Bhatia multispinosa, Lu, Lin & Zhang, Yalin, 2015

Lu, Lin & Zhang, Yalin, 2015, A new species of the leafhopper genus Bhatia Distant (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae: Deltocephalinae) from China, Zootaxa 3911 (1), pp. 145-150 : 148-149

Bhatia multispinosa , sp. nov.

(Figs. 1A–O)

Description. Length (including tegmen). Male: 7.5–8.0 mm.

Ochraceous to light brown. Head with vertex marked with dark brown including variable transverse bands, pedicel of antenna dark brown; pronotum with dark brown irroration. Forewing pale brown, smoky hyaline; with dark brown spot on apices of claval veins and clavus.

Head wider than pronotum, fore margin transversely striate. Vertex short and wide, more than twice as broad as long, slightly longer medially than next to eyes, without median transverse impression, declivous anteriorly. Ocelli placed more than 2 times own diameter from adjacent eye.

Male abdomen. 2nd acrotergite with trunk horizontal; neck slender and shorter than half of trunk width (Fig. 1J). 2nd tergal apodeme with posterior lobes vestigial. 1st sternal apodeme elongate with posterior lobes developed, about as long as wide, convergent and conterminous distally in dorsal anterior view; with anterior lobes developed, extending dorsad (Figs. 1K, L). 2nd sternal apodeme with posterior lobes short, triangular in shape (Fig. 1M).

Male genitalia. Pygofer with dorsal margin abruptly sloping subapically to triangular apex; lobe without internal ledge. Style with apical process turned laterally, rostriform; subapical lobe moderately well developed. Connective Y-shaped, stem shorter than branch, bifurcate apically. Aedeagal shaft short, laterally compressed, slightly expanded apically in lateral view, strongly curved dorsad, with pair of elongate laterobasal processes extending to near apex of shaft and another pair of more gracile processes arising from preatrium longer than aedeagal shaft; gonopore small, apical; basal apodeme comprising a short lobe on either side of laterally expanded aedeagal base (Fig. 1G). Paraphysis well developed, elongate and tapered, curved dorsad to same degree as ventral aedeagal processes, connected by short membrane to preatrium of aedeagus and articulated to apex of connective, directed posteriorly.

Material examined. Holotype male: China, Sichuan Province, Emei Mountains, 11.vii.2009, Coll. Cao Yanghui ( NWAFU). Paratype: 1 male, same data as holotype ( NWAFU).

Etymology. The specific epithet “ multispinosa ” refers to the two pairs of spinelike aedeagal processes and a single paraphysis.

Remarks. B. multispinosa can be distinguished from all other Bhatia species by the two pairs of aedeagal basal processes and a single process (paraphysis) between the aedeagus and connective, the latter perhaps homologous to the additional sclerite found in some congeners and also in some species of Carvaka (see Figs 158, 167, Zhang & Webb, 1996). A similar unpaired process is also found in B. unicornis but this species lacks the basal aedeagal processes found in multispinosa and congeners.

FIGURE 1. Bhatia multispinosa sp. nov. A–B, Male, dorsal view and lateral view; C, face; D, male pygofer, lateral view; E–F, connective and aedeagus, lateral and ventral view; G–H, aedeagus, lateral and ventral view; I, connective and paraphysis, ventral view; J, 2nd abdominal tergite, dorsal view; K–L, male 1st sternal apodeme, dorso-anterior and anterior view; M, male 2nd sternal apodemes, dorsal view; N, fore femur, anterior view; O, male valve, subgenital plates and styles, ventral view.