Saigona capitata ( Distant, 1914 )

Liang, Ai-Ping & Song, Zhi-Shun, 2006, Revision of the Oriental and eastern Palaearctic planthopper genus Saigona Matsumura, 1910 (Hemiptera: Fulgoroidea: Dictyopharidae), with descriptions of five new species, Zootaxa 1333, pp. 25-54 : 32-33

Saigona capitata ( Distant, 1914)

( Figs. 1 , 13–15 )

Neoputala capitata Distant, 1914: 412 ; Metcalf, 1946: 78. Holotype Ψ, Indo-China (BMNH) [examined].

Saigona capitata (Distant) ; Liang, 2001: 236.

Redescription

Ψ, BL: 10.3 mm; HL: 3.5 mm; HW: 1.3 mm; FWL: 9.3 mm.

General color fuscous, marked with ochraceous and brown. Vertex fuscous, with yellowish spot at apex. Genae mostly fuscous, areas surrounding ocellus and antenna beneath eye yellowish. Frons, postclypeus, anteclypeus, and labrum pale brown. Rostrum pale brown, tip black. Pronotum fuscous, suffused with blackish brown; median carina yellowish; lateral, ventrally curved areas yellowish brown. Mesonotum dark brown, with broad, yellow stripe along median longitudinal carina. Thorax ventrally yellowish, marked with blackish brown. Legs fuscous, marked with pale brown; coxa pale brown; femora and tibiae marked with numerous pale brown speckles; tarsi and claws brown; tips of apical spines on hind tibiae and tarsi black. Abdomen ventrally yellowish, with blackish spots, dorsally dark brown with broad, yellowish, median longitudinal stripe.

Head ( Figs. 1 , 13 ) long, much longer than pronotum and mesonotum combined.

Vertex ( Fig. 13 ) with cephalic process elongate, strongly upturned; median carina very faint, only conspicuous at basal 1/5, the remainders faint, lateral carinate margins slightly curved in front of eyes. Frons ( Fig. 15 ) with lateral carinae reaching to frontoclypeal suture.

Mesonotum ( Figs. 1 , 13 ) with lateral carinae distinct, median carina very faint.

Male unknown.

Type Material examined

Holotype Ψ, [small round label with red edge] Type H.T., [Distant’s handwriting] Neoputala capitata Dist. Type, Indo-China (R. Vitalis) [underside] Distant Coll. 1911–222 (BMNH).

Other material examined

China, Yunnan: 1Ψ, Dali, Cangxi, 2100 m, 4.vi.1998, B. Y. Mao & Z. Z. Yang (DU).

Remarks

This species is externally similar to S. ussuriensis ( Lethierry, 1878) but can be distinguished from the latter by its distinctly elongate cephalic process; frons, clypeus, and labrum concolorous; and frons with lateral carinae reaching to frontoclypeal suture.

Distribution

Indo-China, southwestern China (Yunnan) (new record). The specimen examined from Yunnan, China in this study represents the first record of this species in China.

Figures

FIGURES 1 – 12. Dorsal habitus of Saigona species. 1. S. capitata (Distant, 1914), female. 2. S. fulgoroides (Walker, 1858), male, China. 3. same, female. 4. S. fuscoclypeata sp. nov., male, holotype, China: Shaanxi. 5. S. henanensis sp. nov., male, holotype, China: Henan. 6. S. latifasciata sp. nov., male, holotype, China: Yunnan. 7. S. robusta sp. nov., male, holotype, China: Hubei. 8. same, female, paratype. 9. S. sinicola sp. nov., male, holotype, China: Shaanxi. 10. same, female, paratype. 11. S. ussuriensis (Lethierry, 1878), male, Japan. 12. same, female.

FIGURES 13 – 15. Saigona capitata (Distant, 1914), female. 13. head, pronotum and mesonotum (dorsal view). 14. head and pronotum (lateral view). 15. head (ventral view).