Afromelampsalta, Sanborn & Villet, 2020

Sanborn, Allen F. & Villet, Martin H., 2020, Afromelampsalta, a new genus, a new species, and five new combinations of African cicadettine cicadas (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadettinae), Zootaxa 4731 (4), pp. 531-542 : 533-534

Genus Afromelampsalta n. gen.

Type species. Cicada leucoptera Germar, 1830: 39 . (Cape of Good Hope, South Africa) (type is deposited in the Zoological Museum, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv ( Shydlovskyy and Holovachov 2005) and can be viewed on-line at http://zoomus.lviv.ua/GERMAR/ZM3844web.htm).

Species included. The genus is represented currently by A. leucoptera ( Germar, 1830) n. comb., A. cadisia ( Walker, 1850) n. comb., A. aethiopica ( Distant, 1905) n. comb., A. limitata ( Walker, 1852) n. comb., A. luteofasciata n. gen., n. sp., and A. mimica (Distant, 1907) n. comb. We include A. aethiopica ( Distant, 1905) n. comb. even though it branches off before the clade containing Buyisa Distant, 1907 and the remaining species that we are reassigning to Afromelampsalta n. gen. ( Marshall et al. 2015a). Without specimens available for examination, it is impossible for us to erect a new genus for the taxon but the species does not belong in Melampsalta ( Marshall et al. 2015a) .

The varieties M. leucoptera var. a Stål, 1866, M. leucoptera var. b Stål, 1866 are unavailable following Article 11.9.1, where a name must include at least two letters (ICZN 1999). Stål (1866) separated the two varieties based on the degree of infuscation in the fore wing. We consider these differences to be part of the natural variability in the infuscation patterns of A. leucoptera n. comb. so that these proposed varieties would be considered synonyms of A. leucoptera n. comb. if they were available.

Etymology. The name is a combination Afro- for the region where the genus is distributed and - melampsalta for the previous generic assignment for the majority of species, which was originally derived from the Greek μέλας (black) and ψαλτής (a chanter) ( Kolenati 1857). The genus is feminine.

Description. Small to medium-sized cicada (12–21 mm body length). Head about as wide as mesonotum, eyes wider than anterior pronotal collar but not as wide as pronotal collar lateral angle, vertex at area of ocelli not as long as frons, supra-antennal plate forming anterior indentation with junction to postclypeus, postclypeus slightly wider than supra-antennal plate, postclypeus inflated, semicircular when viewed from dorsal side, without central sulcus, rostrum reaching coxae or trochanters of middle legs. Pronotum shorter than mesonotum, trapezoidal with anterior margin narrower than lateral margins of pronotal collar, lateral angles of pronotal collar expanded and lobate, lateral part of pronotal collar bent ventrally, mesonotum not covering dorsal metanotum, metanotum extends laterally beyond wing groove, cruciform elevation smoothly arched posteriorly. Fore wings and hind wing hyaline, except fore wings of leucoptera which are bronzed and infuscated along veins, basal cell longer than broad, fore wings and hind wing with eight and six apical cells respectively, fore wing apical cell 2 beyond abdomen apex when fore wing at rest, fore wing apical and ulnar cells about the same length, fore wings more than twice as long as broad. Fore wing cubitus anterior straight, length of the fused median and cubitus anterior veins extending from the arculus shorter than length of basal cell, radius anterior and radius posterior arise from nearly the same point of node, radial crossvein short causing radius anterior 2 and radius posterior to approach one another before diverging to ambient vein, radiomedial crossvein curved. Fore femora with three prominent, parallel, angled spines, primary spine longest, secondary spine intermediate in length, and tertiary spine shortest with a base about as broad as spine is long and small apical spine extending from base of tertiary spine, tarsi three-segmented, meracanthi tapering to a point, barely extending over anterior or not reaching operculum, female meracanthi of similar shape to conspecific male, extending almost to anterior margin of female operculum. Male opercula with rounded or partially straight posterior margin, covering tympanal cavity extending to sternite II or III, lateral margin reflexed to base of timbal, opercula separated along midline, female operculum variably developed, even within a species, with lateral and posterior margins weakly to moderately curved, extending medially only half way to medial base of meracanthus. Abdomen longer than distance between apex of head and posterior of cruciform elevation, expanding laterally to tergite 4 where abdomen begins narrowing posteriorly to genitalia, lateral margins straight, male sternites partly translucent, epipleurites folded toward dorsal surface to varying degrees producing a slight depression on lateral margins of the male abdomen but not a deep channel. Timbal cover absent, timbal completely exposed, not extending below wing bases, tympana concealed by opercula. Male sternite VIII U-shaped when viewed from posterior. Female sternite VII with weakly conven lateroposterior margin either side of a wide, deep medial notch. Pygofer distal shoulder not developed, dorsal beak present, triangular or arching, pygofer upper lobe small and undeveloped, pygofer basal lobe elongated, flattened, adpressed to pygofer, uncus lobe short, tapering distally, claspers well developed, male aedeagus a simple tubular structure restrained by claspers. Female abdominal segment 9 with small dorsal beak present (e.g. A. leucoptera n. comb.) or absent (e.g. A. mimica n. comb.) and semicircular posterior margin around anal styles, ovipositor sheath extends well beyond anal styles.

