Belbina madagascariensis ( Westwood, 1851 ) Constant, 2014

Constant, Jérôme, 2014, Revision of the Malagasy lanternfly genus Belbina Stål, 1863, with two new species (Hemiptera: Fulgoromorpha: Fulgoridae), European Journal of Taxonomy 102, pp. 1-37 : 26-27

Belbina madagascariensis ( Westwood, 1851) comb. nov.

Figs 8A–E , 26–27 , 46

Aphana madagascariensis Westwood, 1851: 208 (neotype in MNHN).

Aphana madagascariensis – Walker 1852: 1134 (listed). — Stål 1866: 263 (listed). — Lallemand 1959: 85 (description, comments). — Constant 2004b: 31 (listed, comments).

Aphaenina madagascariensis – Metcalf 1947: 152 (catalogued).

Diagnostic characters

(1) disc of tegmina red or orange ( Fig. 8A ); (2) cephalic process elongate and narrow, projecting anterodorsad ( Fig. 8D–E ); (3) ground colour of tegmina brown ( Fig. 8A ); (4) large-sized (more than 26 mm long); (5) black-brown spots with white center on tegmina ( Fig. 8A ).

Material examined

Neotype

MADAGASCAR: ♀, neotype of Aphana madagascariensis Westwood, 1851 , here designated, [Goudot Madagascar 1832] [Museum Paris] [Pterobaptes. Amyot.- vari -egata Spin. A. Fr. VIII. 225.-Senegal] [Neotype ♀ Aphana madagascariensis Westwood, 1851 J. Constant des. 2013] [ Belbina madagascariensis ( Westwood, 1851) Det. Jérôme Constant 2013 ] ( MNHN).

Note: A neotype is here designated in order to stabilise the nomenclature in the group, following rule 75.3 of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature ( ICZN 1999). The specimen chosen here is probably the one on which Westwood (1851) based his description. It was collected by Jules Prosper Goudot in 1832 and included in the collections of the MNHN in 1834 (Adeline Soulier-Perkins pers. comm.). Westwood (1851) stated that the specimen he examined was from the collections of the “Mus. Jardin des Plantes, Paris”, the name of the MNHN at that time. No specimen labelled Aphana madagascariensis was found in the collections of the MNHN, but the specimen chosen here perfectly matches the original description. Lallemand (1959) assumed that the type was lost and stated that, according to the description, the species probably belonged to Belbina or Cornelia . As it is not totally certain that the specimen is the one on which the original description was based, I designate it here as a neotype rather than recognize it as the holotype.

Additional material

MADAGASCAR: 1 ♀, Mad[agascar] ( MNHN); 1 ♀, Tenina, J. Vadon, 15°45’ S, 49°40’ E ( RBINS); 1 ♂, NE Madagascar, Fampanambo, Jul. 1959, J. Vadon, 15°22’ S, 49°38’ E ( MRAC).

Redescription

LT: ♂ (n = 1) 26.3 mm; ♀ (n = 1) 28.3 mm.

HEAD. Yellow-brown with 2 darker patches on disc of vertex ( Fig. 8C–E ); yellow-orange patch around insertion of antennae ( Fig. 8D ); vertex with hind margin slightly carinate and obsolete median carina on disc extending posterad beyond hind margin; sides of vertex strongly carinate, laminate above eye and extending anteriorly to apex of cephalic process; sides of vertex slightly bisinuate in lateral view ( Fig. 8C–D ); frons with 2 carinae extending ventrally on sides of process ( Fig. 8E ); cephalic process about 3.2 times as long as diameter of eye, projecting anterodorsad, curved, elongate and narrow; apical half ventrally with median carina getting laminate near apex ( Fig. 8D–E ); transverse wrinkles dorsally at base of process ( Fig. 8C ); postclypeus with sides strongly carinate and slight median carina; anteclypeus with median carina ( Fig. 8E ); labium very long, reaching or surpassing apex of abdomen.

