Varma falcata Chang & Chen

Chang, Zhi-Min, Zhang, Zheng-Guang, Yang, Lin & Chen, Xiang-Sheng, 2014, Review of the Chinese species of the genus Varma Distant (Hemiptera, Fulgoromorpha, Tropiduchidae), with description of two new species, ZooKeys 417, pp. 21-35 : 24-26

Taxon classification Animalia Hemiptera Tropiduchidae

Varma falcata Chang & Chen sp. n. Figs 1, 5-15

Type material.

Holotype: ♂, China: Guizhou, Dushan, Duliujiangyuan Wetlands (25°50'N, 107°32'E), 12 July 2012, Q.-Z. Song; paratypes: 1 ♂, 4 ♀♀, same data as holotype; 2 ♀♀, Guizhou, Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve (27°44'N, 109°13'E), 22-24 Sept. 2011, X.-F. Yu and Z.-H. Fan; 1 ♀, Fanjingshan National Nature Reserve, 1 June 2002, X.-S. Chen; 1 ♀, Leigongshan National Nature Reserve (26°23'N, 108°04'E), 10 July 2011, Z.-M. Chang.

Description.

Body length (from apex of vertex to tip of forewings): male 12.1-12.8 mm (N = 2), female 13.0-13.5 mm (N = 4).

Coloration. General colour yellowish green to stramineous yellow. Head and pronotum pale green to pale tawny. Mesonotum pale green or pale ocherous. Abdomen tawny. Forewings pale yellowish green, basal part with two light brownish spots, around nodal line with light brownish fasciae.

Head and thorax. Vertex (Fig. 5) broader than long in middle line (2.4:1). Frons (Fig. 6) obviously longer in middle than widest breadth (1.4:1), widest at apical fourth, anterior margin and posterior arch, median carina broad and ridged. Pronotum (Fig. 5) obviously wider than long in middle (3.8:1). Mesonotum (Fig. 5) wider than long in middle (1.1:1). Forewing about 2.4 times longer than the widest, venations as in Fig. 8. Hind wing with venation as in Fig. 9. Spinal formula of hind leg 6-5-2.

Male genitalia. Male genitalia (Figs 10-14) with pygofer not bilaterally symmetrical; in proflile left side, irregularly subquadrate, dorsal margins and ventral margin subparallel, anterior margin and posterior margin nearly subparallel, posterior margin near its upper end produced into a short and indistinct lobe; in right side, dorsal margin incline to venter, anterior margin near dorsal 1/3 concave, lateral margins subparallel. Anal tube (urite X) (Figs 12, 13) symmetrical and long, surpassing apex of aedeagus in lateral view, with anal styles short, not surpassing apex of anal tube. In ventral view, gonostyli (Figs 10-12, 14) with basal 2/3 fused together, medially produced into a falcate lobe. Aedeagus (Fig. 15) tubular, relatively long, narrow at base and expanded apex, with three processes, of one band process at lateral ventral margin, of one lobe in doral margin, directed anteriorly, of one flexural waviness on the right side, all procrsses with serrated margins. Periandrium fissure-like, exposed at the apex. Corpus connectivi stout, rod-like.

Female genitalia. Gonapophyses VIII (first valvula) (Fig. 16) saw-like, strongly sclerotized with 6-7 distinct teeth on dorsal margin, ventral margin with about 4 distinct teeth. Gonapophyses IX (second valvula) (Fig. 18) degradated, triangular. Gonoplace (third valvula) (Fig. 19) stout, membranous, formed 12 teeth on ventral margin and apical margin. In ventral view, endogonocoxal lobe (Fig. 17) in the base of the gonapophyses VIII produced mesad irregular trapeziums, that of left side more broader, paw-like, with 2 small teeth, that of right more slender, lateral margin dented. Sternite VII (Fig. 17) with posterior margin project triangularly in middle.

Etymology.

The new species is named after the presence of a falcate process at apically inner margin of gonostyli.

Distribution.

China (Guizhou).

Remarks.

This new species is similar to Varma serrata Men & Qin, 2010 in external appearance, but can be distinguished from the latter in the gonostyli with a falcate lobe at apically inner margin (with semicircular lobe in serrata) (Fig. 11); posterior margin of pygofer without lobe process near its upper end on right side (with posterior margin with trapezoidal lobe directed caudoventrad on right side in serrata) (Figs 10, 13); apical part of the aedeagus bearing one band process at lateral ventral margin, with one lobe in doral margin, on the right side of the aedeagal shaft with one flexural waviness (in serrata, with apical part of aedeagus bearing a semicircular ribbon-like plate at left side side, on the right side of the aedeagal shaft with a pediform flate plate and wing-shaped lobe) (Fig. 15).