Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) venosa ( de Fourcroy, 1785 )

Tishechkin, Dmitri Yu., 2020, Review of the leafhopper genus Anaceratagallia Zachvatkin, 1946 (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha: Cicadellidae: Megophthalminae: Agalliini) from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Central Asia, Zootaxa 4821 (2), pp. 250-276 : 253-256

1. Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) venosa ( de Fourcroy, 1785)

Figs. 20–61

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) omnivora Mityaev, 1967: 722 . Syn. n.

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) flavida Mityaev, 1969b: 1043 . Syn. n.

Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) sarcandica Mityaev, 2014: 31–32 . Syn. n.

Description. Ventral crest of penis in side view wide, convex or almost straight basally (Figs. 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36). Ventral part of crest or sometimes also its surface completely covered with small denticles. Male anal collar appendage blade-shaped, covered with minute spicules (Figs. 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37).

Biology. In open habitats among herbaceous vegetation. It was collected in polydominant steppes in Crimea, Rostov Oblast, and Altai Mts.; in the steppe zone of Kazakhstan and in arid mountains of Central Asia dwells in wet hollows, on riverbanks, near brooks, etc.

Calling signal. Signals of males from the following localities were investigated.

1. Crimea, mountain slopes with steppe vegetation ca. 6.5 km North-east of Bakhchisaray (about 1.5 km Southeast of Gluboky Yar Village ), 9. VI. 1997, signals of five males recorded at 21 oC .

2. Southern European Russia, Rostov Oblast, Oblivsky Region, environs of Sosnovy Village , steppe vegetation along the forest belt on the field border, 9. VIII. 1991, signals of two males recorded at 31 oC .

3. Southern Kazakhstan, Kokpek Ravine ca. 5 km North-west of Kokpek Village (about 150 km East of Almaty), mesophylic vegetation near brook, 8. VI. 2019, signals of one male recorded at 27 oC .

4. Southern Kazakhstan, ca. 6 km South of Altynemel Village (ca. 38 km ESE of Saryozek), a hollow with wild steppe vegetation among the fields, 11. VI. 2019, signals of one male recorded at 27 oC .

5. South-eastern Kazakhstan, Dzhungarsky Alatau Mtn. Range, 11 km East of Sarkand Town, the Sarkand River Gorge upstream from Almaly Village, steppe vegetation on mountain slopes, 17. VI. 2019, signals of three males recorded at 33 oC .

6. Western Siberia, Altai Mts., Southern coast of the Teletskoe Lake , slope with steppe vegetation, 18. VII. 1999, signals of three males recorded at 26 oC .

The calling signal is a short phrase usually lasting for approximately 1.5–4 s ( Figs. 44–61 ). It begins with a short succession of 3–10 high-amplitude pulses separated by distinct gaps. Occasionally, the phrase is preceded by additional pulses separated by longer gaps ( Figs. 49–51 ). The main part of a phrase is a succession of partially merged pulses following each other at a rate of about 50–55/s at a temperature 21 oC and 75–85/s at 30–33 oC. This part of the signal usually (but not always) has much lower amplitude and sometimes is hardly visible on the oscillograms ( Fig. 59 ). Single males as a rule produce up to three phrases separated by short pauses and then become silent for a long time ( Fig. 46 ). Very rarely do they produce several phrases almost without gaps; such phrases are much shorter than single ones ( Figs. 52, 60–61 ). Two nearby males usually sing alternately ( Figs. 50–51 ). Signals of males from different localities do not have significant differences.

Distribution. Europe, Central and Southern European Russia, Transcaucasia ( Armenia), Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Western Siberia (Altai Mts.).

Remarks. A. (A.) venosa was described from the environs of Paris, France ( de Fourcroy, 1785). The identification of this species follows Ribaut (1952).

A. (A.) omnivora Mityaev, 1967 was described based on a series of specimens from the environs of Zaisan Town, Eastern Kazakhstan (Figs. 38–39). According to the original description ( Mityaev, 1967), it differs from A. (A.) venosa by a narrower penis with more or less straight ventral margin of the crest and a larger distance from the gonopore to the beginning of the denticulate part of the crest (Fig. 38). Actually, variability of both traits can be observed even in a small number of obviously conspecific males, whose signals were investigated. For example, in a male from Rostov Oblast the distance from the gonopore to the denticulate part of the ventral crest is almost the same as on the drawing in the original description (cf. Figs. 28 and 38). Males with a more or less straight basal part of the ventral crest are also rather common (Figs. 22, 24, 34, 36).

A. (A.) flavida Mityaev, 1969 was described based on a single male from the Western end of Talass Alatau Mtn. Range (Mityaev, 1969) (Figs. 40–41).According to the original description, “in external appearance and in structure of genitalia, it is very close to A. omnivora . It differs well in shape of apodemes, style tips and some details of penis structure. Apodemes with diverging lobes”. As indicated above, the shape of the apodemes does not have speciesspecific traits. Penis shape figured in the original description is typical of A. (A.) venosa (Fig. 40).

FIGURES 20–43. Male genitalia. Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) venosa . 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40, 42―pe-nis, lateral view, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 37, 39, 41, 43―male anal collar appendage. 38–39―after Mityaev, 1967, 40–41―after Mityaev, 1969b, 42–43―after Mityaev, 2014. Hereinafter, if the material on one species from several regions is presented, the localities are given under the figures.

A. (A.) sarcandica Mityaev, 2014 was described from several localities on Dzhungarsky Alatau Mtn. Range, 5–7 km south of Ekiasha Village ca. 20 km East-South-East from Sarkand Town (Figs. 42–43). According to the original description ( Mityaev, 2014), it is similar to A. (A.) flavida , but differs from it in having the whole ventral crest of the penis covered by denticles (Fig. 42). However, males with similar penis shapes occasionally can be found in A. (A.) venosa (Fig. 22). In addition, during our investigations in several localities on Dzhungarsky Alatau Mtn. Range East-South-East of Sarkand we found only A. (A.) venosa ( Figs. 50–51, 57–59 ) and A. (A.) camphorosmatis .

Thus, in the shape of male genitalia, all species described by Mityaev fall within the range of variability of A. venosa . Moreover, signal investigation showed that A. venosa is a widespread species common in Southern and Southeastern Kazakhstan, and the adjacent part of Western Siberia (Altai Mts.). For this reason, we consider A. (A.) omnivora , A. (A.) flavida , and A. (A.) sarcandica as junior synonyms of A. (A.) venosa .

Figures

FIGURES 44–61. Anaceratagallia (Anaceratagallia) venosa, calling signal oscillograms. Faster oscillograms of the parts of signals indicated as “53–60” are given under the same numbers. 44–45, 53―males from Crimea, locality No. 1 in the list in call- ing signal description, 46, 54―male from Rostov Oblast, ibid., locality No. 2, 47, 55―male from Kokpek Ravine, Kazakhstan, ibid., locality No. 3, 48–49, 56―male from Altynemel, Kazakhstan, ibid., locality No. 4, 50–51, 57–59―males from Sarkand, Kazakhstan, ibid., locality No. 5, 52, 60–61―male from Altai Mts., ibid., locality No. 6.