Rhotana melichari Zelazny, 2011

Zelazny, B. & Webb, M. D., 2011, 3071, Zootaxa 3071, pp. 1-307 : 80

Rhotana melichari Zelazny , sp. nov.

( Fig. 212)

Description. Forewings broad, 1.6 times longer than wide, length about 4.8 mm. Colour stramineous to light brown; fore legs and middle tibiae faintly tinted with orange. Forewings lightly infuscated, not powdered; darker areas of infuscation around first and second subcostal sector, around apex of basal median cell, and around middle of Cu1 and Ms1b; the latter marks extending into two darker stripes lining the apical cross-vein between Cu and Cu1; veins stramineous in basal half, orange in apical half. Hindwings colourless. Carinae of vertex and face separated; rostrum long, labium surpassing hind coxae by about one third of its length; subantennal processes and lateral carinae of pronotum well developed. Forewings with apical part of Sc nearly straight; Sc+R fork slightly distad of middle of wing; Ms1 branched close to apex of basal median cell, a triangle at base of Ms1, Ms1b touches apical part of Cu1, at this point Cu1 deflected and the remaining section nearly perpendicular to longitudinal axis of wing. Male genitalia with pygofer narrow; anal segment with two short ventral processes near apex in holotype, but not in male paratype. Genital styles widening towards end; proximal dorsal process large and wide, distal dorsal process of similar length but slender; a fine, needle-shaped process on the inner side near the ventral margin. Apical part of aedeagus ending in three lobes, a ventral lobe (pointed in holotype, but more rounded in male paratype), and two dorsal, rounded lobes.

Etymology. The species is named for Leopold Melichar (1856-1924), who made important contributions to the knowledge of the Auchenorrhyncha, and ' melichari ' is a latinized noun used in the genitive case.

Type material. Holotype ♂ (forewing 4.8 mm), INDONESIA: WEST PAPUA; labels: 1) WEST NEW GUINEA / VOGELKOP: Kebar Val. / W of Manokwari, 550m / 4–31.I.1962 2) L.W. Quate / Collector ( BPBM) . Paratypes. 1 ♀ (fw. 4.8), same data as holotype ; PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Papua, Bisianumu , E of Port Moresby, 3.IX.1959, 1 ♂ (fw. 4.8), T . C. Maa (all BPBM) .

Distribution. Island of New Guinea.

Diagnosis. Rhotana melichari resembles R. sectator sp. nov. and R. luteola sp. nov., also from New Guinea. It can be distinguished from both by the forewings having dark bands along the veins between apex of Cu and middle of Ms1a. It further differs from R. sectator by the deflected apical section of Cu 1 in the forewings, and from R. luteola by the male genital styles having a needle-shaped process on the inner side near the ventral margin.