Cephisus xanthocephala (Walker)

Hamilton, Andrew, 2012, Revision of Neotropical aphrophorine spittlebugs, part 1: Ptyelini (Hemiptera, Cercopoidea), Zootaxa 3497, pp. 41-59 : 53-56

Cephisus xanthocephala (Walker)

( Figs 1 C–D, 2C, 3A–B)

Monecphora xanthocephala Walker, 1858: 176 .

Cephisus sanguisuga Jacobi, 1908: 201 (synonymy by Fennah 1968). Tomaspis xanthocephala: Lallemand, 1912: 98 .

Cephisus xanthocephalus [sic]: Fennah, 1968: 170.

Type locality. Amazon basin in Ecuador.

Diagnosis. Black with contrasting yellow-orange frons including tylus, its base black as far as lowest muscle arc. Head 0.8x as wide as pronotum; rather slender, width across pronotum in male 4.0– 4.2 mm, in female 5.0– 5.3 mm; crown set at a much lower slope than front of pronotum. Style with small, rounded or pointed apical lobe and broad, weakly curved dorsal process on inner edge ( Fig. 10 C); theca shaft slender, nearly straight, armed with a pair of large, membranous, divergent lateral processes and a pair of ventroapical processes scarcely longer than lateral pair, extending to midlength of shaft ( Figs 10 A–B). Length: male 12.3–13.6 mm, female 17.0– 18.1 mm. Width across head: male 3.0– 3.2 mm. Width across head: 3.2 mm, female 3.5–3.8 mm; across pronotum: male 3.8–4.4 mm, female 4.8–5.3 mm.

Type. Holotype male, ECUADOR: 51/70 [ Napo River ]; in BMNH. Syntypes of sanguisuga : male and 2 females, PERU: [Junín -] Chanchomayo [Province], 1907 (Rosenberg & Kauf); 1 female, [Cusco -] Sicuani, [Garlepp]. Additional syntypes of sanguisuga examined by Christian Schmidt (pers. comm.), 1 male, 4 females, Madre de Dios, 1911 (Garlepp); 1 female, ECUADOR: Pastaza [Province], 1909. All syntypes in SMFT.

Additional material. ECUADOR: 1 male, Tena, 3 March 1923 (F.X. Williams); in BMNH. PERU: Jauja — 1 male, Satipo, Mar. 1944 (P. Paprzycki); [Loreto]— 1 male, lower Rio Huallaga, 10 Dec. 1925 (H. Bassler); both in AMNH.

Distribution. The upper reaches of the Amazon Basin from Peru to Ecuador.

Remarks. The distinctive colour pattern, with almost the entire frons yellow, contrasting with the black body (or orange, less contrasting with dark brown body, in the Amazon basin), distinguishes this species from its congeners and associates the sexes despite the great discrepancy in body size. The holotype has the tip of the theca broken off and the left style is abnormal. The trivial name xanthocephala (“yellow head”) from the Greek kephale (f) is a noun in apposition, and does not change its termination in a masculine genus. Similarly,the trivial name sanguisuga (“bloodsucker”) is a noun in apposition, and does not match the gender of the genus name. That name is particularly appropriate for the form found in the Amazon basin, which has a redder frons than the montane form but is not represented in the syntype series.

Figures

FIGURE 1. Habitus of Cephisus spp. A. C. laticeps; B-E. B. C. siccifolia; C. C. xanthocephala; D. C. sanguisuga from Amazonian basin; E – H. C. variolosus complex (E. “ typical ” variolosus, specimen # CNCHB 1904 – 11, from Oaxaca; F. specimen near C. brevipennis from Guerrero; G. specimen # CNCHB 1906 – 11 from Veracruz; H. specimen # CNCHB 1905 – 11 from Chiapas).

FIGURES 5 – 15. Male genitalia of Ptyelini in lateral aspect (A), caudal aspect of theca (B) and widest aspect of style (C). 5. genital capsule of Ptyelus; 6. same, of Cephisus; 7. syntype male of C. sanguisuga; 8. C. diminutus, holotype; 9. C. laticeps, holotype; 10. C. xanthocephala; 11. C. magnificus, holotype; 12. C. variolosus; 13. C. siccifolia; 14. C. jacobii; 15. C. brevipennis, holotype.