Platylomia Stål, 1870

Wang, Xu & Wei, Cong, 2014, Review of the cicada genus Platylomia Stål (Hemiptera, Cicadidae) from China, with description and bioacoustics of a new species from Mts. Qinling, Zootaxa 3811 (1), pp. 137-145 : 138-139

Genus Platylomia Stål, 1870

Cosmopsaltria (Platylomia) Stål, 1870: 708 . Type species: Cicada flavida Guerin-Mènèvillé. Platylomia Distant, 1905a: 65 . Type species: Tettigonia spinosa Fabricius.

Body large-sized, sparsely covered with short silvery hairs and white wax; eye much prominent laterally; head including eyes wider than base of mesonotum. Postclypeus substantially prominent anteriorly. Pronotum distinctly shorter than mesonotum excluding cruciform elevation; pronotal collar ampliate caudolaterally; lateral angle of pronotal collar dentate. Rostrum reaching beyond posterior coxae. Fore femur with primary and secondary spines big and subapical spine small. Wings hyaline but often infuscate on veins, with 8 and 6 apical cells on fore wing and hind wing, respectively; fore wing veins M and CuA meeting the basal cells with their stems confluent or clearly separated. Male abdomen cylindrical, distinctly longer than distance from head to cruciform elevation; timbal mostly concealed by timbal cover; male operculum elongate, curved to lateral part of abdomen with a proximal constriction and a rounded or attenuate apex. Basal part of uncus globose and short; uncal lobes strong and separated medially; distal margin of uncal lobe ranging from smooth and sinuous to adorned with lobule or triangular projections.

Remarks. This genus is similar to Champaka , but it differs from the latter in the following characteristics: uncus without ridge-like structure at medial part where bases of uncal lobes meet (uncus with a ridge-like structure at medial part where bases of uncal lobes meet in Champaka ); abdominal tergite II including timbal covers wider than tergite III (abdominal tergite II including timbal covers about as wide as tergite III in Champaka ); tergite VII with a distinct bent demarcation between dorsal and ventral parts (tergite VII without distinct demarcation between dorsal and ventral parts in Champaka ) (see also Lee 2008).

The genus Platylomia is also similar to Macrosemia , but it can be distinguished from the latter by the following characteristics: head including eyes wider than base of mesonotum (head including eyes about as wide as or narrower than base of mesonotum in Macrosemia ); eyes much prominent laterally (eyes not prominent laterally in Macrosemia ); median length of pronotal collar short, about 0.25 as long as median length of pronotum disk (median length of pronotal collar long, about 0.40 as long as median length of pronotum disk in Macrosemia ); mid lateral tooth of pronotal collar produced anterolaterally (mid lateral tooth of pronotal collar produced laterally or posterolaterally in Macrosemia ); male abdomen usually distinctly longer than distance from head to cruciform elevation (male abdomen nearly as long as or slightly longer than distance from head to cruciform elevation in Macrosemia ).

Platylomia is also similar to the genus Haphsa Distant, 1905 , but it can be distinguished from the latter by the following characteristics: body large-sized, usually longer than 40.0 mm (body middle-sized in Haphsa , usually shorter than 30.0 mm); head including eyes wider than base of mesonotum (head including eyes about as wide as the mesonotum in Haphsa ); male opercula often very long, passing beyond posterior margin of sternite V (male opercula short, passing posterior margin of sternite IV at the maximum in Haphsa ); male abdomen distinctly longer than distance from head to cruciform elevation (male abdomen shorter or equal to distance from head to cruciform elevation in Haphsa ); fore wing with fuscous spots at bases of second and third apical cells and/or at bases of second, third, fifth and seventh apical cells, or without spot (fore wing with fuscous spot at bases of second and third apical cells in Haphsa ) (see also Lee 2009, Sanborn 2013b).