Salaziella Bolotov & Spitsyn, 2021

Bolotov, Ivan N., Kolosova, Yulia S., Chapurina, Yulia E., Spitsyna, Elizaveta A. & Spitsyn, Vitaly M., 2021, A new genus and species of planthopper from Seychelles endemic palm forest (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Derbidae), Journal of Natural History 55 (19 - 20), pp. 1311-1321 : 1312

Genus Salaziella Bolotov & Spitsyn gen. nov.

LSID. http://zoobank.org/ urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act:8ACB5F4C-A202-4507-89CD-47E26D17B9EF

Type species. Salaziella praslinensis Bolotov & Spitsyn gen. & sp. nov.

Etymology. The name of this genus is derived from the Salazie Nature Trail, a narrow path through various landscape patches on Praslin, Seychelles, where the type series of Salaziella praslinensis was collected. The gender is feminine.

Diagnosis. The new genus could be distinguished other Zoraidini based on a combination of the following characters: head narrower than pronotum; vertex two times as long as broad, tapering anteriorly, with large V-shaped impression dorsally, anterior margin rounded; frons with gradually widening lateral carinae in the upper part; tegmen with ScP + R three-furcate basally (short ScP + RA1 arising at the middle of the tegmen and elongate RA2 without furcation), media posterior vein with eight branches (MP1 four-furcate, MP2 bifurcate, MP3 and MP4 simple), CuA three-furcate (CuA and MP3 + 4 fused basally). The new genus is habitually similar to Zorabana Van Stalle, 1984 and Helcita Stal, 1856 [= Jada Distant, 1906 ] by having a head narrower than pronotum and frons with gradually widening lateral carinae in the upper part. However, Zorabana shares a simpler venation of tegmen, with media posterior vein having six branches: MP1 bifurcate and other MP branches simple ( Van Stalle 1984). In Helcita, MP 1 and MP3 bifurcate, other MP branches simple. Both Zorabana and Helcita share antennae with first segment short, cylindrical, and second segment round, while the new genus shares first and second segments long, cylindrical ( Distant 1906; Metcalf 1945; Van Stalle 1984).