THORAX. Yellow-brown with slightly paler markings ( Fig. 8C–E ); pronotum with strong median carina ( Fig. 8C ); carina very slightly sinuate in lateral view ( Fig. 8D ) and with strongly impressed point on each side ( Fig. 8C ); hind margin elevated above level of mesonotum medially ( Fig. 8D ); peridiscal carina anteriorly ( Fig. 8C ); sides of prothorax with oblique carina; lateral lobe of pronotum rounded posteriorly ( Fig. 8D–E ); mesonotum with median carina stopped at scutellum; curved peridiscal carina; short oblique carina at base of scutellum; scutellum transversely wrinkled ( Fig. 8C ).

TEGMINA ( Fig. 8A ). Brown with irregular black-brown, often confluent, small spots with pale yellowbrown center; center of spots covered with white waxy secretion in fresh specimens; no spots beyond nodal line of cross-veins except at apicosutural angle; apex of clavus with large black-brown marking followed by white patch along sutural margin; costal margin straight, slightly rounded after nodal line; apical margin oblique, straight in middle and with angles rounded; sutural margin sinuate.

HIND WINGS ( Fig. 8A ). Broad; disc largely bright red or orange; apex and sutural margin brown-black; 2–4 small, brown-black spots on disc; sutural margin bisinuate.

LEGS ( Fig. 8A ). Elongate and slender; pro- and mesofemora brown with 3 narrow, sinuate and often incomplete pale yellow rings; pro- and mesotibiae brown with 2 pale yellow rings; metafemora brown with imprecise yellow ring; metatibiae and metatarsi yellow-brown, tibiae darker basally; metatibiae with 5 (sometimes 4) lateral and 7 apical spines; 8–9 spines apicoventrally on first metatarsomere.

ABDOMEN ( Fig. 8A ). Red dorsally, brown-black ventrally.

Male genitalia

Very finely granulose, dark brown, paler along sides of anal tube ( Figs 26–27 ); pygofer higher than long and with posterior margin broadly rounded in lateral view ( Fig. 26 ); anal tube slightly elongate, 1.31 times longer than broad at apex and with lateral margins sinuate in dorsal view ( Fig. 27 ); posterior margin obliquely rounded and underside nearly straight in lateral view ( Fig. 26 ); gonostyli elongate, 1.6 times longer than high, not surpassing anal tube and broadly rounded at apex in lateral view ( Fig. 26 ); ventral margin slightly sinuate on basal 2/3 ( Fig. 26 ); dorsal margin obliquely directed dorsally on basal half, then straight after angle, pointed hook-like tooth at half of basal oblique part curved lateroventrally ( Fig. 26 ); gonostyli nearly not visible from above ( Fig. 27 ).

Remarks

Male genitalia without basodorsal process on gonostyli.

Belbina madagascarensis can be separated (1) from B. bergrothi by the less elongate gonostyli, without large pale marking ventrally and more broadly rounded apex, and less elongate anal tube; (2) from B. foliacea by having gonostyli more broadly rounded apically and without a strong angle above the mediodorsal tooth; (3) from B. nympha by having the margins of the anal tube not rounded laterally and the dorsal margin of the gonostyli nearly straight on the apical half; (4) from B. recurva by having the anal tube not produced into a semi-circular lateral plate.

Distribution

Fig. 46 .

Figures

Figs 7–9. — 7. Belbina lambertoni. 8. B. madagascariensis. 9. B. nympha. — A. Habitus, dorsal view. B. Habitus, lateral view. C. Vertex, pro- and mesonotum, dorsal view. D. Head and prothorax, lateral view. E. Frons, normal view. — Scale bar: 10 mm (C–E not to scale).

Figs 24–29. Male genitalia. — 24–25. Belbina lambertoni. 24. Lateral view. 25. Dorsal view. — 26– 27. B. madagascariensis. 26. Lateral view. 27. Dorsal view. — 28–29. B. nympha. 28. Lateral view. 29. Dorsal view. — An = anal tube, Py = pygofer, G = gonostylus. Photographs by Y. Laurent & I. Bachy.

Figs 46–49. Distribution maps. — 46. Belbina bergrothi, B. bloetei and B. madagascariensis. 47. B. bourgoini sp. nov., B. falleni and B. foliacea. 48. B. laetitiae sp. nov. 49. B. lambertoni.