Discolopeus tetracaenus, Stiller, 2019

Stiller, Michael, 2019, A new leafhopper genus Discolopeus and nine new species (Hemiptera, Cicadellidae, Deltocephalinae) associated with shrubs, trees and poisonous plants in South Africa, Zootaxa 4559 (2), pp. 201-244 : 223-226

Discolopeus tetracaenus sp.n.

Fig. 13 a–g, 15a–f, 19c.

Diagnosis. Crown short; subapically with dark brown to black submarginal, small, paired marking. Subgenital plate obovate; ratio of length to width 1.16–1.25. Aedeagal shaft with ventral paired sclerotized teeth subapically; dorsal elongate sclerotized ridge ending in distal subapical tooth; basally with ventral, single conical tooth; uniformly curved posterodorsally, tubular; membranous; dorsal apodeme in dorsal view inverted Y shape, with median longitudinal bar; aedeagal paraphysis preatrium produced into long, subparallel, straight, acuminate paraphysis, distal third acanthoid. Style apophysis curvate, weakly sclerotized, with median elongate, right-angled digitate process. Connective with median section concave, arms short. Pygofer lobe apex with acuminate, sclerotized posteroventrad process. Tergite X rectangular; large rhomboid, membranous recess ventromedially.

Etymology. Named for the four teeth on the aedeagal shaft, with two nouns in apposition, Greek, tetra, four and akaina, tooth.

Male. Color. Ground color stramineous. Crown with amorphous to angulate markings: small, paired dark brown to black marking apically on crown and near ocelli and on disc ( Figs 15 a–c). Pronotum with small, circular marking near posterior margin of compound eye. Tegmina with some brown markings in discal, apical and claval cells, some reticulate markings in anteapical cells ( Figs 15 a–d).

Male. Measurements. Overall length 4.51–4.79 mm; crown length 0.42–0.44 mm; crown length next to eye 0.36 mm; pronotum length 0.50 mm; head width 1.38 mm; pronotum width 1.04–1.11 mm; ocellus diameter 28.0 µm; interocellar distance 70.0 µm.

Male. Genitalia. Genital capsule short in lateral view, wide anterior apodeme, subgenital plate extending beyond posterior margin of pygofer lobe ( Figs 13a, 13b ). Tergite X short, tubular, incised about half-way into genital capsule, ventrally with large membranous recess ( Fig. 13a ). Subgenital plate slightly longer than wide (1.16–1.25 times longer than wide, n=2), basal and medial margins sub-parallel, posterior margin acutely angled to medial margin; macrosetae near apex, submarginal, fine setae subapically and laterally ( Fig. 13c ). Pygofer lobe about half as wide as width across base of genital capsule, short (as long as basal length of genital capsule) ( Fig. 13b ); lobe apex with sclerotized, acuminate ventroposteriad process. Aedeagus with shaft tubular, straight in dorsal view, curved in lateral view; dorsally with sclerotized ridge ending in subapical tooth; ventrally with subapical, paired short teeth; basally with large conical tooth-like process ( Figs 13d, 13e ); gonopore apical, membranous; dorsal apodeme in lateral view triangular, in dorsal view inverted Y-shaped, arms short, medially with longitudinal ridge ( Fig. 13e ); aedeagal paraphysis longer than shaft, tubular, distal third acanthoid ( Fig. 13d ). Style with apophysis weakly sclerotized, curvate, narrowly acuminate, directed lateroposterially, smooth, with dorsomedial digitate process; lateral anterior arm narrow, elongate; medial anterior arm short, wide, apex curved dorsad ( Fig. 13g ); style extending about half-way into plate ( Fig. 13c ). Connective medially concave, arms short, triangular ( Fig. 13f ).

Female. Unknown due to lack of suitable specimens. Specimen in Fig. 15c with same collection details as males but different colour pattern, female in Figs 15 d–f with similar colour pattern to that of male, but different collection details.

Material examined. Holotype male. Western Cape Province. Ladismith , (-33.4741, 21.2701), 1973/04/21, J.G. Theron . Paratypes. 1♂ 1♀. 1♂, ibid., holotype ; 1♀, Nietgenaamd Nature Reserve , -33.41325 23.19548, 6.v. 2015/05/06, M. Stiller .

Remarks. The most distinctive feature of this species is the digitate process on the apophysis of the style. The basal tooth-like process of the aedeagal shaft in lateral view suggests an association with the shaft, but in posterior or ventroposterior view the process appears associated with the atrium or preatrium. The styles of other species of Discolopeus have a single, small and short subapical or apical ventral tooth. The apophysis of the style of D. thigmacaenus and D. tetracaenus is weakly sclerotized, curvate, setose medially, but in D. tetracaenus with a digitate process. D. thigmacaenus ( Figs 12 a–d) resembles D. viraktamathi in coloration ( Figs 17 a–e), and to a lesser extent D. arctus , which has fewer markings on the crown ( Figs 8a, 8b ). The point distribution map of D. tetracaenus is in Fig. 19c .

Figures

FIGURE 8a–j. Discolopeus arctus n. gen. & sp., habitus. a, b. Male and female respectively, dorsally; c, d. Male and female respectively, laterally; e, f. Nymphs, early and late instar, dorsally; g, h. Face, male and female, respectively; i, hind wing; j, tegmina.

FIGURE 12a–i. Discolopeus thigmacaenus n.gen. & sp., habitus, dorsally. a. Wiedouw, male; b. Gifberg, female; c. Wiedouw, female; d. Gifberg, male; e. Nymph, Gifberg; f, hind wing, male; g, tegmina, male; h, hind wing female; i, tegmina, female.

FIGURE 13a–g. Discolopeus triacaenus n.gen. & sp., male and female genitalia, line drawing. a. Genital capsule, dorsally; b. Genital capsule, laterally; c. Subgenital plate, ventrally; d, e. Aedeagus, laterally and dorsally respectively; f. Connective, dorsally; g. Style, dorsally.

FIGURE 15a–i. Discolopeus gen.n. species, habitus, D. triacaenus sp.n. a. Holotype, male; b. Paratype, male, Ladismith; c, d, e. Nietgenaamd, female; dorsally, laterally and face, respectively; f. Ladismith, female; D. tetracaenus sp.n.; g. Beaufort West, male; h. Rust en Vrede, Oudtshoorn, male; i. Holotype, male, Willowmore.

FIGURE 17a–h. Discolopeus viraktamathi n.gen. & sp., habitus. a, b, c. Cradock, male, dorsally, female, dorsally and laterally, respectively; d, e, f. Waterpoort, male, female, nymph, respectively, dorsally; g, tegmina, male; h, hind wing male.

FIGURE 19a–c. Distribution maps of leafhopper species of Discolopeus gen.n. and associated plants. a. Hyaenanche globosa near Vanrhynsdorp and one record near Citrusdal (red squares); b. Potential natural distribution of D. copeus sp.n. in the southwestern parts of South Africa, Western Cape Province; c. Point distributions of D. colopeus sp.n., D. lissus sp.n., D. tetracaenus sp.n., D. thigmacaenus sp.n., D. triacaenus sp.n. and D. viraktamathi sp.n. in Western, Northern and Eastern Cape Provinces.