Bonaspeiini

Zahniser, James N. & Dietrich, Chris H., 2013, A review of the tribes of Deltocephalinae (Hemiptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae), European Journal of Taxonomy 45, pp. 1-211 : 50-53

Bonaspeiini tribe nov.

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Fig. 13

Type genus: Bonaspeia Linnavuori, 1961 .

Diagnosis

Bonaspeiini are medium sized, broad, robust, brachypterous to submacropterous, ivory, greenish, or brownish leafhoppers. They can be identified by the anterior margin of the head without sharp carinae (with sharp carinae in Selenocephalini ), brachypterous to submacropterous forewings (exception: Renosteria ), hind wings when present narrowed anteriorly-posteriorly when outstretched or otherwise reduced in size (exception: Renosteria ), connective U- or sometimes Y- shaped with stem often very short or absent, male segment X broad and sclerotized, and ovipositor usually distinctly protruding beyond the pygofer apex.

Description

HEAD. Head subequal to or wider than pronotum. Discal portion of crown glabrous with radial or longitudinal striae. Anterior margin of head shagreen, irregularly textured, or with several to numerous transverse striae. Frontoclypeus not tumid; texture shagreen, glabrous, or rugose. Clypellus parallel sided, tapering apically, or widening apically; apex following or slightly surpassing normal curve of gena. Lorum subequal to or wider than clypellus near base. Antennal bases near middle or posteroventral (lower) corners of eyes or near upper or anterodorsal corners of eyes. Antennae short, less than 1.5 x width of head. Gena incised laterally; with fine erect seta beside laterofrontal suture. Antennal ledges weakly developed (carinate or weakly carinate). Ocelli often reduced in size; close to or distant from eyes; on anterior margin of head or shifted slightly dorsad on crown.

THORAX. Pronotum lateral margin not carinate or carinate; lateral margin shorter than basal width of eye.

WINGS. Forewing brachypterous to submacropterous, or rarely macropterous ( Renosteria ); with 3 anteapical cells; veins not raised; with or without reflexed costal veins; A1-A2 crossvein absent or present; apical venation not highly reticulate. Hind wing, when present, narrowed anteriorly-posteriorly when outstretched or otherwise reduced in size; with full complement of wing veins or with some veins (e.g., M3+4 and CuA) fused.

LEGS. Profemur with AM1 seta only; intercalary row with one row of 5 or more fine setae; row AV with short, stout macrosetae or with relatively long macrosetae. Protibia dorsal surface rounded, convex. Metafemur apex macrosetae 2+2+1. Metatarsomere I not expanded or expanded apically; plantar setae all simple or rarely (e.g., some Gcaleka ) one or more platellae.

MALE GENITALIA. Valve articulated with pygofer; with short point of articulation with pygofer. Pygofer dorsoapical margin incised to near mid-length or nearly to base; basolateral membranous cleft present, sometimes sharply angulate; macrosetae absent or reduced (≤ two rows) or rarely well differentiated into several rows; often with spine-like process. Subgenital plates free from each other; articulated with valve; macrosetae scattered, irregularly arranged, uniseriate laterally, with two or more lateral rows of macrosetae, or with some irregularly arranged macrosetae near lateral margin. Style linear, median anterior lobe not pronounced or broadly bilobed basally, median anterior lobe pronounced. Basal processes of the aedeagus/connective absent or reduced or present, connected or articulated to connective or near base of aedeagus. Aedeagus without basal hinge; with a single shaft and gonopore; often with short hooks or spines. Connective anterior arms somewhat divergent, U - or sometimes Y - shaped; stem often very short or absent; articulated with aedeagus. Segment X broad, sometimes very large and occupying much of dorsal part of pygofer; sclerotized dorsally and laterally.

FEMALE GENITALIA. Pygofer with macrosetae reduced or absent or with numerous macrosetae. Ovipositor not protruding or protruding far beyond pygofer apex. First valvula convex, dorsal sculpturing pattern strigate, concatenate, or reticulate; sculpturing reaching dorsal margin; without distinctly delimited ventroapical sculpturing. Second valvula broad, gradually tapered; with or without dorsal median tooth; teeth on apical 1/3 or more; teeth small, regularly or irregularly shaped.

Geography and ecology

Distribution: Afrotropical ( South Africa). Bonaspeiini are common in the fynbos biome and collected on woody and herbaceous dicots. Gcaleka species are dorsoventrally flattened, apparently an adaptation to feeding on their reed-like hosts in the family Restionaceae . Salsolibia and Salsocolila feed on the ganna bush, Salsola esterhuyseniae Botsch. (Amaranthaceae) , a woody-stemmed bush with succulent leaves living in silt deposits in valleys and riverbeds. The squat, compact leafhoppers apparently mimic the succulent leaves of their host ( Theron 1979). Renosteria , Cerus and Refrolix feed on renosterbos, Elytropappus rhinocerotis Less. (Asteraceae) , a common plant in the southern part of the Western Cape Province. Davies (1988a) reports Kimbella acusiculcita Davies, 1988 from Erica peltata Andrews (Ericaceae) and Colistra parvulus ( Linnavuori, 1961) from Erica hispudula L. and Erica muscosa (Aiton) E.G.H.Oliv.

Remarks

Bonaspeiini contains 21 genera and 108 species. The tribe is closely related to Selenocephalini but is considered distinct here due to the lack of distinct carinae on the anterior margin of the head which are typical of most Selenocephalini and the presence of a number of unique characters (see Diagnosis). Three exemplars (from Bonaspeia , Cerus , and Renosteria ) were included in the phylogenetic analyses here, and the group was resolved as paraphyletic with respect to the clade Selenocephalini + Dagama (Athysanini) . However, branch support was not high, and more detailed phylogenetic analyses are needed to further resolve these relationships. A representative of Gcaleka was included in previous analyses ( Zahniser & Dietrich 2010) and was resolved as sister to Bonaspeia , but was excluded from analyses here due to missing data in the 28S sequence.

Selected references

Linnavuori (1961), Theron (1974, 1984a, b), Stiller (1986), Davies (1987, 1988a, b).

Included genera

Basutoia Linnavuori, 1961 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Bloemia Theron, 1974 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Bonaspeia Linnavuori, 1961 placement nov. (previously unplaced in Deltocephalinae )

Caffrolix Linnavuori, 1961 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Capeolix Linnavuori, 1961 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Cerus Theron, 1975 placement nov. (previously unplaced in Deltocephalinae )

Colistra Davies, 1988 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Curvostylus Davies, 1987 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Gcaleka Naudé, 1926 placement nov. (previously unplaced in Deltocephalinae )

Hadroca Theron, 1974 placement nov. (previously unplaced in Deltocephalinae )

Johanus Theron, 1974 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Kaapia Theron, 1983 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Kimbella Davies, 1988 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Megaulon Theron, 1975 placement nov. (transferred from Paralimnini )

Proekes Theron, 1975 placement nov. (transferred from Stenometopiini)

Proekoides Stiller, 1986 placement nov. (transferred from Stenometopiini)

Refrolix Theron, 1984 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Renosteria Theron, 1974 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Salsocolila McKamey, 2003 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Salsolibia Theron, 1979 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Tzitzikamaia Linnavuori, 1961 placement nov. (transferred from Athysanini )

Figures

Fig. 13. Bonaspeiini. A–I. Standard views (see Material & Methods), Bonaspeia attia Davies, 1987. J–K. Hind wing. J. Cerus goudanus Theron, 1984. K. Curvostylus chloridulus (Naudé, 1926).