Spermatids were described by Chawanji et al. (2006); eggs are unknown.

Measurements (mm). Length of body: 12.0–21.0; length of fore wing: 13.0–18.5; width of fore wing: 5.9–8.5; length of head: 1.0–2.1; width of head including eyes: 4.1–4.7; width of pronotum including suprahumeral plates: 4.7–5.2; width of mesonotum: 4.0–5.0.

Diagnosis. The new genus differs from Melampsalta in the three large spines and a small apical spine on the fore femora rather than the two large spines and a small apical spines found in Melampsalta , the fore wing cubitus anterior is straight rather than arching, and the postclypeus is about as wide as the supra-antennal plate rather than twice as wide as the supra-antennal plate as described by Kolenati (1857) as characteristic for Melampsalta . Dlabola (1963) described the length of the fused median and cubitus anterior veins extending from the arculus as being greater than the length of the basal cell in Melampsalta but this length is shorter in the new genus. The radius anterior and radius posterior arise from nearly the same point of the node in the new species similar to species of Tettigetta Kolenati, 1857 but arise from distinctly separate points of the node in Melampsalta ( Mozaffarian and Sanborn 2016) . Myers (1929) describes Melampsalta possessing apical cells that are shorter than the ulnar cells in the fore wing. Myers (1929) worked primarily with New Zealand species no longer assigned to Melampsalta , but Kolenati (1857) and Mozaffarian and Sanborn (2016) illustrate this character in the fore wing of the type species of Melampsalta . The apical and ulnar cells are about the same length in the new genus. Male sternite VIII is V-shaped, the dorsal beak is spine-like, and the uncus is longer and curved in Melampsalta .

All African Cicadettini genera are part of the same clade ( Marshall et al. 2015a; 2015b). Afromelampsalta n. gen. can be distinguished from Buyisa Distant, 1907 and Stellenboschia Distant, 1920 by the five apical cells in the hind wings of these genera. Species of Afromelampsalta n. gen. can be distinguished from species of Buyisa by the seven apical cells in the fore wing of that genus and from the species of Stellenboschia by the fore wing radial cell being is half as wide as it is long and the fore wing width is half the length of the fore wings. Pinheya Dlabola, 1963 can be distinguished by the infuscation in the wings, the visible crossvein along the nodal line and the flattened postclypeus when viewed from the side, all of which are lacking in the new genus.

Distribution. The species of the genus primarily are restricted to South Africa ( Metcalf 1963; Duffels and van der Laan 1985; Sanborn 2013). The type locality of A. aethiopica n. comb. is Zomba, British East Africa ( Distant 1905) that is now a part of Malawi and represents the northernmost limit of the known range for the genus.