seven) longer than wide, (4) male sternites III–VI sharply convex forming a parabolically bowed V shape; (5) fang-like claspers that are angled at nearly 90 degrees. ( Cicadettana camerona has somewhat fang-like claspers but they are not sharply angled.) Tettigettalna , a European genus closely related to Cicadettana in the molecular tree, is also similar but can be distinguished by a slightly to substantially ampliate paranotal margin (sometimes with a mid lateral tooth) and three long ribs on the timbal (see also Puissant & Sueur 2010), in addition to its usually black dorsal background color, while Cicadettana specimens have at most weak paranotal expansion and four timbal ribs (one C. kansa had a tiny fifth rib). Huechys is easily distinguished from Cicadettana by its fully colored wings, its fore wing radial cell which is only about half as long as the distance from its apex to the wing tip, and by its long, curving, beak-like tubular claspers on the pygofer. Arcystasia is easily distinguished by its complex and apically reticulated wing venation ( Distant 1882) in addition to other characters. Some Australian genera related to Cicadettana are superficially similar morphologically (e.g., Chelapsalta and Simona – Ewart et al. 2015), but all can be distinguished with the characters shown in Table 3. Considering the matrix as a whole, the most important characters are the paranota, the timbal rib number, the dorsal body color, and the shape of the claspers on the pygofer, which in combination most consistently distinguish the Cicadettana species, and which were scored for all species in the study.

Figures

FIGURE 2. Cicadettana calliope calliope (Walker) gen. n., comb. n. male (above) and female (below) specimens collected on 14 June 2007 in Cass Co., Illinois, E. of Chandlerville (Lat. 40.0467, Lon. - 90.1084, WGS 84). Scale bars = 4 mm.

FIGURE 3. Cicadettana calliope calliope (Walker) gen. n., comb. n. Upper left, male pygofer in lateral view. Upper right, same image labelled and with dotted lines emphasizing margins of key features including one clasper, both pseudoparameres, upper margin of one upper pygofer lobe, upper margin of one basal pygofer lobe, and thecal ventral support. The endotheca is obscured but lies between the ventral support and the pseudoparameres and does not extend beyond the claspers. Lower left, pygofer in ventral view, labelled; thecal structures are not in focus. Lower right, male timbal. BL = basal pygofer lobe, CL = clasper, DB = dorsal beak, PS = pseudoparameres, UL = upper pygofer lobe, UN = uncus (median lobe), VS = ventral support. Scale bars = 0.5 mm. Specimen is G 133 genitalia prep. from US. KS. GYP site (see Table 1).